Let's go with some background first:
I studied Elementary Education and graduated with my teaching certificate in hand. For two years, I was a substitute teacher where I did anything and everything: from Pre-K to juvenile detention students (specifically helping a girl at a lower level). I landed a mini-contract job at a middle school, which was stressful to say the least but I survived it. I could not survive my next mini-contract, a high school reading teacher job. I screwed up, made a slip of one curse word (not the F-bomb), and lost my job. I ended up on probation from teaching for a whole year. This sent me in a downward spiral of depression, not wanting to work, and wanting my dream job of being an English Professor. Last year, I graduated from with my master in English and Creative Writing. Where do I work now? At the retail giant of Walmart, where I know I have to get out because of not only my career but the uncertainty of retail's future itself.
So what is your advice or tips for me? Here is what I have done so far:
1) Paperwork complete for three counties in my state including reference forms
2) Established contact with my master's program career center, who is looking helping me establish a network
3) Completed various applications for any job I qualify for
4) Attended one job fair, slated to attend a different one for a different county
5) Trying to acquire another letter of reference but having a hard time doing so because I don't want to a- annoy my former supervisors any further and b) I'm a shy person who doesn't know a lot people
6) Gathering information to renew my certificate and attend a conference to become more relevant
Note I am contemplating substitute teaching again to gain my network and reputation back. I guess I need not just advice but also a pep talk because I still enter my depressed mode once in a while, especially when I get those outright rejections with no phone call whatsoever. Wish me luck.