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I hope that everyone is having a wonderful day. I just had an initial phone interview and have a weird question. I interviewed for a teaching position at a local charter school; they set up a phone interview for the job and I was ready. When the interviewer called me, he began the conversation by telling me that they would not be hiring for that position until August BUT he wanted to know if I would be interested in interviewing for an administrative position at the school. I was excited because this job was not even on their website nor was it advertised on any other website.
Of course, I jumped at the opportunity because I am ready to get out of the classroom and this would be an amazing advancement opportunity for me. For you teachers, I would be the Dean of Students so I would be a member of the leadership so I would be much higher up on the food chain in this position and would help teachers to improve their classroom management skills. But, I digress, I think that the interview went well; it went longer than normal. He agreed with and co-signed on several of my statements, meaning that he had experienced the same type of issues in the classroom.
I had done my research, including reading a book written by one of the co-founders and referenced the book. He asked me more questions and, then, I asked why was this position open? He stated, 'we are just looking for the right person." He ended his part of the conversation by going, 'oh, by the way, when would you be able to start?'
I did my due diligence and sent the requisite 'thank you email' the next day, including detailing tenets from the aforementioned book and how I utilized them in my classroom.
I asked what the next step is and he said that someone would contact me in about two weeks.
Crazy but I really want this job...a job that I did not know about until he called me.
Should I just cool my heels for now? I so want to do something else but I think that I should just chill?
I am relatively new to applying for jobs since I keep jobs for a looooong time.
Is it a good sign that he called me to interview for a job that was not posted? Is it a good sign that he asked about my availability?
I know, I know, a good sign would be if he follows up for a face-to-face but I just wanted people's opinion.
Not only is that what you should do, it is all you can do. You can't make them change their timeline to spare you the agony of waiting, and speculating on your chances is only going to drive you crazy and make the time appear to pass more slowly.
I completely empathize with you, by the way. I am slowly making my way through the interview process for what seems like a dream job. First interview was two weeks ago, second round will be this week, and they are targeting a decision sometime mid-December. I know that is nothing compared to some other people's experiences. (And even compared to others of mine--I am still in the running for a position I interviewed for in August, but I would be unlikely to take it even if offered to the timeline doesn't affect me much.) That knowledge doesn't make 6 weeks of living on tenterhooks any easier, though!
Best of luck to you! I hope you get it and that it is everything you hoped it would be!
I hope that everyone is having a wonderful day. I just had an initial phone interview and have a weird question. ...he began the conversation by telling me that they would not be hiring for that position until August BUT he wanted to know if I would be interested in interviewing for an administrative position at the school. I was excited because this job was not even on their website nor was it advertised on any other website.
Thank you and I hope you are enjoying your day as well. It's not all that surprising that the position wasn't advertised because the better posts are typically found the same way you did: word of mouth or internal referral. I mention this to soothe you of any skepticism that you might have about the offer, but I still recommend that you weigh your options carefully of course. If you can truly wait until August for this position and feel that it's worth the risk, then by all means do it. In the meantime, keep on doing your homework about this school in particular along with its administrative staff - past and present. If you can find any data on the person you spoke to, focus on that, and also try to locate any temporal patterns if you can in terms of staff positions.
Quote:
I would be the Dean of Students so I would be a member of the leadership so I would be much higher up on the food chain in this position and would help teachers to improve their classroom management skills. ... He agreed with and co-signed on several of my statements, meaning that he had experienced the same type of issues in the classroom.
He asked me more questions and, then, I asked why was this position open? He stated, 'we are just looking for the right person." He ended his part of the conversation by going, 'oh, by the way, when would you be able to start?'
The way you phrased that last sentence made my mind immediately presume that he deflected attention away from your 'why is this job available' question. Now, that's not what you said, and I realize this now, but I wonder if you wrote that sentence with similar suspicions.
Quote:
I did my due diligence and sent the requisite 'thank you email' the next day, including detailing tenets from the aforementioned book and how I utilized them in my classroom.
I asked what the next step is and he said that someone would contact me in about two weeks.
Crazy but I really want this job...a job that I did not know about until he called me.
Should I just cool my heels for now? I so want to do something else but I think that I should just chill?
I am relatively new to applying for jobs since I keep jobs for a looooong time.
Is it a good sign that he called me to interview for a job that was not posted? Is it a good sign that he asked about my availability?
I know, I know, a good sign would be if he follows up for a face-to-face but I just wanted people's opinion.
Grady's Mom
So, you've basically got two weeks before you have a much better ability to plan your strategy. I would say that it is a hugely positively good sign that he offered you a job that wasn't advertised. It is also a good sign that he asked for your availability, but I would place a lot more faith in the fact that he offered you something that was more-or-less a secret.
Chill for those two weeks if you can afford to do so. You are apparently clever enough to conduct the research relevant to the situation, so I would advise that you spend that two-week interval by finding any kind of information that you can find about that school. I'm not talking about only the facts and stats. Anecdotes from former/current students and staff might be of great value to you in this regard.
I don't know if I would advise you to actively look around before those two weeks are up. I'm not entirely familiar with how tightly-knit the higher echelons of the education system are, but I hear that those circles do share a lot of information about other peers in particular and before you know it, you could get some other guy emailing the guy that interviewed you asking if he's heard of Grady's Mom.
The first thing I would do is a LOT of research on the company running the charter school because I would have some serious questions about their professionalism and accountability.
Look up news stories, information about their track record, how long they have been in town etc.
This is NOT like working for a school system. It's going to be a private company and will operate as such. The fact that they wouldn't hire any teacher until August means they don't have a clue how many students to plan for, so they don't know if they will need that teacher. Of course, a lot of regular schools do this, but working for a charter is usually more tenuous.
The fact that they need a Dean of Students is concerning because that is an important position, and they apparently are operating without one during the school year. So either someone left mid-year, which is never good, or they never filled the position when school started, which is worse.
Charter schools are not always reliable, and they do close, sometimes with very short notice. Be very careful as you proceed.
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