You have put lots of energy and investigation into your job hunt, and now the telephone has finally started to ring. Recruitment managers are interested in you (based on your excellent teacher resume and top-notch credentials), so now is the opportunity to stand out! The job interview is your key to success. If you can sell yourself, your traits, and your experience, you have an excellent chance to secure a job offer.
The interview procedure is where lots of job seekers will feel enormous pressure to perform. Have you ever walked out of an interview saying to yourself “I should have mentioned this?” “Oh, I could have explained to them that.” Rest assured you are not alone. The art of completing a successful interview lies in knowing yourself, your successes, and how you will work in a specific position. I have listed a few tips to assist you to pull off a valuable interview: Practice & investigate…
The most common interview process in the education sector is the one-on-one interview. There are several types of one-on-one interviews.
Informal
In an informal interview, the interviewer knows which questions he wants to ask. However, sometimes the interviewer will carry on a conversation with the candidate and not ask many education questions. After this interview, you will wonder what happened.
Structured
In a structured interview, a list of questions has been prepared based on the job’s requirements. The same questions are asked of every candidate and notes are taken. Unstructured
Congratulations! You’ve landed that coveted teacher interview. Now it is extremely important that you impress in your interview and large part of that is coming prepared.
Items to bring:
• Copies of Your Current Resume: If you need to distribute them to the panel, you should have enough to do this. Most likely they will have a copy, but they may be testing your to see if you are prepared.
• Copies of Your Letter of Intent/Cover Letter: This should be brought alongside your copies of your resume in case the interview panel doesn’t have a copy with them. Find out the other must-bring items for your teacher interview
The interviewer has finished asking their questions, you’ve had a chance to ask the interviewers some questions, and now you are shaking hands and are walking out the door of the interview room. Now the interview process is over and you just have to wait, right? No! The interview process doesn’t always end the moment you walk out the door, and you should strive to ensure that it doesn’t. There are a few things you should do to follow up after your education interview, and there could be some things the school will want from you to help them make their decision as well.
When the interview is over, it is a good idea to ask the principal the next step in the hiring process. For instance, will there be another round of interviews and when will they let you know when they’ve made a decision? It’s important to find out what your next contact with the school will be. Otherwise, the interview will be left up in the air, and you will be confused as to which next steps you should take. Find out for sure who is calling who. Sometimes the school will call the candidates to let them know of their decision, other times the school will leave it up to the candidates to phone and find out. [click to continue…]
Receiving a teaching job offer after an interview depends on many factors – how well your skills and talents fit with what the school is looking for, how well you communicate your value proposition, how many other qualified candidates are interviewed, and sometimes the unpredictability of the hiring principals/superintendents.
But one key component for interview success you may not have considered much is your attitude. By this, I mean what you are thinking about as you prepare for, go through and reflect on a job interview. Many people underestimate the importance of keeping a positive attitude during the interview process. The degree to which you think optimistically, keep the right things in perspective and maintain a poised mental attitude will directly affect the outcome you are hoping for – a solid teaching job offer. [click to continue…]
When you attend your next teacher job interview, instead of simply submitting to the question and answer process, approach it as an opportunity to learn. Ask questions; listen carefully; then look for opportunities to relate what you’ve learned about the school, the district, latest education trends, a challenge the school is facing, etc. to your own knowledge and experiences – phrased in the form of solutions.
The interview then takes the form of a discussion between professionals with some shared challenges and some shared experiences. It will become natural to relate your own success stories in a way that is wholly relevant to the school’s challenges, rather than simply reciting “accomplishment statements” that you’ve memorized for the interview. [click to continue…]
