Job Hunt Project
I have unilateraly been handed an opportunity for a fun job hunt project. In the past, I have applied to one job at a time, and waited to see the results. Most of the times, I have recieved responses of some sort; but a few times I haven't. I have always wanted to try and track that process. I thought I would have a few weeks to figure out how I wanted to set this up. While I can still figure out the set-up, I have been contacted (on the first business day that after this job hunt project opportunity was gifted to me) by recruiters, so I need to do this on the fly. I will refine and adjust as time goes on.
One concept that comes to mind is the 'Secretary Problem' or 'Marriage Problem'. But these assume that once you pass an option it is off the table. The Secretary Problem does not apply here, but it is a sort of optimal stopping problem. I will be sending out feelers like the probe droids in 'The Empire Strikes Back'. so searching for optimal stopping problems related to job hunts is not disappointing. A nice result is Search Theory (Search Theory on Investopedia).
I also want to play around with a job hunt visualization, maybe more than one. But one that is attractive to me are alluvial charts or Sankey diagrams (Job Hunt Sankey Diagram).
Bonus Projects
A few bonus projects I can do with this fortuitous opportunity is to exercise more, declutter/reorganize, upskill, and plan/start a business. But my main focus is the job hunt project.
Process
I initially envisioned applying and then getting a series of outcomes. Apply, recieve a rejection. Apply, recieve an interview, then an offer or rejection. Apply, recieve an interview, then a follow-up interview, finally an offer or rejection. The reality is a little different.
Staffing Agency
The staffing agency, that reached out to me, arranged an interview. I do not know the process behind it. Do they apply to many places for me, then get an interview? Do they have some sort of internal website that only their clients have access to, then get a an interest to schedula an interview? I do not know the result of the interview I did partake in. I did put 'Ghosted?' in my Job Hunt Sankey chart below. But I have not yet decided when I would consider being ghosted. Do I give 2 weeks after an interview, a month? I will reclassify if I get a response, however. Besides getting interviews, I will consider the activity rising from the staffing agency as a black box.
Job Fairs
As soon as I started my job hunt I applied for a job fair. While I am trying to keep specific information close to the vest, because of the assymetrical nature of job hunting, I will not reveal the organizations I have interacted with. However this job fair had many organizations participating. It was the Kern County Teacher Recruitment Fair hosted by the Kern County Superintendent of Schools (KCSOS). I basically had an hour to talk to various school districts. I identified 3 districts looking for Career Technical Education (CTE) teachers, and had lengthy conversations with 2 of them. I did hand out my resume, cover sheet, and transcript evaluation to 6 school districts. The 2 districts that I had lengthy conversations with have subsequently reached out to me, and they are both hosting job fairs for their own districts, where I assume the individual schools in the districts will be attending. I will find out soon enough as I will be attending them in the coming weeks. The other intersting thing is that these schools also have data position, so I will be exploring not just teaching, but also data jobs. I am currently applying for CTE credentials. I also had KCSOS re-review my transcripts. Even though not much changed, they were in the process of being redone during this event. I will attach the newer version below if anyone is interested in looking at them. I will be handing out the newer version at the upcoming district level fairs.
Note: I am not considering not being reached out to by the other 4 organizations as being ghosted because I did not formally apply to any of them.
Applications
In the past I would only apply to one place at a time, every once in a while two places within weeks. Now, I am putting in way more applications than I otherwise would. I think within a couple of weeks I will have put in more applications than I ever have before; I do not more application than I have at once, I mean I will put in more than I have cumulatively put in before January 17, 2025. So this is fun! It really is.
I have put in 4 application thus far (Not counting the psuedo application for the staffing agency; It was more than a job application, I think so they can tailor and send it to their clients). I was asked to apply to 2 of them, I have a pre-employment test lined up for one, and the other one I was told the position was filled (I labeled it rejection). One of the ones I have not heard back from, won't consider applications until the end of the month; Though they reached out to me to clarify that I understood it was not a remote position. The other one I put in last week. The only time that came sort of close to this was when I applied to become a subsitute teacher at 8 school districts at once; Thinking I would pick up an assignment here and there, maybe like 2 or 3 a week. I was wrong, I was working every day until the pandemic closed schools down. But those 8 application were essentially one job as a substitute teacher, just with various districts. This is the first time I have applied to so many different jobs at once.
Job Hunt Sankey Diagram
The diagram below will probably change. For example the leads will likely feed into the application process, and many application will feed into interviews, tests, rejections, offers, accept offers (though only one for this category), and anything else that comes up that I have yet to consider. I still haven't decided how to categorize being ghosted as far as time elapsed from last communication. I will probably customize the diagram a bit more. Also, as more applications are put in I may consider identifying which are education jobs vs. data/programming/analyst jobs. Though, data jobs may be in education. So I may need to come up with another way to segement. For now data jobs can be differentiated from teaching jobs. Maybe more classifying can be done by identifying which are government or funded by government grants (ie., non-profit) vs. private enterprise.
Job Hunt Tableau Dashboard
I have embedded a little Tableau Dashboard on my job hunt. In the future I may want to add the different types of jobs I have applied for, but for now I would like to keep them anonymous.
Transcript Evaluation
The single subjects that I qualify for pip and stsp are: Business, Industrial and Technology Education, Mathematics, English, and Social Science; Along with Multiple Subject and Education Specialist.
However, for the next year I would entertain teaching CTE and pursue CTE credential in: Business and Finance, and/or Information and Communication Technologies. (Preferably both!)