I had a rather nontraditional start to my career as an educator. I graduated from Illinois State University with a degree in Mass Communication with an emphasis in Broadcasting. After graduation, I got a job in a public relations/marketing/advertising agency downtown. I was so excited to start my post-college life. I saw myself living downtown and making a living in the business world. I felt confident that I had a job and that I would soon be making enough money to leave the nest and start my own life.
However, it now occurs to me, I never really thought about my purpose. I do have to give myself a little credit. I was only 22. Finding a purpose in life takes some people their entire lives. At the age of 22, purpose wasn’t something I was thinking about. In fact, I hadn’t really thought about my purpose at any point in my life.
Anyways, I started my job interning as an account manager for this PR agency. The hustle and bustle of the commute and the first day felt exciting. I was “adulting” and it was kind of cool! Fast forward about three weeks… After some time making the commute in the rat race and working in the agency, I began losing interest. It didn’t feel fun anymore. I started dreading going to work. There was nothing invigorating about sitting at a desk, staring at a computer screen, writing emails, and making cold calls all day (of course, not all PR agencies are like this. However, this was my experience).
I didn’t know it at the time, but I was missing something extremely important. I was not fulfilling my purpose. I had no conviction. I had no passion. I felt like an easily replaceable cog, just spinning and spinning as the days went by. I had daydream nightmares of myself getting old still doing the same thing, day in and day out, staring at a computer screen, writing emails, and making cold calls.
The day came for my internship to end, and I was not offered a full-time position in the agency. This may sound strange, but I felt a small (very small) sense of failure because I was not hired on full-time, but I also felt an extreme sense of relief. After that internship, I was fairly certain that I wanted nothing to do with the business world, or at least a company that made me feel irrelevant and easily replaceable. Some may say I didn’t give the business world enough time and should have stuck it out because not all businesses or agencies are like the one in which I worked. I know that. Yet, I’m extremely thankful I didn’t stick around.
My mom was a principal around the time that my internship ended. She told me that I should look into substitute teaching to make some money while I was job searching. I did. AND I LOVED IT! Who loves substitute teaching? Subbing is notoriously difficult. Students don’t always treat subs well. The pay isn’t that good. I had no insurance/benefits. I didn’t know much about education at the time so I occasionally felt unprepared. But, I began to notice something. I noticed something about myself as I began interacting with students and the school/district community. I was happy. I felt a connection with education and with all my students and their families. I began to feel a sense of purpose. Because of the connections I was making with students and the school community, I felt like I was making an impact. My students, (which weren’t really mine at the time because I was only subbing, but still), really helped cultivate this purpose in me. I began to feel a strong sense of conviction. I needed to become a teacher in order to help positively change the lives of my students! So, that’s what I did.
I’m writing this post because I’m currently interviewing candidates for multiple teaching positions in my building for the 2017-2018 school year. There are hundreds of books on interviewing. These books delineate types of questions to ask potential candidates. They highlight nonverbal cues to look for while interviewing candidates. However, none of the books touch on purpose, or at least they don’t go into depth about it. One of the things I’m looking for in candidates (among the plethora of other criteria I look for in good teaching candidates) is PURPOSE. I wish I could define this better (so then I could write that book, lol). Sometimes, I even wish that purpose was more quantifiable. I’ve hired teachers in the past who were/are very passionate, and I think this is an aspect of purpose. Yet, I don’t think it’s the same thing. It’s hard to describe. But, as a leader making hiring decisions, sometimes, you just know when someone has/knows his or her purpose. It comes through in all of their answers and their questions. It comes through as they describe their day-to-day responsibilities interacting with children. It becomes apparent when candidates talk about the time they spend with their school communities. At the end of the day, I’m looking to hire teaching candidates who view this job as their purpose, not just a paycheck.
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Dr. E's Educational Explorations 