I taught for 4 years (2 years K/1, 2 years 4th grade) in public school, and questioned whether I wanted to come back every year. Teaching was taking a toll on my physical and mental health. You know it all. My husband encouraged me that it was okay to let it go and the second he said that relief washed over me. I applied to two jobs and got the second one I applied to. I am taking a decent pay cut but I can already tell you that it is so worth it. The way I would wake up every morning of teaching, worried I would see an email from a parent or an email about how all the paraprofessionals were out, was killing me. Now, I wake up calm and ready for another day.

Anyways, I applied to be a Career Services Advisor at a small local college near me in March. I worked for hours every night on tailoring my resume for the job, writing the application questions, writing a cover letter... I was so elated when I got to interview. They had me review and edit a resume as well as create a presentation about a career readiness topic (resume writing, interview prep, career exploration, etc.) beforehand and then present the items during the interview.

I am so excited for when students come back this fall. So thankful I get to work with students in some capacity still - just not teaching. :)

I want to encourage you all because as teachers it's so easy to get dismissed by others but we have SOO many transferrable skills - we've analyzed data, we've resolved conflicts (after conflicts, after conflicts..), we've managed people, we've worked on year-long projects. And thank you for sharing your stories and letting me lurk the last 4 years. It meant a lot to not feel alone.

Hi, I’m a teacher that lives in Ontario, Canada. I have been applying to various places for entry level office work and I haven’t gotten anything… Yes I have changed the lingo on my resume and everything but no luck.. am I really stuck in the field of education ? I want to work at a nice place where I can move up over time… I don’t have the mindset nor the funds to go back to school either.. I don’t know what to do here. Please help me my friends!! :(

I was offered a job but the idea of taking it feels insurmountable. I know if I want to get out of teaching I need to take the leap, but it feels so scary. What if I hate the new job? The job is a Business Development Manager for a staffing agency. The company seems good and has positive qualities (all insurance, good staff that I met, 401k, uncapped commission) but sometimes I feel like you never know about a position until you try it. What if I hate it the same? What if then I want to get back into teaching and no where will take me??? I just feel so confused. Maybe I just have rose colored glasses about teaching because it’s summer 😭help me!!!

So i am a fairly new teacher, and I had a VERY rough first few months. I got hired in February and had a VERY stressful time with time management as it basically didn’t exist and i had no time for anything but work. I am worried that I am gonna fall into that same pit already as those same feelings have already risen in me and the first day isn’t even here yet. My issue is my constant worry in what i dont have done even though i have the first two weeks done. That leads to dread which leads to fear and then procrastination. I’m just scared that i’m not gonna be able to find that balance and stop worrying for once. Its almost like I dread doing the work as even seeing the notifications on my phone to do planning makes me immediately anxious and I cant focus on doing the work. I’m scared that I’m gonna have this happen to me all over again.

Hello all.

I am currently looking for full time teaching jobs in Texas as a first year teacher, and am having no luck in my local district. I subbed there this past school year thinking it would get me an in, but no luck so far. I've had a few interviews and I just crack under the pressure even though I try so hard to prepare. I wanted to transition into a different career field, but a year and a half later I haven't been able to find a job outside of subbing.

I don't know what to do. I always called teaching my Plan Z, and now that isn't even working out! Apparently the teacher shortage I was told of in college isn't happening anymore, at least around me. I cannot drive far to neighboring districts, and wouldn't want to. I just want a stable full time job with potential for growth!

I told myself if I have to sub for another year, I might as well try to get another degree/cert of some sort, but I don't even know what would be worth my time at this point.

I've thought about:

1. Radiology tech

2. Vet Assistant

3. A 2nd Bachelor's (online, no Universities near me)

4. Master's Degree (online)

5. Paralegal

6. Insurance? But I have no idea where to start.

7. IT (again have no idea where to start)

Does anyone have any advice? I feel so hopeless and I just want to start my career. Ultimately I'm not even worried about pursuing my passions anymore, I just want to work in an office.

Hello all,

Apologies for the long-winded response, I want to try and paint as accurate a picture of my situation as I can.

For the last four months or so now, I’ve been working back home in a fairly rural area of scotland as a till operator/ cashier in a garden centre. This is after deciding not to go into teaching.. of which I spent four years studying and got a degree (first) in DESPITE the fact I never wanted to do it in the first place…. yeah a great big pat on the back to me 🫪🫪. ANYWAY, in Scotland you have to complete a year’s probation (a year teaching a class) before you become fully registered and I opted out at the start of this year. Despite all I have said above, this has hit me extremely extremely hard and I have been really struggling with my mental health as a result.

I have absolutely no intention of going back into teaching, but I also have no idea what I could do now- my life has been solely focused on getting my degree and with no genuine plan for what would entail for me after that point. I know I’m not alone in this feeling and experience at all but still.

The truth is I have never even felt capable of being a teacher even though I’ve got my degree, and completed placements. I have for most of my life had a huge inferiority complex in respect to my intelligence. I’m virtually non-verbal most of the time and cannot interact with people, even my family- responses IRL are a few words at most, and my memory (short/ long) is embarrassingly bad. Like I can’t even tell you what happened a few minutes ago with any degree of accuracy let alone what I did on a trip two years ago!

Sorry for the rant, that was not my intention. What I would like to know is what jobs/ sectors are out there for people who are not necessarily great with people, yet pays fairly well and is not too demanding intellectually.. if that even is a thing in this economy?

I have had a hankering to go and live in Japan through the JET programme (which ironically is teaching lmao).. but I’m not sure if I’d be cut out for it long term, or if I could even survive it tbh.

Any advice would be appreciated, and thank you for taking the time to read my post 🫶

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HnoTc98LEKDLbqhTC_Z_drp9sgM_n8oeDJjq3hnqNPk/edit?usp=drivesdk

Hello everyone, I have decided to leave teaching after teaching high school chemistry for 6 years. At both schools I was at, I had issues with colleagues and admin. I want to state that I know some of those issues inexperienced were due to choices I made. Yet, a lot of what I experienced I feel like was completely uncalled for. I have included the notes I took at both schools for what I was dealing with. I would love thoughts from people who are outside of my immediate orbit. I was at the first school from 2020-2024, and the second school from 2024-2026. The first link is from 1st school and the 2nd link is from my 2nd school. Thanks for your time.