VIT and contracts

I have two meeting days coming up next week with my new school, the first is a PD day for SOSE staff and the second is a "meet the principal and new staff day". I am very excited and anxious about meeting everyone, it will be nice to get to know who the other new staff are on the Wednesday, we are also being given our contracts on this day also, so that will be interesting.
The only issue I am having at the moment is my VIT provisional number. I have spoken to women responsible for recording my successful application on the department webpage, she requires that number which I have not received.
I have contacted VIT, however the call centre was down...very convenient. I contacted them through email but it will take up to 5 days for them to get back to me....again not convenient.
So pretty much what I needed to know was that I needed to add my provisional number on the recruitment webpage if I had have had it by then, if not I needed to contact VIT asap once I had made the payment to them to receive the provisional number for my new employer.
Hopefully I receive it soon as I cannot receive my contract until that time.
So many things to learn!

After you are offered the job....what then?

Currently I have been offered the job at my secondary school and I have accepted, however I am unsure of what happens now...

The panel told me they would send out the contract etc in the mail, which I am sure they will but I have not received them as yet. 

It is a strange feeling being in this stage, I know at the school they are extremely busy around this time, but I can't help but feel slightly anxious about the whole situation. I am ready to sign the contract or at least start looking at and see how next year is going to work.

I have just been contacted by the SOSE coordinator and she has invited me to a PD session on the 14th to meet everyone and gain some knowledge regarding the teaching of SOSE in 2011.

I am very excited about this but also nervous...first time in a school or place or work is a nerve racking experience ...or is that just me?

I am looking forward to hopefully finding out what I will be teaching and who asap, and then i can begin to prepare or just begin to think about what those years levels or subjects might require from me.

Getting a position

Talking in the past tense now as I secured a position at Mt. Clear Secondary in Ballarat a few weeks ago now, however I still see it is an important to add how this process was for me and what I discovered from it.

I first began applying for jobs as soon as recruitment online opened in 2010. I applied and for a few positions as trials to see how the system worked without really attempting to get the position as i didn't provide KSC or cover letter. Just attempted to upload my resume and send it off. This ended up being an important move for me as I then new exactly what to do when there was no mail address for the application and so it needed to be all submitted online. 

I had one unsuccessful interview before securing a place at Mt. Clear, it was not a graduate position and this i learnt meant a much harder panel and greater expectation. However I did get a call back just recently to apply for another position so it really helped to go to that interview and practice my interviewing skills.

During our last University unit we studied the art of interviewing, resumes and KSC etc so I did have a small idea of what to expect.

I found that i wasn't as nervous because I prepared well and thoroughly and new the aspects of my experience that i wanted to share. I used a paper folder, and placed sticky notes all over the inside as cue cards and took that in to my interviews as well as photos and a portfolio. These aids assisted me in directing my answers.

One aspect I found difficult as a graduate in an interview was the experience I had had in comparison to what was expected by the interview panel. I found it difficult to provide responses in many questions I had not experienced that as yet. The interviews I have had i have been very fortunate as they have been lovely people on the panel and they have clearly stated that they understand the limitation in my experience being a graduate, however it is still disheartening to think you have not experienced many things before you walk in as a real teacher...however very little you can do about that.

Overall I found that being myself, bringing my personality into the interview was a successful move and being prepared before walking in also was the best thing I could do for myself to prevent me from getting flustered.

Good luck to other graduates interviewing presently

Welcome

Welcome to my blog

My name is Abby Schultz and I have began this blog to record and share with the world my experiences from beyond University.

I am 23 yrs of age, I have just completed a Bachelor of Education P-10 from the University of Ballarat in Victoria Australia and have also just won myself a job at Mt. Clear Secondary in Ballarat teaching English and Humanities.

I am originally from a small town of 1500-2000 in Wimmera Victoria, I am starting my career in a school of about 1000+ students.

I wanted to record my experiences from beyond University as it really is stepping out into the real world and as an on looker for so many years it seems you either crash or succeed. I want other graduate teachers to be able to follow my journey and see how I travel. 

It is also a great way to record my own journey and be able to reflect on the positives and negatives etc.