Hey there,
Well here is where I am at now...and where I have been going with my job searches.
1) 1 job with NCDSB as a Supply Teacher...but I need to get back to Canada to finish the hiring...the anticipation is brutal...London Catholic reached out...but won't conduct an online interview. This changed and they were willing to meet my needs as an applicant in 2020, a week or two after they initially said they wouldn't.
2) 1 job teaching online with QKids...easy money, but long hours.
3) 1 job (if I press on with it), in Guangzhou, PRC...not my most desirable location but they offer ON curriculum and a steady paycheck.
4) 2 interviews with English training centers that may help me with Summer work in China...this is important because I need to find a way to make it back to China each summer more conveniently...its a promise I made to the wife...and one I certainly plan to uphold.
5) A lot of application experience with Linkedin...actually very positive experiences! Thanks Linkedin!
6) The heartbreaking truth that I should have just gotta a MA...there isn't enough work in ON for teachers to support what my original plan was which was the PQP route in my career through having two Specializations.
7) The potential to...return to ML if everything hits the fan before June...this is in the wife's best interests...so she thinks...OH BUT THEY OFFERED A.uhhh "Pension Plan"? Or so they call it...ya...not exactly a real game changer, more of a "crowd fund" to keep the company alive...
8) Offers to work (serious/considerable ones) in Indonesia (wife won't accept that), South America (wife won't accept that), and other locations in China that...the wife is not okay with...
In total I have applied to over 50 jobs...ya..some I will admit I am not qualified for, but I am going to try because regardless of the expected qualification...I can do it...just need that gambler who wants to wager in favour of me. Not many of those these days unfortunately...Other jobs I have posted to are me trying to break into other career paths in Canada...which isn't easy at all because apparently one needs training in simplistic office tasks...ugh...I really hate "adulting sometimes"..
Tips:
Check out cover letter writing guidelines set out by the Ontario government...ya this would have been helpful in reassuring/putting to rest my fears and concerns of my cover letter...already knew it, but was just confident about my cover letters.
https://www.gojobs.gov.on.ca/Docs/OPSCoverLetterandResumeWritingGuide.pdf
Key notes,
1. Its a first impression
2. Its supplementary to your resume
3. Describe skills and knowledge you have related to position being applied for
4. Enhance your resume by adding a more "personal touch"
5. One to two pages
6. Use jargon
Well here is where I am at now...and where I have been going with my job searches.
1) 1 job with NCDSB as a Supply Teacher...but I need to get back to Canada to finish the hiring...the anticipation is brutal...London Catholic reached out...but won't conduct an online interview. This changed and they were willing to meet my needs as an applicant in 2020, a week or two after they initially said they wouldn't.
2) 1 job teaching online with QKids...easy money, but long hours.
3) 1 job (if I press on with it), in Guangzhou, PRC...not my most desirable location but they offer ON curriculum and a steady paycheck.
4) 2 interviews with English training centers that may help me with Summer work in China...this is important because I need to find a way to make it back to China each summer more conveniently...its a promise I made to the wife...and one I certainly plan to uphold.
5) A lot of application experience with Linkedin...actually very positive experiences! Thanks Linkedin!
6) The heartbreaking truth that I should have just gotta a MA...there isn't enough work in ON for teachers to support what my original plan was which was the PQP route in my career through having two Specializations.
7) The potential to...return to ML if everything hits the fan before June...this is in the wife's best interests...so she thinks...OH BUT THEY OFFERED A.uhhh "Pension Plan"? Or so they call it...ya...not exactly a real game changer, more of a "crowd fund" to keep the company alive...
8) Offers to work (serious/considerable ones) in Indonesia (wife won't accept that), South America (wife won't accept that), and other locations in China that...the wife is not okay with...
In total I have applied to over 50 jobs...ya..some I will admit I am not qualified for, but I am going to try because regardless of the expected qualification...I can do it...just need that gambler who wants to wager in favour of me. Not many of those these days unfortunately...Other jobs I have posted to are me trying to break into other career paths in Canada...which isn't easy at all because apparently one needs training in simplistic office tasks...ugh...I really hate "adulting sometimes"..
Tips:
Check out cover letter writing guidelines set out by the Ontario government...ya this would have been helpful in reassuring/putting to rest my fears and concerns of my cover letter...already knew it, but was just confident about my cover letters.
https://www.gojobs.gov.on.ca/Docs/OPSCoverLetterandResumeWritingGuide.pdf
Key notes,
1. Its a first impression
2. Its supplementary to your resume
3. Describe skills and knowledge you have related to position being applied for
4. Enhance your resume by adding a more "personal touch"
5. One to two pages
6. Use jargon
----------Long SInce--------------
I have moved back t Canada. In 2024-2025, I began applying to jobs. I was still in China when I was being selected for interviews with UGDSB and Wellington District School Board. Through those experiences they expressed the urge to apply in the Spring as the demand for teachers to supply was to high for them to wait for a supply teacher to come in.
That being said I took time to apply to other jobs, the serch yielded a great deal and all quite fortunate situations.
1) A job for my wife and I to teach full-time in a northern community (Ontario), the staff and band liasons were all very kind, nice and welcoming through the process. In the end I and my wife decided for our first year back to Canada this may not be the most reasonable plan for our son in grade 2, especially as she hopes to be in an area that gives him the opportunity to continually practice his Chinese (Mandarin). Really hoping though that the opportunity remains as an option for the future-as they said, they would be happy to invite us back when we felt ready.
2) Applyby College (Summer Teacher Enrichment), was a position that caught me by surprise and although is ways away from where we are landing, with what I am looking at in regards to the cost of living and starting anew in Canada, this is an opportuntiy. Later they determined that they needed a teacher for the full-summer (both sessions-4 weeks in length) rather than a teacher who is only working the singular 4 week session. I wouldn't be able to physically be back in Canada early enough for that anyways, thus, it is what it is.
3) Edmonton Catholic Schoolboard was happy to take me on in a supply role as soon as I landed in Edmonton. This was also not a reasonable option for our family after discussing the matter further.
4) Kent College is a private school in Niagara Falls and was seemingly my best offer for time, but it was an immediate response, demonstrating there is a sense of desperation on their end, and for the payment-that much I understand. 35$/hr, optional afterschool and summer/online classes. Lunch provided, no benefits. Classroom size undetermined.
5) I also received a couple opportunities to work with some other private schools around Toronto, however, again, very uncompetitive in salary and very much demonstrating that they don't have room for teachers to take sick days. I get that supply work doesn't extend into the private schools, but there are ways/forms of taking on this solve as a leader, I feel private schools will experience difficulty if their compensation packages are either not competitive or they cannot provide teachers with benefits and certainties in the field of human needs. I admire the grind that many of these principals seem to taking, having to decline a request for a personal day or stand behind a pay reduction because a teacher had an emergency. I have been in a school environment like that in the past, never really needed to be too involved in that situation, but for my colleagues who had been, I'm happy t stay as far away from that situation as possible, especially with a family that has just returned from oveseas with various needs/etc.
6) I took an opportunity with Waterloo Catholic District Schoolboard, however much I really-I mean REALLY wanted to take the position and keep it, financially, we weren't in a position to land face first in that area and fend for ourselves, especially in the wake of this being a new position in a new school.
7) In the end I was fortunate enough to take on a position with NCDSB where I have been since. I found everything I needed, everything I wanted. I am happy to be here currently and looking forward to moving forward here through the rest of my career.




