Currently April and a Job Hunt Tip

I'm linking up with Farley's Currently April party!  Here's mine!

Anyone addicted to the new ABC TV show, Once Upon A Time?  It's so good! You need to check it out if you like all of those princes and princesses and fairy tales.

I've been struggling with my free time on my laptop between blog stalking and trying to complete my TESOL online course.  I just started this month and it's a lot of reading!!!  Many of my teacher friends, school staff, and other substitutes have told me that adding a TESOL certificate to my resume will boost my chances to finding a full-time teaching position next year.  I am hoping and praying that's the case, since it is a decent amount of money and time I am spending.

Do you or do you know any teachers that also have a TESOL certificate on top of their teaching certificate?  I would love to hear some input about this.  Since job hunting season is about to come up, I wonder how people are preparing themselves (definitely people like me who are already a year out of college).  It's scary to not know what will happen this year will a lot of school budget cuts going on nationwide.

Anyways, here's my Job Hunt tip that I learned from last summer: If you are like me and are willing to move anywhere for a teaching job, you must stay organized!  The teaching applications will add up and the emails will become confusing (or at least for me it did).  I use Microsoft Excel to organize all of my teaching applications.  This is what mine looked like last year:

The main sections I use are:

• Location/School District
• Contact (I put the name provided on here (phone # and email). If there is no name, then I put the website link so I can look up the principal or HR contact. I also put the grade I applied for to reference.)
• Date Updated
• Date Submitted
• Need to Submit!
• Documents submitted

I organize my list by state.  So I with my home state and group all of the schools/districts within that state under it.

Then I color coordinate my list.  This will be helpful when you list becomes really long.

• Blue = didn't get the job
• Red = need to complete application, send cover letter/resume, contact school/principal/HR (basically anything you need to finish!)
• Green = have an interview.  Then I wait for results.  I change this to blue if I get the rejection call/email/letter.

Did you have a system of organizing your teaching applications?  This was the best way my friends and I came up with.

Don't forget to link up with Farley!