When I got there on Monday morning it became quickly apparent to me that there weren't many schools with vacancies for school social workers. Most districts didn't yet know whether they would have any openings, and told me to keep checking online or submit my application to the pool for if any positions opened up. I was frustrated because all of that is stuff that I could have figured out on my own. Nevertheless, I got to have some nice conversations with a couple of different school districts. I stopped by the Minneapolis Public Schools table, the St. Paul Public Schools, and Bloomington Public Schools. At Bloomington I got to have a great talk with one of their recruiters, Raymond Yu, who is a principal at an elementary school in Bloomington. Soon into our conversation I discovered that he was the former principal here at Wellstone Elementary! We had a nice chat about Wellstone, and who was still working there, etc.
Two districts did actually have vacancies for school social workers. The Northeast Metro Intermediate School District had openings for two different positions, and I had a chat with their recruiter, leaving her a copy of my resume. Then I headed over the Wayzata Public Schools table and spoke with their director of Special Education services. They are hiring a Middle School social worker. We had a good conversation and she seemed really excited about all of my experience working with diverse and low-income student populations. She gave me her card and told me to apply online and then e-mail her after I had submitted the application. Wayzata is in Hennepin County and is one of Minneapolis's western suburbs, about a 30 minute drive. It wouldn't be ideal, but I could manage it.
Once I got back home from the fair, I spent a significant amount of time beginning online applications for various school districts. So far I've submitted my application to St. Paul Public Schools, Bloomington Public Schools, NE Metro Intermediate District, and I'm working on my application for a number of others. The Wayzata position hadn't been posted yet, so I e-mailed the recruiter last night and she told me that it had gotten held up but should be posted soon, and that I should make sure to keep checking.
So hopefully something will have come out of this experience. At the very least, I got some practice in speaking with potential employers and learning a little more about different districts. With a any luck, I'll be back in the schools next fall!
