NQT: Do your homework carefully

Just because the country is short of tens of thousands of teachers doesn't mean it will be easy to get a job as one. Good jobs, in good schools, in areas where people want – or can afford – to live, always get snapped up fast. So if you want to be one of the ones doing the snapping, resolve now to do your job-hunting carefully and well.

Just because the country is short of tens of thousands of teachers doesn't mean it will be easy to get a job as one. Good jobs, in good schools, in areas where people want – or can afford – to live, always get snapped up fast. So if you want to be one of the ones doing the snapping, resolve now to do your job-hunting carefully and well.

First of all check you are applying for the right positions. Filling in forms and going for interviews is always stressful and time-consuming, so make sure you aren't wasting your own, and other people's time by frantically applying for positions you're not really interested in.

When it comes to putting pen to paper, turn your application form into a work of art. "Check, double check and triple check it for grammar and spelling errors," says Sara Bubb, of London's Institute of Education, and the author of A Newly Qualified Teacher's Manual: how to meet the induction standards. "When people don't get called for interview it's often because their form looks scruffy."

She also suggests working up a really good personal statement, then tailoring it to the exact requirements of each job. "You can even set it out using the same headings, then demonstrate how you meet each of these specifications, maybe using an example from something you've done."

Interviews also need to be carefully prepared for. Find out all you can about the school from league tables, Ofsted reports and the teacher grapevine. Then look to your appearance. "We can all find it hard to find the right shoes," says Sarah Bubb, drily. The aim is to look smart, but also feel comfortable.

"Prepare to be nervous, and think of the ways you can get over that. And practise answering questions in a mirror. If you look down, you can look shifty. Practise giving yourself eye contact." And when you're being interviewed, she says, make sure to try and look at everyone on the panel, even if it's just a question of glancing at them occasionally "in a smiley sort of way". In addition, be aware that certain questions will always come up and have your answers ready. If they ask you about equal opportunities, which they will, "maybe tell them about how the boys were always hogging the computer in your classroom, so you made out a timetable to give everyone a fair turn".

Elizabeth Holt, the author of The Newly Qualified Teacher's Handbook, also suggests making sure you know what the interview day is going to include – will you be asked to teach a lesson or be given lunch with the other applicants? – and taking along a portfolio of lesson plans, or pictures of work displays you have done, "anything, really, that shows you are fully engaged in your professional development, because that's what they'll be looking for".

As agony aunt for the teaching website eteach.com, she gets "lots and lots" of e-mails all about getting a job. "I think the training institutions are too busy getting through other things at this time of year to be able to focus on this." But, she says, it's not surprising people feel anxious since a teacher's induction year is a vital investment in their whole career. And it's clear, she says, that some schools do it much better than others. So be sure to find out what support there will be for you, whether you'll be on your own or with other NQTs, and whether you'll be expected to take on roles such as being a form tutor.

The lucky candidate may well be offered the job on the spot, says Sara Bubb, which can take some people by surprise. But you don't have to answer there and then. It is perfectly OK to say you want to sleep on it, or that you'll take it subject to a satisfactory job contract being offered. "You don't want to grab at it, then find you're being paid at the bottom of the scale, or that it's only a temporary contract, or anything else that you hadn't expected."

"And think about your gut reactions," says Elizabeth Holt. "If you think, 'The place is a dump, but the people are lovely', ask yourself how that's going to make you feel if you actually go and work there. Stand in the car park and ask if you can imagine yourself driving in there every morning. Because teaching isn't just a brain thing, it's a physically and emotionally demanding job as well."