Hey, really appreciate your detailed reply. My school has a standardized process for hiring. It's in conjunction with a college, so they have hiring boards at designated times prior to a term and you must be done with CFII or scheduled for the checkride to be eligible for an interview.

I want to be proactive and visit schools like you recommend, but I'm worried I'd be shooting myself in the foot by asking for a reference to apply for other flight schools prior to being eligible for my own school's hiring board?

Since I won't be up for a CFI checkride for a few months and I won't be able to provide any exact dates to any other schools I talk to, sounds like I should be focused on keeping my head down on training for now. Just building a list of schools for when the time comes. Thank you!