On magical unicorn jobs.

Since I've started commuting again (following the oh-so-convenient decade where I just strolled round the corner for work) most of my after-dinner conversations begin, "I was listening to this programme on Radio 4..." In fact, pretty much all of my current interesting knowledge has Radio 4 as its source, which also means my discourses are skewed towards topics which are broadcast at school run times. I was recently listening to an episode of "The Life Scientific" and the scientist being interviewed talked about landing her "magical unicorn job" which I thought sounded cute.

According to Google, a magical unicorn job "refers to an exceptionally rare, ideal, or "perfect" role that perfectly aligns a candidate's high-level skills, passions, and salary expectations." I'm not sure about all of that, but I reckon all my roles have had a magical factor.

It really didn't feel like my career was starting well - an absolute dearth of sparkle and mythical creatures, in fact. During my teacher training year, all my friends (in fact pretty much EVERYONE on the ENTIRE PGCE course) were getting jobs... and then there was me. I couldn't have been that terrible; my qualifications looked good on paper at least, and my main training school asked if I would be interested in staying on there. But I had EIGHT unsuccessful job applications, and by then the clock was really ticking...

My first interview I thought went well: the students were positive during the lesson, the interview questions were as expected and I felt prepared, etc. But they gave the job to their internal trainee (fair enough) and the feedback that they gave me was that I was a little too enthusiastic and I could have sounded more measured in my responses at interview. My next interview I made sure to be less enthusiastic, and the feedback I got that time was that they liked my lesson but that I didn't seem that keen during the interview, and they wanted someone more passionate about the school. And so it went on.

There was a city centre school with an outstanding reputation but this time the lesson went weirdly badly. I was only supposed to have twenty minutes to teach but over-ran, and the students were laughing because my visitor name sticker was tangled in my hair. A couple of schools I applied to, I didn't even get called to interview for. A recipe for misery. An absence of unicorns.

"Once it gets to May, it'll be easier, because you'll only be competing against other PGCEs, as all the proper teachers have a deadline for handing in their notice," my mentor encouraged me.

May came and the end of my PGCE course was looming - was I to be a sole failed statistic they didn't land a job? and then PING - magic - a job finally came up at my then-boyfriend's school. I was the only candidate they interviewed and they offered me the job immediately and - TA-DAH! - I was gainfully employed. Hear the merry clatter of the hooves of gambolling unicorns.

Working with Mike was brilliant on many levels. For the first few months, we were doing up a house, planning a wedding, and I was non-stop working, and if we hadn't have been working and commuting together, I'm not sure we'd have ever had time to talk to each other. I hadn't passed my driving test yet, and so had been worried about travelling to work, and now that was sorted. And Mike looked after me at school. One time I was put on a music cover lesson. I was 22 but looked about 16, new to the school, not musical, and the class were not being very compliant. Mike came and warned them to behave for his wife, and then the lesson went much better.

Also, it was just a wonderful school with a very lovely and experienced English department, and I'm really glad I got to start my career there. A blog on some of the fun we had there, although it really didn't feel fun at the time: https://sarahhadfi.wixsite.com/website/post/on-drama-and-underwear

So I looked back on all the failed job applications and the worry that I'd not get a job, and I saw how I just needed to be patient and there was really something better for me in store all along - I just needed to wait for the magic to happen.

Six years later we had our eldest and then decided my working an hour away wasn't really compatible with parenting a small child. I send out my CV to local schools again, offering supply, but partly dreading it as supply is often challenging. And then the Head of English from the school round the corner got in touch to say they had a teacher off on long-term sick, and they'd love me to come in for long-term supply, pick my own hours, planning done for me, clearing a backlog of marking to be done at the same daily rate but I could work from home. And a friend from church who was a childminder could fit me in for a couple of days a week, and she lived between my house and the school, so I could drop the baby off on the way in, and for a while, even nip back in my lunch break to breastfeed. And then the school offered to create a permanent job for me for which I could pick my own hours again, and I told them I was pregnant, but they went ahead anyway. And I heard friends and mums on forums say how hard it was for working mums to get a decent deal, and I thought, "God's done it again - the role which is perfect for me!" (I'd've maybe called it a magical unicorn job if I knew that were a thing, but I still maybe spotted the toss of a rainbow mane as I signed the made-for-me contract.)

Then later when things went pear-shaped and I was worried that could even be the end of teaching jobs for me, Mike's school had an opening, and again I was offered the job immediately, and they even agreed to a slightly reduced contract so I could still do some school runs with the boys. It was never going to be a forever job (too far away for it to be workable for us both to be there - twice when I got a phone call of doom from the boys' school, I had to tell them I'd be there in an hour, which is clearly not ideal...) but it really was the perfect stop-gap job, and I am forever grateful for the time there. A blog on the circumstances of having to suddenly move schools here https://sarahhadfi.wixsite.com/website/post/on-statements-and-stabilising and on leaving here: https://sarahhadfi.wixsite.com/website/post/on-leaving-speeches

But because I knew it wasn't forever, I was soon back to job-hunting, which I am strangely simultaneously both really unsuccessful and successful at. I had some invitations to interview, went to a couple, which didn't go well at all (one I was really very ill for, maybe Covid, even the morning of the interview I was undecided whether I could even drive myself there; another they said they were shocked when I asked about late starts/no form so I clearly didn't fit the ethos of the school). And then I went for an interview at a local school for a role which I thought was a middle leader level role ('Lead Practitioner - English'), and over the course of the day it became clear it was for a much more demanding, senior leader role. In the interview, I kept giving examples from within my subject, and they would push me towards whole-school things, and when I said something about supporting newer teachers in my department, they corrected that I would be leading on teaching and learning across the school and the money offered was leadership payscale, which was honestly all a bit surprising. When I came home and talked Mike through the intensive day (in-tray exercise, observing lessons and giving teachers feedback, the interview questions) he was really laughing and saying I'd pretty much accidentally interviewed for an Assistant Head job without realising, and then I was in a bit of a flap because I just wasn't sure I wanted that much responsibility, and what on earth should I do if they did offer it, because it would be hard to turn down local well-paid work and a promotion, especially because we have established that I generally do not get jobs I apply for. And Mike pointed out that maybe this could be a good thing career-wise even if it wasn't the job I thought I was applying for, and I kept dithering, "But I don't feel the MAGIC!" Because all the other jobs had felt like divine intervention at just the right time whereas this maybe felt like accidentally blundering into something.

Anyway, the school said they'd let me know on Friday, and then phoned to say they were sorry but they still hadn't fully sorted the team (they were advertising and interviewing for other posts at the same time) and so they'd need until Monday. And on that Friday I also got a phone call from another school, a Christian school I had originally applied for over a decade ago and then withdrew from, to say they had a vacancy from September and might I be interested. And this REALLY NEVER HAPPENS in the teaching world. And I was at our Bible study group and they had been praying for my job situation for a while, and so when my phone was ringing and I was running in and out to answer it, people were asking if I'd heard back about my job interview and I replied, "Well, actually, this is about a different job but it's too soon to say anything!" (such a funny roller-coaster of an evening). I said to Mike, "See - I reckon this one feels like MAGIC!" Exploding rainbows and sparkle galore. And I explained to the latter school that I was waiting to hear back about whether I was going to be offered a job at the former school, but I'd really prefer the latter, and they somehow made everything happen very quickly and TA-DAH! I was in for interview and had a job offer, and could turn down the accidental senior one. So then when I was at work next week and kind colleagues were asking, "How's the job hunting going?", I was like, "Oh yes - I've got a job, but not the one I was telling you about with the weird interview, as it's all change since then!"

I used to love the book "The Secret Garden" and there's a chapter in it where the character Colin talks about "the magic": "Of course there must be lots of Magic in the world... but people don't know what it is like or how to make it". And "Mrs. Sowerby answered. "I never knowed [magic] by that name but what does the name matter?" And I asked my mum what name we called "magic" and she said "Jesus." And I think that's it - what felt like magic was maybe God's guidance all along.

God's real and good provision for me is a better theory to me than magical unicorns, anyway. I'd love to go on Radio 4 and tell people about it.