Promising young teacher Erin Bubb was passionate and excited when she finally finished the university degree that would set her on her ultimate career path.
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But seven years on, that path has proven to be a rocky road, as she has struggled to find consistent employment in the Illawarra.
Ms Bubb is one of more than 44,000 trained teachers in NSW on a waiting list for a permanent job.
The 28-year-old has worked in casual and temporary blocks over the years and was employed by one primary school over a five-year period.
But a change in school management and enrolment numbers meant she lost her five-day-a-week casual workload overnight in August.
Since then, Ms Bubb has been paying off her mortgages working two part-time jobs and taking casual days when the calls come in.
"Because of the changing nature of casual teaching, I've had to really put a lot of time and effort into making sure I can be financially secure because there is no regular income coming in," she said.
"It's a reality that casual teachers need to have a second or third job just to survive."
Permanent teaching positions are in such high demand, up to 150 people could be applying for the one position, Ms Bubb said.
While one of her fellow University of Wollongong graduates was lucky enough to secure a position in the Illawarra straight after graduation, many other friends have had to move to Sydney.
UOW School of Education head Ian Brown said students expecting to land permanent jobs fresh out of uni should expect to go where the work is.
"The nature of the workforce today is if you are not willing to go to areas that are hard to fill, then yes, you will be definitely be starting your career as a casual teacher, but it doesn't take long [to] move from casual into full-time employment," Mr Brown said.
Traditionally there is not a lot of movement in Illawarra schools, leading to fewer new opportunities.
Despite this, Mr Brown said UOW graduates - who often come from Sydney or rural areas - have good employment opportunities.
"We do have a really high satisfaction rate here, so therefore the graduates that we produce are of a high quality and they are quite often snapped up pretty fast by schools," he said.
More than 500 teaching students are expected to graduate from UOW this year.
Mr Brown said those students will have done mock interviews with principals, established portfolios, learned how to write CVs and completed work experience.