DODDS Hiring Question

[PsyGuy]

@jimmy_spank

If your certified you dont need 18 hours you need 9 hours of professional educator coursework. I would start with what ever state colleges and universities are in your home of residence, as you will pay in state tuition. Also include community and junior colleges, some of them offer teacher certification programs. As long as the school is accredited and they provide a transcript listing the courses as education courses (not electives), then the cheapest institution with the most convenient options is the best choice. Education programs are everywhere, i couldnt begin to start a list of where to go.

[kris10msmith]

What does hiring look like for Dodea this year? Is the timeline different this year? I know the transfer round was several months earlier, and I got an email saying hiring would begin in March. Ihave 15 certs, most of them SPED and 16 years of experience, mostly sped. Is Sped a position that hires sooner in the hiring season, or do they want until later with enrollment numbers? Just curious about my chances of getting an interview this spring.

[wrldtrvlr123]

It's always hard to try and predict stateside hiring numbers in a given year with DoDDS. The transfer round is over but they are still trying to place around 18 excessed teachers (mostly secondary/specialty areas at this point).

That being said there were 100+ transfers and those transfers created openings which likely will be filled through stateside hires (if they cannot be filled by qualified local hires). They won't wait for enrollments numbers necessarily but I would imagine that some positions will be created/become available later in the process through numbers going up, people PCSing and putting in notice after their spouse gets orders etc.

Just guessing, but I would think that hiring may start a bit earlier than usual with much of it still being done in June and July. But this is the gov't so who really knows.

SPED is a great area to have but I don't think they intentionally hire early or late for it. I do know there will be openings for SPED all over, but especially in the Pacific.

[kris10msmith]

That's good news! Thank you for the reply. So I'm not shooting myself in the foot completely by not selecting areas in the Pacific if there are sped openings everywhere? I think Japan would be a great experience, but I am hesitant for two reasons: 1) pet quarantine- I love my dog and don't want to put him through it. 2) it sounds like transfers are not easy, I intend to keep this job for a while. It's a relatively cheap and usually direct flight from any major city in Europe to my family in NY. Hopin hiring happens earlier as I don't like waiting! Haha.

[PsyGuy]

@kris10msmith

Your shooting yourself in the foot if your not open to world wide availability. There will be a handful of vacancies worldwide for all combined vacancies, there will be a couple SPED vacancies and maybe 1 (possibly 2) in EUR.

I also agree with @WT123 that hiring is going to start a little earlier but that will still be June before recruiting starts.

Pet quarantine isnt that big of an issue. Travel is a little longer from Japan, but holding out for EUR as a CONUS may mean never getting an appointment.

[kris10msmith]

There were close to 20 sped opening that I'm qualified for during the transfer round. Obviously, the locations will change as people have transferred. But is it safe to assume the number of *possible* Openings will be the same?

[wrldtrvlr123]

It's not safe to assume anything with DoDDS (or the government in general). There is some logic/validity to the belief/hope that there will be significant numbers of SPED positions open to CONUS hires. Some positions might still be filled internally by local hires or current DoDDS teachers switching positions but additional positions will be created by PSC, retirement, LWOP etc, all of which often happens late in the year or even early in the fall.

I know of several SPED positions in the Japan District alone which will be opening that were not filled in the transfer round and are not likely to be filled by local hires. If you are dead set on Europe, that will significantly reduce your chances but it could still happen. I was hired directly to Europe, even though conventional wisdom says that most new hires start in the Pacific.

[PsyGuy]

@kris10msmith

I generally agree with @WT123, in addition to internal hires and locals a number of those positions are going to be over hires and the vacancy will just disappear. Theres going to be about 6-8 vacancies in SPED that go CONUS and only 1 or 2 of those will be in EUR.

[kris10msmith]

I hear ya, and everything you are saying makes sense. I guess I need to decide if I will be happier teaching in the public school where I am now, or moving to Asia somewhere I've never been or know nothing about. I will say, I am the kind of person who struggles with the initial decision, but once it's made -- I jump in and embrace and love it. Meaning, if i decide to add Asia to my application I will get myself so excited about the opportunity and do all I can to learn about the culture and life there. I hate to sound ignorant, but is Japanese hard to learn? Do people speak English fluently? I've lived in a huge military area for a while, so I have many friends that have lived overseas (mostly Middle East and europe ) and they all say the best thing they did was try and learn the language and speak Italian, German, Farsi, etc. I've heard that many Europeans are welcoming of Americans trying to learn the language and help them (I've noticed that while traveling as well). Is this true about Japan? Wherever I end up, I want to make the most of the experience and learn as much as I can about that culture. Will I use my time to travel --- of course. Am I happy about the pay raise and LQA -- definitely. But for me the biggest thing is doing something that I never would have imagined I had the opportunity to do, and embrace a different culture, while still supporting the military.

Also sound likes hiring will not be immediate. I am taking a PreK early literacy course, and after that will only need 3 more credits to fulfill the requirements for preK, Kindergarten and Preschool Sped. Sounds like I have time to do this before the bulk of hiring--- are PreK and K (general Ed) half day programs? I know some sped positions are .5 and it seems like preK and K could be a .5 position as well. Adding PreK sped would mean I have all sped certs except for hearing and physical impairment.

[wrldtrvlr123]

I know many people have an idealized view of Europe. I've been with DoDDS in Europe and in Japan and I would say many things are a wash. How many of the local nationals speak English will vary widely from location to location, even within the same country. The nice thing about DoDDS (and the thing that turns many int'l teachers off) is that you have a base of Little America to work from so you don't really NEED that much of the local language for daily living. You can venture out a little at a time until you feel more confident.

I speak and read a little Japanese but even if I didn't, shopping, eating out and local travel are relatively easy. I would say it was about a wash with ease of those things in Germany and Italy. We live off base and do quite a few things on the economy but many people don't. Japanese is probably a little harder than German/Italian but easier than Arabic and Mandarin. Survival Japanese is not that difficult to pick up if you put your mind to it.

As for the attitude of locals towards Americans, again it's about a wash. Germans are generally neutral or reasonably positive but if they are not, they are not shy about showing it. Japanese are also generally neutral or positive but even if they are not they are too polite to show it (although Okinawa could be a different story). And, I'm pretty happy to be out of Europe given the problems they are having with migrants etc. I know full well that the headlines aren't always felt by the people on the ground but things are getting uglier there.

But, in the end, you have to do what you are comfortable with and what you yearn to do. We liked Germany but yearned to get back to Japan. If you have your heart set on Europe then stand pat and keep working on certs that will make you more marketable (like Pre-K SPED). Those programs are sometimes half day for the students but are full time positions. Sometimes .5 SPED positions are shared between schools in the same complex.

[kris10msmith]

That's helpful, thank you. I had wondered if Europe was changing over the migrant situation. I have several friends living in Italy that don't notice anything, but I think Germany and Belgium are a different story. I've heard they are housing the refugees in old DoD campus buildings that have closed?

[PsyGuy]

@kris10msmith

I generally agree with @WT123, EUR is over romanticized, most of our posts are not in major capital cities and are in out of the way locations. Whereas in PAC there are 3 posts in the Tokyo area, and a post right in Seoul for example. You dont need much language to get by in any location. Many Europeans study English in secondary. Many Koreans and Japanese study English. Most of the time you will find dual language in English and the national language. You will find English menus in many restaurants in major capitol cities. You can survive quite well on base if you have to, and many DoDDS teachers prefer it that way.

Europeans arent shy about their feelings and sharing them Asians are to polite to cause someone to lose face by saying something possibly offensive.

Understand that the transfer program is nothing what it used to be where you entered into PAC and then did a few years and applied to EUR, wherever you go your likely to be staying there 5 years or so before you get a high enough transfer category to move to EUR, and EUR has been shrinking and will continue to shrink.

[kris10msmith]

I made a referral list! What is my next move? Wait? I will say this happens to be a principal who I emailed my resume and letter of intent a few months ago and the response was "Thank you for your interest, but HR will send a list of qualified applicants if I have an opening". My gut feeling is to actually just sit back and wait for contact (hopefully).

[PsyGuy]

@kris10msmith

Well the most important thing is to keep your phone charged and make sure your EAS number is a phone you can get to within a few rings 24/7, some principals dont schedule advance interviews, they call out of the blue and a vacancy can be filled in hours. Otherwise you just wait, there is nothing else to do, and referral lists dont mean much. You could be interview bait.

Its possible but unlikely that HR created a referral list for this principal, its possible, but principals advocated hard for having more input in selection, hence EAS has a wportal that they can access and create their own referral lists. While its possible your principal really did have HR finalize a referral list, its much more likely that the principal doesnt want to be the bad guy by using HR/HQ as a scape goat.

[kris10msmith]

So does this mean there were no available local hires, or could they be on the list too.