Should I even apply?

There is a job that I would love to apply for. However, it is full-time and I want to work three days a week. Also, it’s an Easter start, but I would like to return from maternity leave in July. Finally, they want someone to teach two subjects, but I have no experience in one of them. Is it worth me applying?

This job may seem good for you but I really see this as a big problem for the school. You want them to find someone to teach two days alongside you, so they would have to advertise and interview all over again. You also want them to find someone who will teach full-time up to the end of June, and then back out to let you and the two-day-a-week person take over. You hope to be paid for the whole of July and August when you have probably only worked two or three weeks, and the person who has been teaching up until then will not get the pay over the summer holidays. And, finally, you cannot actually teach one of the required subjects.

Wouldn’t they be better off just appointing someone who can teach what is required, teach full-time and teach from the date that they need them? That would be the obvious thing to do. I hope you can see my point here.

If you want to teach part-time only, you can request this at your current school for your return from maternity leave (although you have no right to have your wish granted). If you want to start back in July then your only hope, realistically, is to go back to your current school, which has to allow this unusual start date. You could in the meantime apply for other jobs, part-time ones, for September.

I am really sorry about this answer. It’s not what you were hoping for, I know. But it is the reasonable person’s answer rather than the hopeful person’s one.

Meet Theodora Griff online on the TES Jobseekers forum or in person at a TES Careers Advice Service seminar or individual consultation. bit.lyuWhqN2.