Finding a Teaching Gig in LA

September 3, 2006 12:16 PM

My wife and I will be moving to Los Angeles come this spring. She heard from a colleague that landing a teaching job (K-8th, public or private) is especially hard in LA. Is this true?

Also, any general advice about teaching in LA would be much appreciated. Districts to stay away from, etc.

posted by JPowers to education (8 comments total)

As I understand it, it is REALLY easy to get teaching jobs at private schools. I have a lot of friends with no teaching background, no degree in education, and very little other experience who worked for 2-4 years as science teachers, English teachers, history teachers at private schools in Pasadena and other LA suburbs. All of my friends worked at all-girls high schools.

They generally were hired part time at first and had to also be advisors for different clubs and things.

Hope this helps!
posted by k8t at 12:28 PM on September 3, 2006

Oh, and they were paid poorly. $21k/year.
posted by k8t at 12:29 PM on September 3, 2006

And now I saw K-8th. Doh!
posted by k8t at 1:04 PM on September 3, 2006

A friend of mine who will probably read this question recently started (last week) in the LA suburbs, teaching math at about the 9th grade.

From hearing a lot about her job application/interview process, it seemed her biggest issue/complaint was that almost all teaching jobs in the state are posted to this one internet-based service, and you have to apply through that service in a monster.com-esque way. There did not seem to be a shortage of openings in general, but your specific preferences (geographic, grade level, etc.) may change that significantly...
posted by whatzit at 1:33 PM on September 3, 2006

The service whatzit alludes to is probably edjoin.org. Many small-to-medium-sized school districts in CA use it (including many LA-region schools districts not affiliated with LAUSD), and it's how I landed my current teaching position in Beverly Hills. I've never seen any listings on there from Los Angeles Unified, so she probably needs to apply directly to that district through their HR department.
posted by the_bone at 2:33 PM on September 3, 2006

...almost all teaching jobs in the state are posted to this one internet-based service, and you have to apply through that service in a monster.com-esque way.

Anyone know what this service/site is? We'd like to check it out.
posted by JPowers at 2:34 PM on September 3, 2006

Whoops! I think we posted at the same time. Thanks.
posted by JPowers at 2:37 PM on September 3, 2006

Also, any general advice about teaching in LA would be much appreciated. Districts to stay away from, etc.

Grab a map of L.A. Draw an imaginary triangle with the borders being the 405, 10 and 605 freeways.

Avoid living, working and visiting inside this triangle. Obviously, there are a few exceptions. But as a general rule...
posted by frogan at 8:53 PM on September 3, 2006