re-applying for your own job

In 1996 I entered teaching as a mature entrant (now aged 42) and secured my first post at a school of 300 pupils. In 1997 I was appointed music co-ordinator and then two years later I was appointed onto the senior management team as KS2 co-ordinator and then as numeracy co-ordinator.

In July of this I applied for the vacant post, of deputy as did four others. The governors did not wish to interview any of them and made me acting deputy for the new term, with the proviso that the post would be re-advertised later in that term.

The feedback they gave was that they were concerned about lack of experience, and the inspector believes that people should get deputy's posts in smaller schools first. Do you think that I should re-apply at my present school?

Sean Russell, careers adviser, writes:
It seems that despite your very good CV, you have reservations. First, the good stuff. You were appointed to your current post, others weren't. Certainly, making the post acting for one term gives the school flexibility, but it also gives you the chance to prove yourself. Despite what the inspector may or may not think (is this first-hand, or reported?), it is the governors and senior staff at your school who make the appointment.

Your head is planning to move so does this mean you were banking on their support? If so, make sure that your track record this term speaks for itself. It seems that you need to concentrate on making the best application possible when the post is advertised. Don't get sidetracked by what other people may or may not think.

You have a good spread of expertise and managerial responsibilities in different curriculum areas. You are actually doing the job now and as such have an advantage over other candidates. It is essential that key people know that you're doing well. It's all very nice that the staff supports you, but they will not be interviewing you.Ensure you have regular, formal meetings with your line manager (presumably the head) about your progress and achievements. It's worth taking notes anyway, but particularly of agreed successes and areas where you have clearly excelled. This will help you write your application and give a good impression of someone who is able to evaluate their performance and build on success.

Applying for other jobs sends a strong message about your ambition to progress, wherever it might be, rather than just focus on staying at the same school. The more practice you can get completing applications and going for interviews, the better, and it might be that you get offered a job that you'd rather have.

Even just sending off for job details can help you come up with creative ideas that could be applied to your current school. When I was a governor on the staffing committee, we had endless discussions about balancing equality of opportunity with the need to retain good staff and whether we needed to advertise everything externally when we had perfectly good people in post.

You have huge advantages over external candidates: you know the post is coming up and you know the school. As for OFSTED: it would be very useful to have someone in post who is supported and trusted by the staff.