Understanding the Numbers Game in the Ed Leadership Job Search
In this video, Dr. Justin Baeder explains the statistics behind the education leadership hiring process and why persistence matters.
Key Takeaways
- It's a numbers game - Most candidates need to apply to multiple positions before landing their first admin role
- Each application makes you better - The experience of applying, interviewing, and receiving feedback improves your candidacy
- Don't take rejection personally - The competitive nature of hiring means many strong candidates don't get the first job they apply for
Transcript
If you're looking for a school admin job in the coming year, it's really important to understand the nature of the search.
This is not a one and done process, but a lot of people think it's all about fit, right?
If I just find the right fit for me, if I find my dream job and it's the right fit and the stars align and it's my destiny, then I'll just get it.
The things will just fall into place for that job.
And I hate to break it to you, but that is just not how it works.
This is a real competition.
If you're applying for admin jobs, understand that this is a competition.
It's not really about fit.
It's not really about finding the perfect job for you.
It's about competing as effectively as you can so that you rise above the competition.
And a lot of people don't like to see it as a competition because by nature as educators, we're not competitive, but this is one of those times when we do have to be competitive because those competitors are out there and they're competing against you at every stage, right?
From the paper screening process to the interview process to the reference check process.
Each of those is not just a formality in which you fulfill your destiny and find the job that's the right fit for you.
Each of those is a competitive process where like 80 to 90% of the people are weeded out and don't move on to the next process.
Because see, the thing you have to understand about admin jobs is that especially in good districts, the candidates greatly outnumber the number of positions.
And I know that's not true for a lot of teaching positions, right?
Like if you're a SPED certified and you can teach math and science, like you probably have 10 job offers as soon as you whisper in an empty room that you're looking for a job.
But for admin, it really is competitive and especially in the districts where you will want to work.
Like be a little cautious if it seems too easy to get hired, there's probably a reason for that.
So the good jobs in education are competitive.
They've always been competitive and they continue to be competitive.
And if you want to rise above the competition, you have to know what it takes at every stage.
So think about the different stages.
Paper screening.
You have to have a good application.
You have to have a good resume.
You have to have a good cover letter.
A lot of people are surprised by the cover letter thing because they think, who even does cover letters anymore?
Well, cover letters are, believe it or not, a big deal in ed leadership job applications.
Second, you have to make it past the interview process.
And your first interview might not even be with people, right?
It might be on an app.
It might be on Zoom.
Eventually you'll get to talk to people at a school or people at the district office or both, maybe a superintendent.
And if you make it through that gauntlet, remember at each stage, people are being eliminated and it is your job to survive and make it to the next round.
And I wanna give you a number.
I wanna give you a rule of thumb here.
If you make it to the next round, about 20% of the time, whether that's paper screening, interview, whatever, then you're in good shape.
If you're not making it to the next round more than 20% of the time or significantly less, it's bad and there's an opportunity to improve.
So one thing that you'll probably draw as a conclusion from that is that this is a little bit of a numbers game, right?
You can't just apply for the one job that you think is your destiny and hope to get it.
You have to apply for a fair number of jobs.
And I recommend, you're not going to like this number, I recommend applying for between 25 and 50 jobs if you want to be assured of success.
And I recommend that you monitor your success and make sure that it is above 20% at every stage.
And if not, here's what you do.
Work on it.
If you're not getting interviews, work on your resume and cover letter.
If you're not getting past the first round of interviews, it's probably because you're not interviewing very well.
And that is something you can work on.
If you have other questions about the admin job search or the educator job search in general, leave a comment and let me know.