NQT seeks desperate help on personal statement for applications

Please can anyone help me I am a newly qualified teacher who has not been able to secure a permanent position. I am registered with several supply agencies and they have told me that my

references came back really good. However when I apply for jobs I am getting refused straight away and not even getting on a shortlist. I am convinced this is due to a poor personal statement. Having followed the advice on the TES websites, prospects websites and of several people ranging from heads to supply recruiters. My personal statement has been written and re-written, as well as restyled several times by me. I am anxious to get this sorted before next week as i will be applying for jobs in september.

What i am looking for is someone to look at my personal statement and advise me in detail ( i.e examples of how to make it sound better). I will not post it online but please can someone help me.

 

You can email it to me on jilltes@yahoo.co.uk if you wish and I'll read it.

 

Hope you got my personal statement, emailed it last night, could have gone to your junk folder.

 

 Hi
 Have you looked around on the other forums for advice? e.g. NQT, Unemployed etc? I'll post a link to the infamous theogriff thread, full of really useful advice for applications.
https://community.tes.co.uk/forums/t/1598.aspx?PageIndex=1 
Good luck 

 

Thank you ruth, i'll get a copy to you.

 

Not advisable to share personal statements- they are by their nature individual- see Theo griff and others advice on making applications.
Use your university careers services- you pay for them- good source of advice re interviews and questions- badger your university tutors to provide some support/workshops- most now do

 

I have already followed Theogriffs advice on applying for jobs as well as tes information on how to write personal statements. I don't have the luxury of a college tutor anymore, left college in june 08 after qualifying with QTS and PGCE. Not everyone who looks at personal statement's wants to pinch pieces for their own. If after 15 attempts its not individual enough to get you a job, asking for help seems like a good idea. Some people are good teachers who can sell themselves easily to schools and others are just good teachers. If anybody decided to pinch any of my personal statement they would be dooming themselves to rejection, so I don't see it happening. However the advice I recieved when someone looked at mine was constructive, well thought and could be helpful as it was not general references as to what everyone should do or include but was specific to me. I'm already writing a new letter/statement each time, going though each of the requirements of the person specification and addressing them in the letter, and its getting me nothing except refusal letters so a fresh outlook from someone else can be helpful.

 

Isnt it a fact, though, that if 'the face doesnt fit' the job will not be yours, regardless! good luck, I too am in the same position, I am also a mature NQT which some say has the added advantage of having more outside of teaching experience. I have now completed several supply teaching roles and am more than ready for induction. However the job market has got stagnant too with schools on drastically reduced budgets, hiring cover supervisors instead of teachers. When I have worked as a cover supervisor I have taught instead to keep my own skills ticking over nicely! I have been advised though to take on a teaching assistant post that comes up and do more than what you are required to do....surely the school must take you then at the first opportunity it gets, as I hope to be !!! Good luck to us both huh?

 

This thread could have been written by me! It's so disheartening to spend hourse on each app and not to even get shortlisted. If i don't get anything by summer, i'll give on teaching completely i think.

 

Wow! could you email me your personal statment too? It would be of great help as I am going through exactly the same problem. My email is:gracious89@hotmail.co.uk

 

Just to give you an update, after i wrote that post i had no success with jobs and still havent as a teacher. i have managed to get two terms of my induction completed on supply and was taken on by a school however when it came to the interview i was not successful, because there were stronger candidates there nevermind the 5 months i worked in tthe school. This happened to me twice, so i decided that all the grief I was getting over the debt and bills i had accrued was too much and so I decided to take a year off from applying. As I was not legal to teach on supply I took a job in a school as a level 2a teaching assistant in the hope i would have money for courses i needed to improve my teaching to get hired. Currently i am still working as a teaching assistant, i did offer my services for ppa from this september when the rules changed but have not yet worked any cover. Recently i began tutoring small groups at a tuition centre on the weekend and now work 7 days a week as the money i was being paid as a ta is not enough to live on alone and only just covers the bills. I have not given up on teaching and i am working on my classroom practice whilst tutoring, however i will not be able to apply for any jobs till september.