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I am applying for a job in a C of E school and there's a section that asks me to draw on my experiences and say which i feel are especially relevant to teaching in a C of E school.
I am not a Christian. What am I supposed to put?
I am not even applying for a teaching position!
I was thinking of saying that i have no faith but I do espouse the Christian ethos, which broadly matches my own, and leave it at that. Or should I expand on it? The section is a whole page long and they expect you to list your place of worship and all your church going activities. I know they can't discriminate, but...
 
Put some blurb about christian values, Orang Utan - honesty, kindness, integrity, not judging others (oh how many Christians forget that one :D) and stuff like that. Maybe something about respecting others, thinking about others, being selfless etc etc.

You could say you don't follow a particular faith but you believe the values you've described are vital for helping foster happiness and achievement in children. Something along those lines should work okay.
 
Ooh, great stuff. Ta, purenarcotic!

There's no way I'm lying to get a job. Especially as it would have to be a creative lie, not just saying yes instead of no
 
Also, is there any volunteering you do outside of work? You could mention that and use it to demonstrate that you may not actively practice any religion but you live your life by those values to the best you can.

Religions like to think they created morality so if you can bullshit them to think it's them that has influenced how you live your life I expect they'll like that.

And you're right, I don't think they can discriminate so I think more than how many times you go to church they'll be looking to see if you too will instil the values they hold dear into the children.

Does the school website mention an 'ethos' that talks about their ideas about raising children? You might be able to pinpoint those ideas in your application to match yourself up as much as possible if you get me.
 
Orang Utan said:
Ooh, great stuff. Ta, purenarcotic!

There's no way I'm lying to get a job. Especially as it would have to be a creative lie, not just saying yes instead of no
Click to expand...


I'm sure you must have bent the truth slightly in the past to get a job. we all have. just tell them your faith in the lord jesus christ is strong.
 
purenarcotic said:
Also, is there any volunteering you do outside of work? You could mention that and use it to demonstrate that you may not actively practice any religion but you live your life by those values to the best you can.

Religions like to think they created morality so if you can bullshit them to think it's them that has influenced how you live your life I expect they'll like that.

And you're right, I don't think they can discriminate so I think more than how many times you go to church they'll be looking to see if you too will instil the values they hold dear into the children.

Does the school website mention an 'ethos' that talks about their ideas about raising children? You might be able to pinpoint those ideas in your application to match yourself up as much as possible if you get me.
Click to expand...
No volunteering - my weekend's are sacrosanct as I like to worship in a dance ritual ;)
I'm looking at the website now and am going to read the Every Child Matters government report as the mention that in the job description.
Got to be in by 3pm :eek:
 
Orang Utan said:
No volunteering - my weekend's are sacrosanct as I like to worship in a dance ritual ;)
I'm looking at the website now and am going to read the Every Child Matters government report as the mention that in the job description.
Got to be in by 3pm :eek:
Click to expand...


To give you a brief overview: all children are important, all children deserve to be happy, safe, healthy etc etc.

You no doubt already hold the values of the ECM report tbh, a skim read should be enough for you. :)
 
purenarcotic said:
To give you a brief overview: all children are important, all children deserve to be happy, safe, healthy etc etc.

You no doubt already hold the values of the ECM report tbh, a skim read should be enough for you. :)
Click to expand...
Yeah, I did. A lot of it was very obvious stuff and much of it has been undermined by the Tories :(
 
gabi said:
I'm sure you must have bent the truth slightly in the past to get a job. we all have. just tell them your faith in the lord jesus christ is strong.
Click to expand...
I won't lie to get a job.
In fact I am scrupulously honest.
However that does not mean that I don't omit things :)
Often I omit quite a lot!!
 
Orang Utan said:
Yeah, I did. A lot of it was very obvious stuff and much of it has been undermined by the Tories :(
Click to expand...

Just a thought, I'm pretty sure you've put in your volunteer TA stuff but as some of it was at a local primary school, perhaps you could make something (just a line or two) about your links with that primary school as the school you're applying to is trying to make more and better links with local primaries. And it's true that you do have contacts there and they could come in useful.

Pity you haven't had time to send this to me to proof read.
 
In eth past year I have applied for an average of 6 jobs a week, and had a grand total of 2 interviews. Neither got any further. I have over 30 year work experience and a degree and a masters but am rapidly becoming convinced that I am, in fact, unemployable.the graduate jobs websites have even stopped sending me new updates. I have tried both academic and professional vacancies, retail and manual labour, office and transport, caring roles and administration, and yet can't even get a look in!
Can anyone give me any advice?
 
gabi said:
Maybe apply for this?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...f-helping-unemployed-tick-boxes-benefits.html
Click to expand...

I think there is a point that job centres are forcing people - on the threat of sanctions - to spend time applying for impractical numbers of jobs - which is going to piss employers off as people in some areas (either of work or geographically) are going to have to apply for stuff that's a waste of their time to apply for, just to jump through the JCP hoops.

As ever, though, the daily fail - and this business-woman - are somewhat off target in their invective...
 
barney_pig said:
In eth past year I have applied for an average of 6 jobs a week, and had a grand total of 2 interviews. Neither got any further. I have over 30 year work experience and a degree and a masters but am rapidly becoming convinced that I am, in fact, unemployable.the graduate jobs websites have even stopped sending me new updates. I have tried both academic and professional vacancies, retail and manual labour, office and transport, caring roles and administration, and yet can't even get a look in!
Can anyone give me any advice?
Click to expand...

Hi barney_pig, sorry if you are having a difficult time. I just went through the same for a long long time and it can get you down. I was applying for 2 - 3 jobs a day. After sending any application I would phone the recruitment agent to confirm they received my application and to discuss it.

Sometimes if the advert seemed less than fresh I would call before applying, got some interest that way.

I think these days you have to telephone follow up, partly because people on job seekers allowance are applying in numbers, even to jobs that they don't want and or are not suited for, because they have to apply for at least two jobs a week to qualify for JSA. You have to find a way to stand out from this noise, which the recruitment consultants try to ignore, anyhow calling and making them find your application to discuss it puts you in sharper focus and can make you stand out.

One nice agent who gave me a very professional interview said to me that I should just keep on taking appropriate steps forward every day and I would get the result I was after. She was right.

Another thing that stood me in good stead and was critical in eventually getting this current job, was for each application I sent a custom CV and a custom covering letter. Never a standard application because they are not relevant enough.

You have to be clear who you are applying to, agents rarely forward covering letters on to employers so instead you have to say everything you need to say in the CV itself. [no more than 2 page CVs] If you are applying directly to an employer then your covering letter is much more important.

That is probably telling you how to suck eggs, but I hope it helps.
:)
 
weltweit said:
Hi barney_pig, sorry if you are having a difficult time. I just went through the same for a long long time and it can get you down. I was applying for 2 - 3 jobs a day. After sending any application I would phone the recruitment agent to confirm they received my application and to discuss it.

Sometimes if the advert seemed less than fresh I would call before applying, got some interest that way.

I think these days you have to telephone follow up, partly because people on job seekers allowance are applying in numbers, even to jobs that they don't want and or are not suited for, because they have to apply for at least two jobs a week to qualify for JSA. You have to find a way to stand out from this noise, which the recruitment consultants try to ignore, anyhow calling and making them find your application to discuss it puts you in sharper focus and can make you stand out.

One nice agent who gave me a very professional interview said to me that I should just keep on taking appropriate steps forward every day and I would get the result I was after. She was right.

Another thing that stood me in good stead and was critical in eventually getting this current job, was for each application I sent a custom CV and a custom covering letter. Never a standard application because they are not relevant enough.

You have to be clear who you are applying to, agents rarely forward covering letters on to employers so instead you have to say everything you need to say in the CV itself. [no more than 2 page CVs] If you are applying directly to an employer then your covering letter is much more important.

Hope that helps.
Click to expand...
This is excellent advice thank you.
 
gsv kept up a few phone/Skype interviews while we've been on holiday. The US based company finally gave him an answer on Wednesday. No, but with a very positive 'there's definitely going to be other opportunities, we liked you and we'd really like to keep in touch' type email that was certainly better than a 'we'll keep you on file'. As he suspected, for this role he was missing one area of experience that they were hoping for.

The Skype interview (second stage) went v well apparently, but we were hoping to hear by yesterday; however, nada, which is really annoying as it would be nice to have either been able to celebrate or plan what to do now over the long weekend. Grrr.

On the upside, I've checked our bills account and, due to cutting back the childcare this month, we have enough money to keep us going for this month without touching savings, but he's going to have to sign on for his own spending money if he doesn't get this job from last week.
 
Cloo always disappointing when a job opportunity does not come off. But the experience will have prepared gsv for the next one in that style and will not have been wasted. Better luck next time!! :)
 
weltweit said:
There are so many no's and then there is a yes.
Enjoy each time you have a no because you are one closer to getting your yes!!
:)
Click to expand...

Nicely put!

It's taken a while for me to get back into work after the shock of this year, but the job I'm waiting for the CRB on - I found it on the closing day, had an interview a couple of weeks later and got offered the job a couple of hours after the interview ... sometimes things just happen! Keep yer spirits up - I know it's difficult, jesus, this last year I've been lower than I have for some time. Almost at the brink IYKWIM ... but kept in there. Keep strong both of you x
 
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