Several of my friends and classmates went into teaching. 5 years ago, they were hurting for teachers...now the market has become saturated, and my state's government has been of of the most notorious for slashing budgets. I think that once things stabilize with the economy, there will be a need for teachers again, but right now, markets are tough across the board.
The debate about experience and talent is interesting, but I have to agree with Sytpg in that employers these days are too focused on people with X years of experience. Yet, ( also agree with Ivy...people are not born talented...their gifts have to be nurtured. But the problem is that employers are so hell-bent on X years of experience and whether someone is employed, that they fail to actually LOOK at a resume and extract character traits. Plus, there are all kinds of politics and EEOC demands on who actually gets hired...meaning that the best person is often not hired (or even asked to interview) because of the narrow way people are looking at resumes. Part of this has to do with the economy and the sheer number of applicants, but we cannot deny the problem...a lot of raw, talented people are not able to break into professional jobs because of these things. Thus, many people who spend years and money getting their degree, highly achieving in school, getting involved in internships...are still struggling.
For most jobs, GPA and college extracurriculars are not seen as important. However, if I was hiring, I would look at a high GPA, lots of involvement as a candidate who puts forth 110%. A high GPA generally shows a hard worker, as grades are less to do with smarts and more to do with how hard someone works. Now who would not want to hire someone who gives 110%?
The bottom line...most people who make good hiring decisions are able to discern CHARACTER...along with talent and experience...from the resume and interview alone. And there is a lot more about a person you can tell just in a resume and interview if you really look at it. I don't care how many years of experience or how talented the person is...if they don't care, are not motivated to learn, have a nasty attitude...then I would rather invest extra time training than wasting time on a dud who is only going to drag me down.
A hire, like many things in life, is an investment. Don't buy a big shiny house because it looks real good, only to found the foundations are rotting. And this happens every day in business.