Today was the Greater Philadelphia Teacher Job Fair in Valley Forge, PA. I had been dreading this to begin with because I had heard that this would be a waste of time, plus it was a day away from my class that I love! Well, it turns out those people that warned me about these were absolutely right!!
There were so many booths you couldn't tell where the lines started, ended or what school they were even for. There were soooo many people! The one Florida school was only looking for Secondary Ed positions. Half the booths weren't even doing interviews, just passing out information! Oh, and here is the big kicker: I had been prepared for a lot of walking and waiting in long lines, but what I was not prepared for was waiting in the line just to find out that the school district has no positions available or that they are currently not accepting resumes or that they would rather the applicants check online and send their resumes electronically!!! If you would rather have it electronically, then why the heck are you here?! What happened to being personable and talking face to face?! There was even a school district that had a booth that was not doing interviews, but passing out paperwork for their own job fair and open house in May! Out of all the booths I tried to visit, only 2 did interviews; one was a scripted paper that a guy filled out and one was a woman just asking questions based on my resume. Quite honestly, I think I bombed at least the first one if not both. I was just not comfortable and had trouble concentrating with all of the noise around me.
At this fair, I did not feel like myself. I felt like a number in a suit with stats written above my head that employers looked at. I was uncomfortable and anxious and didn't even feel like I was in my own body. I felt like they were interviewing someone else and I was just sitting there watching. It was a terrible experience and I do not wish to go to any more job fairs. I would really like to see the stats of people who actually get hired at these things! Please, if you have been hired from a job fair before, please comment and let me know, I am very curious about this!
You would think after this crappy part of my day that my woes would be over....guess again.
My dear friend Nicole was nice enough to offer to take me from the job fair to our Thursday night class. She was still doing interviews, so I waited for a while in the lobby of the fair. She eventually texted me when she got out to her car and got her phone so I would know she was there and ready. As I was walking out I get a message from her saying that her car would not start. When I got there, she let me hear the noise it was making; sounded like a tin can was inside of it. The two of us, not knowing anything about cars, thought it would be a good idea to try to give it a jump, thinking that would work. This great guy saw we needed help and offered to help out, which was great since I was staring at the clips and the battery trying to figure out how the heck they went on. (I decided that my Dad needs to teach me a couple things about what is on the inside of a car)
We tried to start the car a few times, but it just would not work, so it wasn't the battery. We thanked the guy and I proceeded to call my all-knowing Dad to have him listen to the sound to see what was the problem. He guessed an air filter, which meant that the car would have to be towed. Nicole's family said they would come out and take care of the car later tonight, but we could not wait because we had to get to class, so my awesome Mom came all the way up to Valley Forge (a 45 minute drive without traffic) to pick us up and take us to our class.
Not only was today a waste of a day, it was an overall crappy day! Now that I have written it down, I am prepared to wipe it completely from my memory! I can't wait to see my kids tomorrow!!
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