32,000 teachers is a lot of teachers to recruit and hire in Florida. It is nice to see Governor Bush taking some initiate to help this issue by offering a plan that offers relocation reimbursements and some incentives like a laptop computer. Please reference this article. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/orl-gov2306jan23,0,4486355.story?coll=orl-home-headlines
I think we have some other opportunities to recruit the best and the brightest, that quite frankly, wouldn’t cost the state a ton of money. Experienced teachers can be recruited! If you are a teacher either in Florida or from another state, where do you find exciting information about openings and career path? Where is this information? Can you find it easily? Even the states website used to recruit teachers, http://www.teachinflorida.com/, has old postings and not much content. If you perform a teacher search in Orange County, your results indicate one teaching job when we know there are many! Recruiting is an everyday event. It takes a great word of mouth referral network combined with the power of internet recruiting to help shorten the hiring cycle. Besides career fairs and college recruiting, what else can be done to find the next 32,000 teachers? Here is what I would do:
1) Have each county professionally write great job descriptions about the “specifics” of the jobs they have available. This job description should paint the picture for what a teacher could expect if they worked for a school in that county. I would write a different description for a math teacher as well as one for a history teacher. It should include all the benefits, information about the county, the school system, awards, recognitions and career path. The states job descriptions for teachers are quite frankly… horrible.
2) Cross post teacher jobs to National and Locally recognized career websites. Get the word out!
3) Form some partnerships with companies like Disney and St. Joes to help cross promote teacher needs in Florida. For example, why can’t the State of Florida partner with Disney to put teacher jobs and recruiting information on the back of all park tickets?
4) Starting in 9th grade through 12th, have a career fair twice a year that focuses on the teaching profession and the process of becoming one in the future. Make it fun and give more students access early to this treasured profession!
5) Each school system should have a separate website designed and optimized for the recruiting of teachers. It should be the complete career center that not only posts jobs and collects resumes, but also can update potential teachers on a regular basis.
I will have more ideas in my next posting. In the meantime, if you know any teachers, please tell them we need them.
Monday, January 23, 2006
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Is Your Job Stagnant or Potentially Thriving?
No matter what you do for a living, it is important to make sure that you understand the difference between a stagnant career and a potentially thriving career. A lot of people get these two thoughts confused, but I hopefully will be able to help give you some guidelines to help you decipher between the two.
I have spoken to many candidates over the last 19 years and interestingly enough, I find that they do have positions that one can thrive in, but do not take the steps to do so. In other words, I find people who like their job, but never can make it something more. In my opinion, this is caused by:
1) Listening to career advice from family, friends and co-workers. This is the kiss of death if you are trying to get ahead in a job you believe in. Only you know how you feel about the company you work for and your own potential. If your job is positive and others around you are negative, this can and does have an adverse effect on you staying on a dedicated career path. Co-workers who talk negatively about the company may have a different opinion on the direction a company is headed. Use your gut and talk with your managers on how to get ahead. Remember, some of the best jobs start out as some of the worst. The situation to solve issues and help the company strive will increase your value much quicker than going to work and complaining!
2) Not understanding your career path. If you get into a company and after a few months get a good “lay of the land” to where you want to go with your career, the solution is simple. Find the individual who has the job you would like in the company and take them to lunch. If you are lucky, they may become your mentor! Ironically, they will feel good that you reached out to them to seek career advice.
3) Make sure that you get the training and additional education to grow in your career path. A lot of the larger Central Florida companies will sponsor your additional education. The smaller companies will usually help you in some aspect finically, but you need to ask. Whatever you do, take courses that directly will help you in your career. Don’t waste time taking a film course if you are trying to excel your career in law enforcement. (Take the film course on your own time)
4) Make sure your company is keeping up with the latest trends in your industry. All around the country in the last five years, thousands lost their high paying manufacturing jobs to technology advances that replaced them. A lot of them knew the possibility of this happening, but didn’t do a thing about it. With all the research you can “Google” these days, keep up with the trends in your industry. Who knows, you may even be able to make your own company aware of the future possibilities!
Finally, I know that not everyone out there is looking to climb the career ladder. That is why a stagnant career can also be a good one. You know what you are getting and hopefully enjoy your work. But if you are looking to move your career and are not, it is time to move on if your current company can’t support your career needs! Send me your comments or questions.
I have spoken to many candidates over the last 19 years and interestingly enough, I find that they do have positions that one can thrive in, but do not take the steps to do so. In other words, I find people who like their job, but never can make it something more. In my opinion, this is caused by:
1) Listening to career advice from family, friends and co-workers. This is the kiss of death if you are trying to get ahead in a job you believe in. Only you know how you feel about the company you work for and your own potential. If your job is positive and others around you are negative, this can and does have an adverse effect on you staying on a dedicated career path. Co-workers who talk negatively about the company may have a different opinion on the direction a company is headed. Use your gut and talk with your managers on how to get ahead. Remember, some of the best jobs start out as some of the worst. The situation to solve issues and help the company strive will increase your value much quicker than going to work and complaining!
2) Not understanding your career path. If you get into a company and after a few months get a good “lay of the land” to where you want to go with your career, the solution is simple. Find the individual who has the job you would like in the company and take them to lunch. If you are lucky, they may become your mentor! Ironically, they will feel good that you reached out to them to seek career advice.
3) Make sure that you get the training and additional education to grow in your career path. A lot of the larger Central Florida companies will sponsor your additional education. The smaller companies will usually help you in some aspect finically, but you need to ask. Whatever you do, take courses that directly will help you in your career. Don’t waste time taking a film course if you are trying to excel your career in law enforcement. (Take the film course on your own time)
4) Make sure your company is keeping up with the latest trends in your industry. All around the country in the last five years, thousands lost their high paying manufacturing jobs to technology advances that replaced them. A lot of them knew the possibility of this happening, but didn’t do a thing about it. With all the research you can “Google” these days, keep up with the trends in your industry. Who knows, you may even be able to make your own company aware of the future possibilities!
Finally, I know that not everyone out there is looking to climb the career ladder. That is why a stagnant career can also be a good one. You know what you are getting and hopefully enjoy your work. But if you are looking to move your career and are not, it is time to move on if your current company can’t support your career needs! Send me your comments or questions.
Monday, January 02, 2006
2006-The Ten Things Your Career Should Have!
You check your oil in your car every 3,000 miles. Do you check to make sure your career is also running as efficiently as it could be? With 2006 here, it might be time to run down this Central Florida career checklist:
1) In the last 12 months, have you grown professionally in your current position?
2) Do you enjoy your job and look forward to going to work?
3) Are you being paid like others who do your job at other companies?
4) Do you have a career goal and will your current position get you there?
5) Deep down inside, you know you have more to offer, but just can’t seem to find it, stagnating your career. Can you change this?
6) You want to change careers/jobs, but your current employer has been wonderful. You have reached your peak, but your loyalty keeps you going. Is this good?
7) Are you getting the extra education and training needed to be a top performer?
8) Do you have “visibility” in your company or are you just an employee?
9) If your job this year has the same responsibilities and directions it had the last year or two, you know what the results will be if you do the same thing this year. Are these results acceptable?
10) Are you having some fun at your current job?
Each of these items really requires a tremendous amount of thought. But to me, the common theme is simple. Are you in a job that supports your skill set so that you can be as productive as possible? Are you getting the training and education you need to enhance your career path? With the emergence of new technologies and constant change in business models, companies that embrace this will provide the best career paths. They need people who are trainable and want to excel. These companies will create user friendly working environments that make you feel like your part of something, not just a number. Over the next couple weeks, I will break this down even more specifically for you. But for now, take a good look at your current job. You may already have most of these things going in your favor, so you may just need to tweak it a bit. However, if you don’t have any of these things, a total career evaluation will be needed. That is the nice thing about Central Florida and America; you can do anything you want…as long as you commit to it and really want to achieve it!
1) In the last 12 months, have you grown professionally in your current position?
2) Do you enjoy your job and look forward to going to work?
3) Are you being paid like others who do your job at other companies?
4) Do you have a career goal and will your current position get you there?
5) Deep down inside, you know you have more to offer, but just can’t seem to find it, stagnating your career. Can you change this?
6) You want to change careers/jobs, but your current employer has been wonderful. You have reached your peak, but your loyalty keeps you going. Is this good?
7) Are you getting the extra education and training needed to be a top performer?
8) Do you have “visibility” in your company or are you just an employee?
9) If your job this year has the same responsibilities and directions it had the last year or two, you know what the results will be if you do the same thing this year. Are these results acceptable?
10) Are you having some fun at your current job?
Each of these items really requires a tremendous amount of thought. But to me, the common theme is simple. Are you in a job that supports your skill set so that you can be as productive as possible? Are you getting the training and education you need to enhance your career path? With the emergence of new technologies and constant change in business models, companies that embrace this will provide the best career paths. They need people who are trainable and want to excel. These companies will create user friendly working environments that make you feel like your part of something, not just a number. Over the next couple weeks, I will break this down even more specifically for you. But for now, take a good look at your current job. You may already have most of these things going in your favor, so you may just need to tweak it a bit. However, if you don’t have any of these things, a total career evaluation will be needed. That is the nice thing about Central Florida and America; you can do anything you want…as long as you commit to it and really want to achieve it!
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