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Finding a School Counseling Job

Hiring season for the next school year will soon be upon us! If you're looking for your first counseling job or making a move from your current position, I'm sure you've already done your research about the job search, resume and cover letter writing, references, and interviewing in general. Follow all this advice! If you haven't already, be sure to check out ASCA's job search and interview tips  and School Counselor Blog's interview tips. Let me also give you an insider's view.

Because the school counselor holds a central, often unique role in the school and school district, I am often asked to be on hiring committees for teaching, administration, and school counseling positions. Being a member of these committees takes a huge amount of time. Thanks to School Spring and similar job search engines, schools are inundated with applications from people all over the country. And yes, we do have to read almost all of them. Do yourself a favor and make sure that your readers are happy and interested! Then, when you get an interview, make the interviewers understand how you can: (1) quickly integrate into the school community; (2) assess and address the needs of kids, staff, and the school community (and then evaluate how well your plan is working); and (3) ensure that the school counseling program is strong and functional.

Here are some additional tips:

1.  Do a test of SchoolSpring or whatever job search engine you are using. Make sure that all your materials come through in their entirety.  Of course, you will already have checked that all sections are completed, well written, and typo-free. Of course.

2.  For heaven's sake, make it clear that you know about and are interested in this particular job. This means redoing your cover letter -- for each job. At the very least, change the greeting. Preferably, write about something that intrigues you about the school/district to which you are applying.

3.  If you live far away, make a compelling argument about why you want to move/are already planning to move and how you will be available for interviews and potential relocation.  Readers may assume that you're just widely casting a net and don't care about this particular job. See #2 above.

4.  There is a possibility that there will not be a school counselor on the hiring committee, particularly in smaller schools and districts. Even if there is, he/she may be from a different grade level, and there will likely be more administrators and teachers than counselors. Make sure that you do not rely solely on counseling lingo ("client-centered," "ASCA," etc.) because the administrators and teachers on the committee may not be as familiar with it as you might expect. 

5.  When writing about your counseling experience, start with classroom teaching, then groups, then individuals, then other activities (committees, curriculum development, advocacy, etc.) Referencing the collection and use of data and Response to Intervention is important.

6. Schools are about educating. Help the committee understand how you will teach as well as counsel students. And how those two things are related. Some applicants will focus almost solely on their counseling skills and will fail to address teaching, classroom management, behavior support, school climate, collaboration, etc. Set yourself apart from this kind of applicant! They are the ones that go in the NO pile.

7. A reference letter from a classroom teacher will go a long way for you in the credibility department. Teachers are the ones who get to see close up the results of your work with kids.  They may also have seen you teaching in their classrooms. Ditto for letters from an administrator. A letter from your practicum/ internship supervising school counselor is key. This person has probably had the best view of your work, growth, and potential.

8. References from professors are all well and good, but the reality is that what school personnel have to say is likely to be weighted more heavily. This is because they are the ones who have seen your day-in-day-out work in a school setting. Also, administrators like to hear an administrator's perspective, teachers like to hear from teachers, etc. This does not necessarily mean you should omit letters from a professor, but if possible the balance should fall on the side of school personnel. You also need to consider which letters best highlight your skills when choosing which to submit.  In addition, think carefully before submitting a reference letter that is poorly written. I have seen embarrassingly awful, English-butchering examples from administrators and teachers. Sorry to say, if they can't write well, they don't have much credibility, and probably aren't doing you much credit.  (If there are just a few typos, you can probably ask them to correct.)

9. Don't be afraid to ask several people to write letters for you so that you can pick and choose which to submit based on the job for which you are applying -- just be sure that they know your work well enough to speak highly of you.  Ask them if they would like to have a written reminder of some of the things you have done in their classrooms and/or with students they know.  You can also ask them if they will focus on a particular issue or situation.  I am asked to write a LOT of references. Some years ago, a student teacher who had interned in a second grade class asked me specifically to mention how she had handled a situation in which a student had reported abuse to her, how she had supported a particular student, and how she managed behavior in the classroom. It was such a relief to have a framework on which to base my letter. I probably would have covered her classroom management and rapport with kids, but I'm not sure I would have thought to include her role in the disclosure in my letter. Since then I always ask people requesting references to provide me with something similar. It makes my life easier and helps them get a package of reference letters that broadly describes their experience and skills.

10. Writing a good reference takes a lot of time. Make sure to thank the writer with a well thought out thank-you note.  The interviewers won't know you did this, but it's just good karma.

11. Before you interview, find out what kind of counseling model exists at the school. What are the expectations about teaching in classrooms, facilitating groups, individual counseling, and other responsibilities. At the interview, check with the interviewers to make sure you understand the model and ask (tactfully) if that is the model that they wish to continue with.  Show the interviewers how you can meet the needs of the school, honor what is already in place, and, after learning more and assessing what is in place, how you might hope to build upon the current model.

12. If there is something you did not have the chance to do (but wanted to) in your practicum/ internship, let the interviewers know how you are prepared to do it in the future. This is especially important if they ask about something in particular, but impressive if you offer it up beforehand.

13. Think carefully about the questions YOU ask. Among my favorites: "If you had a magic wand what, if any, changes would you make to the school counseling program? Why?" and "What about this counseling program/school are you most proud of?"

14. Good luck! Now go get that job!

Guerilla Planning

I am just as happy as the next person to be completely prepared well in advance of all groups, classes, individual sessions, presentations, meetings, etc., with copies made, technology tested, and materials arranged. However, the reality of school counseling means that sometimes planning and prep have to happen on the fly. Perhaps an issue has arisen in a particular classroom or grade, and you have to go in to address it on a minute's notice. Or you find out that an assembly was scheduled without you knowing it and you have to move a class or group to an earlier time. Or a kid is on her way after being asked to leave class because of some behavior that is getting in the way of others' learning. Yikes!

This calls for Guerilla Planning! Guerilla?????

guerrilla, guerilla [gəˈrɪlə]

n

1. (Military)

a.  a member of an irregular usually politically motivated armed force that combats stronger regular forces, such as the army or police

b.  (as modifier) guerrilla warfare

2. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Botany) a form of vegetative spread in which the advance is from several individual rhizomes or stolons growing rapidly away from the centre, as in some clovers.

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged

Well, probably some people think of me as irregular, but I am generally unarmed, unless you count sharpies, and not all that politically motivated, at least while at school. I do, however, combat stronger regular forces -- like too much to do in too little time, schedules I cannot control, and teachers' room bathrooms that are always full when I have a nanosecond to visit them. Also, I think vegetative spread might explain what happens with the papers on my desk.


My grad student interns and new counseling colleagues are always interested in how to handle these sometimes daunting situations, and after some guerrilla planning last Thursday I decided that it might be helpful to share my method for handling this particular madness. "You're so creative!" my first-year counseling partner, Erica, said, when I showed her what I had pulled together in a few minutes for our social thinking group. Yes, thinking creatively is one of my strengths, but I also have 16 years of experience to draw upon and, most importantly, (1) the belief that I can do it and (2) a procedural tactic.


About 20 minutes before our group meeting time,  Erica forwarded an email she had received from the speech/language pathologist, asking if it would be possible for us to use the group to help work on the following IEP goal for one of our students:

[Student] will describe and demonstrate to the counselor or SLP what it means to have appropriate physical and emotional boundaries, such as adjusting personal space or topics of conversation based on level of personal aquaintance.

This goal fit perfectly under the umbrella of social thinking, and our group was ready to move on to a new unit. (The group is made up of 3rd and 4th grade students on the autism spectrum and/or with anxiety issues that impact social thinking ability. Erica and I co-facilitate.) While this particular student has the biggest issue with maintaining physical and emotional boundaries, all group members could benefit from focusing on this topic.  We decided that rather than having to wait until we had concluded another unit to start addressing the personal space goal, we would go ahead. No time like the present! The clock was ticking.


1. What would be easiest? A book!  I couldn't remember if I had actually ordered the book Personal Space Camp by Julia Cook or if it was still on my wish list (okay, okay, things have been crazy here!), but it turned out that I hadn't, so reading the book was not going to be the centerpiece of our lesson and activity. (See the Books that Heal Kids review here.) Drat! Plan B.

A great idea -- if I actually had the book!

2. I got out my notebook and started scribbling. What did we want the kids to understand about personal space? Right now, they might be able to tell you that they should keep their bodies to themselves, and would definitely object if someone else invaded their space in a way they didn't like.  Adults and kids alike have been telling them for years, over and over, to stay in their own space bubble, not to touch people, etc., but they haven't truly understood or generalized these instructions.  The concept needed to be broken down. I thought about some of these kids' behaviors and scribbled:

• body space -- getting too close and touching too much 
• property space -- touching others' property without permission  
• hearing space -- continuing to talk and/or make noise when        others want you to stop 
• seeing space -- holding objects too close to someone else's face 

I was thinking about how to define and talk about the idea of boundaries and thought: "walls." But then I realized that a potential answer to the question, "Why do houses have walls?" would lead to an answer about keeping the heat from escaping (these kids are Vermonters, after all), which had the potential of leading us down a twisty tangent from which we might never return. I scribbled "fences" instead.

Sloppy, but effective.

3. Because our ultimate goal would be to replace the unexpected behavior of violating other people's boundaries with the expected behavior of recognizing and respecting boundaries, I wanted to come up with a slogan that would clearly state our goal. I thought of "space invaders" and came up with

Be a space protector, not a space invader.

4. I labeled six large index cards (paper would have been fine): one each for the slogan, personal space, and the four kinds of spaces.

Yup, the red marker is bleeding through from the other side.  Perfectionism and guerilla planning are not compatible!

On the back of the Personal Space card, I listed the 4 "spaces." On the back of each of the "space" cards, I wrote descriptions, expanding a bit from my scribbled notes.

Hard to read, but you get the idea. Text is below.

Seeing space 
Keeping things at the expected distance for other people to see them:
     - not too close
     - not too far
     - JUST RIGHT!

Hearing space
Talking when talking is expected
Using the expected volume
Saying things only once, MAYBE twice

Property space
Keeping your hands and bodies off of other people’s things unless they give you permission

Body space
Keeping your body in its own “bubble”

The tricky part:
Your “bubble size will be different in different situations
            - with different people
            - in different spaces
            - at different ages

5. I stacked the cards and, remembering my "fences" idea, grabbed some plastic fence from my sand tray materials, and surrounded the cards. I knew the kids would never be able to keep their hands off of this, what with the surprise of seeing a fence, the colorful lettering, and cool words like "space protector" and "space invader." It would be the perfect way to start a conversation about boundaries.

Time it took before someone touched this: about 4 nanoseconds.

Boom! Fifteen minutes later, and ready for the group, with scribbled ideas that will form the basis of lessons and activities in following sessions. And it went amazingly well! We worked with the fact that almost everyone had been unable to keep from touching things, read and discussed the cards (after working out how to be fair about it all), and they colored space invaders and put a red circle/slash over them. In upcoming groups we will go more in-depth on each kind of "space," will make space protector pictures, perhaps with photos of their heads on drawn bodies, and will explore how we have different expectations about how close/far different parts of our bodies should stay from other people. I'm thinking that this may turn into a game of some sort. I will refer back to my scribbled notebook page, but will probably have more time when I plan the other sessions. I hope.

Space Invader image from Superflex: A Superhero Social Thinking Curriculum. More on this fabulous resource soon!

Things to remember when guerilla planning:


     1.  Ask yourself, "What do I want the kids to know when they  
          leave?" Start there and work backwards.

     2.  Things don't have to be perfect. Hand-written will do if 
          there's no time for printing and   

          copying. Use what's at hand.
     3.  It is possible to create materials with kids as you go. 
          Sometimes it even benefits their learning process. (The kids 
          could have helped make the cards, fetched the fence pieces, 
          or built a Lego fence.)

     4.  Trust your gut about what the kid(s) need.
     5.  Most important! Believe in your ability to be able to create
          something meaningful in a short period of time. It's a great
          opportunity to practice letting go of perfectionism and 
          insecurities that can get in your way.

     6.  You can always go back and make a neater version of 
          materials for future groups/classes if that makes you feel
          better. (Sometimes it just does!)

     7.  Have fun!

Joining the Conversation

I have so appreciated the camaraderie and exchange of ideas made possible by the blogs and websites shared by our school counseling colleagues around the country. With the encouragement of some of them, and with gratitude for the spirit of generosity that exists within our profession, School Counseling by Heart will offer some of my techniques, lessons, materials, insights, experiences, humor, and struggles.  I have been a school counselor for 16 years and regularly supervise graduate student interns and mentor new counselors. I am passionate about collaborating with colleagues and helping to prepare new counselors for the joys and challenges of our field. I hope that what I have to offer will be useful to counselors in far-flung places (from here in Vermont, almost everything is pretty far-flung) as well as to those who come to my school.

Some of you have asked for more information about lessons and activities that my counseling partner and I highlight on our school blog for parents, dbsschoolcounselor.blogspot.com.  School Counseling by Heart will expand upon some of those and be written specifically for school counselors. You'll get more nitty gritty here -- you know, the important stuff, like how to deal with a glitter explosion, temper tantrum, newsletter deadline, demanding colleague, 4th grader on work strike, lunch duty, parent phone call, some kind of body fluid, meeting facilitation, and "you have what in your backpack?" all at once. Oh yeah, and the network is down.

Thanks so much to all the school counselors who contribute so generously to our profession, and who have inspired me to do the same. I am most particularly grateful to the tireless Danielle Schultz of School Counselor Blog, who has shown tremendous leadership in sharing with and connecting school counselors, and to Andrea Burston of JY Joyner Counselor, for techie advice and encouragement. (Be sure to check out her tech info at School Counselor Resources). I am so glad to join the conversation!