Job Central: ‘The Only Place To … Meet With National Candidates’

By Alexander MacLean

	Job Central provides information about school superintendent vacancies nationwide.

Connecting with potential employers is as easy as taking a stroll through Job Central for attendees at AASA’s 2010 National Conference on Education in Phoenix.

The two-day Job Central event is a staple of AASA’s annual conference. On Friday, representatives from seven search firms and 15 state school board associations met with individual school leaders who were eager to learn about a spectrum of job opportunities, glean advice on their resume or just assess the current climate of the education job market.

Employers and job seekers alike find the importance of having an event such as Job Central at the conference, where school administrators from around the nation gather in one place.

"For Oregon, this is the only place to come and meet with national candidates," said Donna Herren, the executive search consultant for the Oregon School Boards Association.

She said about 70 percent of searches her association does are for local Oregon candidates so she finds it's helpful at AASA to expand on that population.

Bruce Johnson, a superintendent search consultant for the Association of Alaska School Boards, said Alaska often gets overlooked by school administrators seeking a position as a superintendent. "Alaska is kind of off the beaten path so fewer people are interested in uprooting and moving there," he said. "Our aim is for the more adventurous sort."

Johnson said last year there were 19 superintendent vacancies across the Alaska's 53 school districts and events like Job Central help to make more people aware of the opportunities.

A search consultant with the New England School Development Council, Kenneth L. DeBenedictis, said he could barely find time to fit lunch in on Friday among the continuous stream of individuals interested in job vacancies around New England.

The veteran superintendent of the Washakie County School District 1 in Wyoming, Michael J. Hejtmanek, who is retiring in June after 12 years with the district, said he wanted to speak with a consultant at Job Central about the current job market … in case he gets the itch to return to duty.

"I wanted to see what employers are looking for today because it has been awhile since I have looked," he said.

Gene Jones, the executive director of high schools for Norfolk Public Schools in Virginia, said he was at Job Central because he was looking to broaden his perspective to see what opportunities might exist around the country.

"The consultant I met with asked the right questions and was very helpful at trying to find the right fit for me," he said.