Teacher with 60-hour work week quits her job. She now works at Costco and earns nearly 50% more
Maggie Perkins was a teacher for eight long years. But then she decided to quit her educational career to work at Costco and she surprisingly got a significant pay raise as well. Perkins shared on TikTok that she is happier now. The former teacher from Atlanta, who taught middle and high school history and language arts, said that she previously worked 60 hours a week and did a lot of unpaid overtime, in a contributing essay for CNBC Make It.
Here's why Perkins quit teaching
The former teacher shared that she was making $47,000 in her final year of teaching, with a master's degree and 8 years of experience. Perkins told Business Insider that one of the primary reasons she quit her teaching job was all the extra work she had to do outside of the classroom.
"I'd be added to a committee, or I'd be sent a student with behavioral problems, or I'd have to plan a field trip," she said. At one point, she says, the extra stuff was taking up more time than the classroom and it came with a lot of administrative pressure.
@itsmaggieperkins Replying to @user99460727904992 I left teaching because it was bad and getting worse. And no one was (or is) doing much of anything to tirn things around. It’s not what it used to be. It’s not what we signed up for. And it breaks our hearts to leave. #formerteacher #teacherquittok #teachersoftiktok #teacherburnout #teachersonbreak #teachercareerchange ♬ original sound - Maggie Perkins 🍉
So she felt like she couldn't catch a breath and saw no purpose in her job or life. Ultimately, she decided it was time to call it quits and seek something else in life. Perkins didn't start at Costco right off the bat. At first, she started at a warehouse in Athens, Georgia, where she made a little less than her teaching job.
Her move to Costco happened when the company's marketing training team visited her warehouse location. “Seeing them work showed me that I could still be an educator, just in a different context," she wrote in the CNBC article.
@itsmaggieperkins Are used to be teacher and now I work at Costco‘s corporate office. I create content for training front end and membership employees. My current project involves making a series of training videos to educate about policy and employee behavior. I used my teacher skills to begin with the end in mind, and think about who my audience was, what I wanted them to learn, and how would we know they have learned it. I have worked with multiple departments, locations, and done a lot of teamwork in this endeavor. It’s been really enjoyable to have creative freedom, but also work within the scope of clearly expressed expectations. Teachers make excellent Content developers, instructional designers, and corporate trainers. ##teachercareerchange##costcotiktok##formerteacher##teachersoftiktok##instructionaldesigner##corporatetrainer ♬ Countryside - Andrew Joy
She then applied for a job in the marketing training team and started her role at Costco. Today, Perkins works as a marketing trainer and content developer creating internal material for employee training. The best part is that she is making 50% more, something that a teacher in her last school district would typically make with 15 years of experience.
@itsmaggieperkins School systems in United States operate with a deep scarcity mindset that affects the professionalism of teachers in the industry. It will always be hurtful and shocking to look back on the ways that schools treat teachers, and to know that nothing has changed. ##formerteacher##teachersoftiktok##corporatetrainer##teachercareerchange ♬ original sound - Maggie Perkins 🍉
Working at Costco, Perkins shares her journey with her over 150,000 followers on TikTok, has been a "fascinating and validating" experience. She got to build a community of people that included former and current teachers, she says.
This is what makes her happier at Costco
Perkins expressed that her priority at her new job was to make a “clear divide” between professional and personal life. She wanted to spend more time with her family and do things that were more important.
"My work is no longer my identity. I put energy into my job when I’m there, and I leave work at the office," she wrote. She says she is now able to be more present at home and do the things she loves. "I’ve never felt more fulfilled," she added in the essay.
@itsmaggieperkins Do what is right for you. I came out on the other side and my only regret is that I didnt leave sooner. I knew in my gut pretty early on that education was going to ravage my wellbeing but i kept staying “for the kids”. #formerteacher #teacherquittok #teachersoftiktok ♬ original sound - Maggie Perkins 🍉
Perkins said that being in a job with a lot of passion and no institutional support is a "recipe for burnout." She says at Costco, she is clear about the stakes and timeline of a project she takes and is not afraid to ask for more resources when needed.
This article originally appeared 1 month ago.
