Teacher Job Fair Tip: How to Stand Out at a Teacher Job Fair

If you’ve ever attended a teacher job fair, then you know how depressing the experience can be. Thousands of teachers, all in one place, all with the same goal in mind … to get a teaching job!

Unfortunately, despite the rumors, the fact remains that teaching jobs are extremely hard to come by these days. As you quickly discover at any teacher job fair, there are literally thousands of teachers looking for very few jobs. In fact, at the Lee County teacher job fair in Florida just a couple of years ago, the county didn’t offer a single countywide social studies contract. And just last year at the Great Florida Teach-in, I witnessed teacher after teacher walk into the Tampa Convention Center in hopes of landing a teaching job and coming out depressed and despondent with no prospects.

However, teacher job fairs are NOT a waste of time. The trick is NOT to think of leaving a teacher job fair with a signed contract, but rather to think of the job fair as an opportunity to make connections that are likely to pay off in the long run. You see, what happens at a lot of these countywide teacher job fairs is that the county doesn’t know exactly how many positions will be available. So instead of hiring too many teachers, they hire too few or, in some cases, none. However, as teachers retire, transfer, etc. Teacher jobs will open and teachers who impressed at the teacher job fair will be called up.

So how is it possible for one teacher to stand out at a teacher job fair among thousands of other teachers?

This is not an easy thing to do … hundreds of teachers have to queue for hours just to talk to someone for 3 minutes.

The key is to leave something with each person you interview so they can remember it. There are several ways that teachers do this … the most common is to leave your resume, philosophy statement and / or cover letter, but these are things that everyone does and what you want to do is do something that stands out, something different, something NOT all other teachers are doing.

What you want to do is leave a professionally designed “teacher brochure”. This is not a “cute” brochure with clip art all over it. Instead, you want to create a professional-looking “about me” tri-fold brochure. You’ll want to highlight important aspects of your resume, teach philosophy, add professional images, and a few quotes from your letters of recommendation. Of course, be sure to use quality brochure paper and professional printing.

By giving each interviewer a professional-looking brochure, you will stand out and give them something physical to hold onto with your contact information.