My girlfriend's Absolute Dream Job is to be an elementary school secretary....

And she should visit school offices and ask to speak with the principal at each one.

School secretary jobs are hard to come by, simply because of extremely low turnover. In my wife's experience as a teacher, a school secretary job is essentially a job for life with limited, or no, possibility for advancement, because they're considered non-professional (meaning, you don't need an educational certification). Jobs open when someone retires or otherwise moves out of work entirely. School secretaries often start with administrative jobs with the school district office, not at a specific school. Start by looking for those jobs first.

My mom was a school secretary for many years before transferring to an administrative position (in NY). Does your state/district use the civil service system? I know my mom was certified as a "Clerk 3" at one point - you take an exam and based on your ranking you can be qualified for open positions (very basic explanation). Some public employers are required to fill positions from the civil service list; and it just generally looks good on the resume (if your state uses that kind of system). But, like others said, it's a position that people usually stay in for life, moving only to other positions within the school (and even then their old position is filled from within the district). Also, in my experience, the substitute secretaries are usually just the retired secretaries who used to work there. Try to get any type of administrative assistant type job in the district - not just at the school buildings, but also at the general admin building (where, e.g., the superintendent, the accounting dept, and HR dept are). But be prepared for a loooong wait for an open building secretary position. It doesn't hurt to start going to school board meetings and networking. Schools are very political; nepotism is huge.

I temped for a while as a middle school secretary. She could call around to some temp agencies and see if they ever have placements as school secretaries. When I was doing it they were all extremely impressed I was able to figure out their archaic attendance database, so I bet if she got a temp placement and was competent that might lead to permanent position.

In the fairly small town I grew up in, the school board members had considerable influence over hiring decisions. She might try attending some school board meetings and networking a bit there.

Old, established school districts likely have low turnover in school secretary jobs, but what about new and/or less traditional schools? Charter schools come to mind--has she looked into any new schools set to open in the next year or so? If they haven't opened yet (or at least haven't been around for decades), they're much less likely to have Mildred the school secretary who's been there for 50 years.

My mummy is a school secretary, basically,nowadays to get her job you start at the lowest, most menial part-time job and work up through senority. It takes abou fifteen years. Not very efficent for the worker but there are so many qualified people already working in her system it doesn't make sense to hire an outside person.

The thing with HotPattata's advice: By volunteering or secretary subbing, you would be immeaditely in the know if there's an opening and be that much more relevant in administration's minds. Put another way, volunteering and subbing a little can't hurt. The principal at her school wanted to hire her on permanently, but couldn't for arcane reasons having to do with their seniority rules. Has she conisdered private school jobs? I don't have public school experience, but it seems private schools (by virtue of not really being a district, but rather insulated schools) have less an issue with seniority. Also consider that my hometown oppened 5 private schools in 4 years, so there were definitely openings.

Adding to jmd82's thought, be sure to check out parochial/faith-based schools as well. Not all communities of that type hire only from within.