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Was over on the work / employment forum and got a good idea for a thread on this side of town haha.
For those of us in the biz or who have been out what's your best or worst interview story as far as trying to get a teaching? I have a few.
Grant it I've been teaching 8 years and it's been 4 years since I interviewed for a teaching job and before that it had been 2 years so once in 6 years not awful haha. but here goes.
#1 - interviewed for a job where one of the questions was whether or not I supported President Bush's foreign policy approach in the middle east (this was summer 2004). I answered and less than 3 minutes later we were done. haha. 2 days went buy didn't hear anything (go figure), called the principal twice a day for 3 straight days you know just to make sure haha and each time this guy dodged me like I had the plague or something.
#2 - Had an interview out in BFE North Carolina on a random sunday night (the principal of the school called me and asked if I could come by the school Sunday evening haha). Interview went well, we toured the school. Everything was good til the end when he told me "if even you even remotely slip up this staff will eat you alive. we have a way of weeding out the bad teachers". I politely told the man I would call him within the next 24 hours of what I intended to do (he did offer me the job after all). I called him the next day, got his VM and said basically "it's not you it's me".
I swear the interviews I had in NC were either a.) bad b/c of the people running them or b.) bad b/c of the people running them. I have yet to meet an administrator from North Carolina who is mildly competent. Met some great teachers and coaches. There must be a switch that they turn on your back that when you become an administrator in that state you just go brain dead.
Best Interview (besides the one that got me my job haha)
Interviewed for a job back home in Ohio actually almost 4 years ago to the day. Interview went very well. School was a small town / rural school that basically ran itself. It was a friday and the Asst. Principal walks in to the interview after doing his rounds for the morning i guess as he put it and offers to take me out to lunch. So, the principal, the AP and I go get some local grub (they even footed my bill). we shot the breeze, parted ways. done. Got a call the following Monday from the principal. They had hired the son of the guy who was retiring to fill the old guy's position and they knew this in advance i guess but as he said after meeting me that he felt bad knowing he essentially had to hire this kid fresh out of college and decided maybe a lunch on the school district was in order for me haha. to this day i still keep in contact with the then AP who is now the principal. says as soon as someone else retires i'm hired haha. i said as long as they don't have a kid in college about to graduate with a teaching degree right? he said thats right haha.
WORST: I had been teaching a few years but was interviewing for jobs in the district closer to my house. I was a middle school social studies teacher and was interviewing for the same position at the new school. During the interview I found out that Arizona had changed their certification rules and not only was I not certified to teach the job I was interviewing for, but I also was not certified to teach the job I had. My certification was in History, which was sufficient to teach middle school social studies when I was hired at my original job. But a year later they changed it and I had to take the social studies test to be highly qualified to teach middle school social studies. I did register for and take the test after finding this out. Needless to say I didn't get the job I was interviewing for.
RUNNER UP: The first job I ever interviewed for was in a school district that was low performing. The interview seemed to go really well which was confirmed when I was called a week later by the assistant superintendent and offered the position. When they offered me the job I had another interview scheduled and just wasn't sure that I wanted to teach in the low performing district. I told the assistant superintendent that I needed a few days to consider as I had a few more interviews scheduled. She was clearly miffed by this and stated that she needed an answer by Monday. It was Friday. She called me first thing Monday demanding an answer. I told her I had to decline. Thankfully a week later I was hired at the job I ended up being at for 6 years.
The worst one I had was when I taught a mini lesson to the administrators and several teachers, from a charter school, who acted, during that mini lesson like my worst students do in my worst classes. I couldn't get past the mind set that these are adults and I don't correct adults. They didn't hire me because I failed to correct their bad behavior. I just couldn't correct the behavior of the principal who was interviewing me.
I did have another that went poorly but I had fun with that one. When I was in industry, I had this poster in my cube with buzzwords in columns. It was a joke. You picked one from column A, one from column B and one from column C, put them together and you had an impressive buzzword phrase. During this interview this is how the principal talked. All buzzwords and phrases. It was apparent there was no substance, he was all talk and I didn't want to work for him (everyone else in the room would look at him and wait for approval to speak...it was scary) so Iturned the interveiw around and I started interviewing him. Every time he used a buzzword phrase, I asked him for specifics on how he was going to accomplish his objectives. He didn't have any. Watching him squirm was kind of fun.
WORST: Went to an interview with about 10 people including the principal. Principal spent the entire painful hour or so insulting me. No matter what I said, she got angry and snapped at me. Like, "Looks like you have a very strong program here..." earned me "I don't need YOU to tell me we have a strong program!" It was horrible, and of course I was not offered the job and wouldn't have taken it if I had been.
ANOTHER BAD ONE: Middle school principal spent the entire interview talking about himself and his reputation in the community. He only asked me two questions at the end of his monologue, both of them ridiculous. 1 - What would I do if an alien landed his spaceship in the middle of my class, and 2-what would I do if a large, black male student looked at me in a sexual way during class?
FINALLY - Principal, with mustache, bolo tie and heavy Texas accent, said "ESL teacher? Ain't got time for that." Then loudly, to the office staff, "Hey, anyone got time to interview an ESL teacher? Heh heh!" I was eventually interviewed by another teacher, who was given exactly 7 minutes for the interview and who basically told me it was a horrible school and he was a horrible principal. Big surprise.
BEST INTERVIEW: When I interviewed for the first time out of college I interviewed for 3 positions. The first one I interviewed for I was offered it first. I had interviewed for the second job but had not heard back from them when the first one needed an answer. I declined the first offer. In the meantime I was called to come in for an interview for the 3rd job. The interview was going really well and then the assistant principal asked the question "What does integrity mean to you?". I recalled a personal situation in my life where I had relayed a pretty remarkable thing that had happened to me to my best friend and his wife. His wife later told me that she questioned whether it was true or not. She had asked my best friend whether he thought I might have made it up or exaggerated it. My best friend told her that thought had never even crossed his mind, because to his knowledge I had never lied to him. I then explained to the principal and assistant principal that to me having integrity means that your word is so valued that people don't even consider whether to trust it or not. I knew from looking at the assistant principal that she wanted to hire me. So when they asked me if I had any questions I asked when they were planning on making a decision. The principal told me that they had a few more interviews and that they should know by sometime next week. I then told them that I had already interviewed for two other positions and had another one scheduled for the next day. I told them that since their school was in the same district that I did my student teaching in and it's a little closer to my house, that I would prefer to work there. But I told them I can't turn anything down, so if either of the other two call me first then I will accept their job. They both said they understood. On my way home I got a call from my mentoring teacher during my student teaching. She said they had called her to do a reference check and she thought it looked pretty good for me. While I was on the phone with her, they called and offered me the job.
The worst one I had was when I taught a mini lesson to the administrators and several teachers, from a charter school, who acted, during that mini lesson like my worst students do in my worst classes. I couldn't get past the mind set that these are adults and I don't correct adults. They didn't hire me because I failed to correct their bad behavior. I just couldn't correct the behavior of the principal who was interviewing me.
I did have another that went poorly but I had fun with that one. When I was in industry, I had this poster in my cube with buzzwords in columns. It was a joke. You picked one from column A, one from column B and one from column C, put them together and you had an impressive buzzword phrase. During this interview this is how the principal talked. All buzzwords and phrases. It was apparent there was no substance, he was all talk and I didn't want to work for him (everyone else in the room would look at him and wait for approval to speak...it was scary) so Iturned the interveiw around and I started interviewing him. Every time he used a buzzword phrase, I asked him for specifics on how he was going to accomplish his objectives. He didn't have any. Watching him squirm was kind of fun.
I hate the buzzword administrators too. I actually had one ask me a question one time and I gave an answer where I explained how I would introduce the topic and then as more details are introduced I would go back and hit on stuff that was already learned. I basically explained "spiraling" without using the word. She was staring at me blankly as if she had no idea what I was talking about. So I said the word "spiraling" and this light when off and she proceeded to the next question.
WORST: Went to an interview with about 10 people including the principal. Principal spent the entire painful hour or so insulting me. No matter what I said, she got angry and snapped at me. Like, "Looks like you have a very strong program here..." earned me "I don't need YOU to tell me we have a strong program!" It was horrible, and of course I was not offered the job and wouldn't have taken it if I had been.
ANOTHER BAD ONE: Middle school principal spent the entire interview talking about himself and his reputation in the community. He only asked me two questions at the end of his monologue, both of them ridiculous. 1 - What would I do if an alien landed his spaceship in the middle of my class, and 2-what would I do if a large, black male student looked at me in a sexual way during class?
FINALLY - Principal, with mustache, bolo tie and heavy Texas accent, said "ESL teacher? Ain't got time for that." Then loudly, to the office staff, "Hey, anyone got time to interview an ESL teacher? Heh heh!" I was eventually interviewed by another teacher, who was given exactly 7 minutes for the interview and who basically told me it was a horrible school and he was a horrible principal. Big surprise.
those are all pretty classic haha. especially the second one. with regards to the large black male looking at you sexually i'd a been like "ummmmm does that usually happen here?" haha. and i'd a been like why's it gotta be HIS spaceship, you mean there are no female alien pilots out there?
not a bad interview unless you count the fact i didn't get the job but funny for 2 reasons 1.) this was a job to teach history and coach football. i wore my state championship football ring to the interview, why? i guess ego took over. anyways at the beginning of the interview the female principal who i would classify as "work hot" sat down looked at my hand and exclaimed "that's so big!!!" in this very well sexual tone haha. good way to start the process right. 2.) second reason - they had one of the history dept teachers there too for the interview and we somehow got on the topic of state testing and what I've been involved in committee wise to address this concept within my own school. Easy answer here as I was actually on a committee at my school that I was presently at to design practice test questions that would help in getting our kids ready for the test. I even had the finished product with me. It was at that moment that this chick was like "can i have that?!?!". and i'm like yeaaaa.......only if i get the job (what i should've said). it was more her reaction than her request. her reaction was one of how on earth did you come up with this idea? the whole time i'm thinking ummmmm because i have a working brain lol. it always amazed me the stuff that veteran administrators and teachers at some of these schools didn't know or had never thought of that a fresh out of college person had thought of.
I have only gone to three interviews. The first two were basically the same, meet with a supervisor, do a lesson, then go talk to the superintendent. My experience was way different than ITs. Once they see that I can teach any science (takes 4 certs in my state) they are usually very excited. And my graduate degree has only been seen as a positive.
At my current school I was called out of the blue (later found out they had head hunted which here is weird for teachers) and asked to submit a resume. When I was called for the interview they said they really wanted me to come in that day. I told them I had been out in the field and was not remotely dressed for an interview. They said to come anyway. When I went into my soon to be prinicipals office he was wearing a button down shirt and tie and I wanted to sink into the floor in my salty and fish grimed up shorts and tee shirt. But when my principal stood up to shake my hand he was wearing board shorts. I knew I wanted to work there at that moment. No lesson, a handful of questions (mainly how I would teach research) and then I was offered the job. He knew I had to go back to work so he called the assistant super and super to come out and meet me after work at the school. It was cool.
WORST: Went to an interview with about 10 people including the principal. Principal spent the entire painful hour or so insulting me. No matter what I said, she got angry and snapped at me. Like, "Looks like you have a very strong program here..." earned me "I don't need YOU to tell me we have a strong program!" It was horrible, and of course I was not offered the job and wouldn't have taken it if I had been.
ANOTHER BAD ONE: Middle school principal spent the entire interview talking about himself and his reputation in the community. He only asked me two questions at the end of his monologue, both of them ridiculous. 1 - What would I do if an alien landed his spaceship in the middle of my class, and 2-what would I do if a large, black male student looked at me in a sexual way during class?
FINALLY - Principal, with mustache, bolo tie and heavy Texas accent, said "ESL teacher? Ain't got time for that." Then loudly, to the office staff, "Hey, anyone got time to interview an ESL teacher? Heh heh!" I was eventually interviewed by another teacher, who was given exactly 7 minutes for the interview and who basically told me it was a horrible school and he was a horrible principal. Big surprise.
I think we have a winner.
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