I have been MIA for the last 6 weeks. It was all due to the monster some of you may otherwise know as recruiting. Recruiting is a beast that I find hard to tame even after being in the professional world for nearly 20 years. Recruiting is a beast that will consume you, toss you around, make you doubt yourself and at the same time make you better at your game than you've been in awhile. It can suffocate, empower and move you to creative wisdom or put you on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Those of you around the world who both work without help and a young child, or two, or four, I repeatedly pray for you daily and salute you from afar. #4 I identified my strong network of friends going through the same process and we coached one another. Whether it was talking through potential interview questions while pumping for our babies or discussing positives and negatives of job offers; having two women who I admire as educators and aspire to be like as mothers and global citizens was definitely a success factor. Finally, #5, I tried as much as I can for having control issues and wanting to clear mental space to not care too much. Staying in Kuala Lumpur was an option: a good job, an easy city, solid friends across neighborhoods and a wonderful nanny, we had very little to complain about. I tried to say a mantra of "It's going to be fine and work out" everyday and I reflected at the beginning on all that I wanted to be and at the end of the day on all that I was thankful for.
So there you have it, my Recipes for Success as you go into recruiting season 2017-18.
1) Don't obsess. Okay, you can a little, but give yourself a break. You are probably much better than you are giving yourself credit for.
2) Zoom in on what you want. I know this is hard, but you need to think, job, country and consider the characteristics that affect your happiness that will theoretically always surround you. It could be your cat OR your desire to drink wine easily, be outside and run (in which case, do not go to Dubai).
3) Be aware of your needs and the people who matter's needs.
4) Surround yourself with love and people who are going through the same experience. Coach one another.
5) Try not to care too much.
And for those of you who don't know where Andres, Pablito and I are going next... you owe me an email. XoXo
To be honest, it all could have been worse. I had one of the most pleasant recruiting sessions I have had in my existence and why, a few good reasons. #1, I didn't obsess. I mean I did.. Don't get me wrong. I updated my website. I started blogging, tweeting, more. I checked TIEonline twice a day for new job postings and I sent some pretty crazy last minute emails when considering if I needed to buy a fight to Dubai the next day. Okay, maybe I did obsess, a little. #2 I obsessed a little but I zoomed in on what I wanted. This was a big shift in years past. I am lucky that the nature of my job over the last 2.5 years has morphed from literacy coach to ES learning specialist and my toolkit has expanded. Having said that, my work in the last two years has made me even more aware of the fact that I would prefer not to be in the ES classroom while it remains in the traditional current model. ES classroom teachers are incredible super humans but they are undervalued, highly underpaid, overstressed and the demand of being competent in 4+ subject areas, a wizard of instructional strategies, a master of differentiation and a counselor/ psychologist to the ever shifting needs of 21st century learners; is highly unreasonable. Therefore, my job search was basically down to two options: instructional coach or MS Humanities teacher. I saw pros/ cons of going back into the classroom or staying out and building on what I have the last 2.5 years but in narrowing my choice down to those two positions, I breathed a little easier. #3 Consider those who count. I have a family to think about. Andres, my dear partner, moved for me this last time. He wanted to move again but after experiencing the wonderful world of international teaching and not always so rosy, as a trailing spouse, we both had clearer criteria of what we wanted next, and with super Pablo in tow, we knew having help was crucial to our well-being as professionals, and as passionate lovers invested in one another.
So there you have it, my Recipes for Success as you go into recruiting season 2017-18.
1) Don't obsess. Okay, you can a little, but give yourself a break. You are probably much better than you are giving yourself credit for.
2) Zoom in on what you want. I know this is hard, but you need to think, job, country and consider the characteristics that affect your happiness that will theoretically always surround you. It could be your cat OR your desire to drink wine easily, be outside and run (in which case, do not go to Dubai).
3) Be aware of your needs and the people who matter's needs.
4) Surround yourself with love and people who are going through the same experience. Coach one another.
5) Try not to care too much.
And for those of you who don't know where Andres, Pablito and I are going next... you owe me an email. XoXo
The recipe worked for you, for sure! Good things usually happen to good people!
ReplyDeleteOmg..do tell! I didn't even know you were thinking about leaving.
ReplyDelete