After Interview Anticipation

[happybat4]

Well I got the unfortunate news yesterday that I did not get either position. I was a little dissapointed that I only received a generic email saying "thank you for your interest, but we have decided to go with other candidates". I worked for the school the past 7 months I thought they could give me more info.

 

I sent an email to the administration thanking them for the opportunity I had at the school the past semester. Said I learned a lot and that I grew as an educator. I also asked if they had any interview advice/resume advice for me and any advice just as an educator. They have not responded yet.

 

The department chair that interviewed me told me the two teachers they hired had 10-15 years of teaching experience. He said he still wanted me for one of the jobs but the admin wanted the more experienced teachers. He did tell me that I can be more specific with examples. As in give actual lessons I taught, as opposed to units. He said I was also nervous. He said I still did pretty well with most of the questions.

 

I just hope the administration will give me actual feedback. I worked very hard for them and they gave me glowing reports on my 2 in class observations and end of the year review. I don't think it is asking to much to get actual feedback.

 

I am trying to be positive and think of it as a learning experience. Definitly dissapointed as I felt I had a good chance of getting one of the jobs. Sucks going into yet another school year without a job. I will keep my fingers crossed that something opens up at the end of summer.

[Brandon]

Interviews are kind of a joke. 

 

A lot of employers know well in advance who's going to be hired, and who's not, without even meeting the applicants.  I think nepotism unfortunately holds more weight in many companies than a person's character or qualifications.  One time I interviewed for a job and the FIRST question they asked was, "Who do you know that works here?"  That would be a nice ice breaker if they weren't scrambling to write down all of the names I mentioned.  In the end, they hired 30 people and I found out each and every one of them had a mom, dad, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, cousin, or spouse who already worked for the company. 

 

Everything happens for a reason.  There's no such thing as a perfect job because it depends on the person, and our perception of "good" jobs is usually flawed -- and if you get the job, the honeymoon ends rather quickly. 

 

Quite a few things wrong here.

 

While employers have a set standard and idea of who they want to hire, there are never any definites. It's like dating or seeing someone, you may like something or someone, but it doesn't mean someone else can't come along and be better.......you need to be better. There are many times I hired someone or brought them back for a second interview because they were more impressive in person than their resume.

 

Also, it's not even nepotism....it's just life and you are way behind a lot of people if you think a piece of paper is good enough to land a gig. The phrase, "It's who you know, not what you know" absolutely holds true, for everything. I give a lot more value to personal character witness than someone listing how many words per minute they type or that they like to play jazz bass in their church group on the weekends. Nepotism sucks anyway, you are pushed harder and they expect more when you're friends or family.

 

I don't even understand your last sentence. It sounds like you're whining or dislike working.

[mp170.6]

Quite a few things wrong here.

 

While employers have a set standard and idea of who they want to hire, there are never any definites. It's like dating or seeing someone, you may like something or someone, but it doesn't mean someone else can't come along and be better.......you need to be better. There are many times I hired someone or brought them back for a second interview because they were more impressive in person than their resume.

 

Also, it's not even nepotism....it's just life and you are way behind a lot of people if you think a piece of paper is good enough to land a gig. The phrase, "It's who you know, not what you know" absolutely holds true, for everything. I give a lot more value to personal character witness than someone listing how many words per minute they type or that they like to play jazz bass in their church group on the weekends. Nepotism sucks anyway, you are pushed harder and they expect more when you're friends or family.

 

I don't even understand your last sentence. It sounds like you're whining or dislike working.

 

How would you know any differently unless you had firsthand knowledge of the corporation in my example?  Thanks for making me laugh.

 

To be fair, I'm not opposed to people's relatives being hired, but they ought to be held to the same minimum qualifications as other applicants.  That's not always the case in my field of work.  When the job calls for a BA/MA and 10 years of experience and they turn around and hire a VP's 22-year old kid with no experience, no college, and whose only work experience is as a grocery store cashier, I think there's good reason to find that objectionable. 

 

Another corporation I do business with was trying to divest itself of expensive baby boomers after the recession hit in 2008.  Many guys wouldn't bite on the severance package being offered, so to sweeten the deal, they agreed to hire their kids for other positions if they agreed to retire. 

[1nutkruk]

Here is a job you may not have to interview for.

[Brandon]

How would you know any differently unless you had firsthand knowledge of the corporation in my example?  Thanks for making me laugh.

 

To be fair, I'm not opposed to people's relatives being hired, but they ought to be held to the same minimum qualifications as other applicants.  That's not always the case in my field of work.  When the job calls for a BA/MA and 10 years of experience and they turn around and hire a VP's 22-year old kid with no experience, no college, and whose only work experience is as a grocery store cashier, I think there's good reason to find that objectionable. 

 

Another corporation I do business with was trying to divest itself of expensive baby boomers after the recession hit in 2008.  Many guys wouldn't bite on the severance package being offered, so to sweeten the deal, they agreed to hire their kids for other positions if they agreed to retire. 

 

Conversely, how would you have firsthand knowledge of the companies inner dwellings if you were a rejected applicant? Sounds like you didn't have many days on the job to qualify your assessment.

[mp170.6]

Conversely, how would you have firsthand knowledge of the companies inner dwellings if you were a rejected applicant? Sounds like you didn't have many days on the job to qualify your assessment.

 

I've been a contractor and supplier to that specific branch of the company for years, that's how. 

[Brandon]

So you knowingly worked for a shit employer, congrats. Although, you sound like a dunce making it sound like you're simply applying to a job, but it's even worse if you knowing are in that situation. 30 new workers that are family related aren't a one time deal nor some random anomaly.

[mp170.6]

So you knowingly worked for a shit employer, congrats. Although, you sound like a dunce making it sound like you're simply applying to a job, but it's even worse if you knowing are in that situation. 30 new workers that are family related aren't a one time deal nor some random anomaly.

 

I'm laughing because you've become obsessed with a piddly little comment I made about nepotism in hiring decisions.

 

The fact of the matter is this -- you have no way of disputing what I said.  You know nothing about what I do for a living, what companies I do business with, or the way lots of jobs are handed out in my line of work.  Have fun trying to make this about me. 

[Pbonetheman]

i think that for teaching, a lot of it has to do with the interview committee you happen to get.  during summer break, when most interviews happen, you usually get 1 administrator for that school, or sometimes 2 admin.  then they get the 1 or 2 teachers (hopefully, but not always from within the department) who are available to come in.  

 

i'm an english teacher, and my interview panel for the job i got consisted of the school's principal, and then 2 English teachers, one of whom was the department head.  i found out later the department head liked 3 others with more experience than i had (i had none besides a couple of years of subbing), but the principal liked me for my military background, and the other English teacher liked me because of a response i gave about psychological themes in lord of the flies. 

 

since i've started teaching, i've sat on several interview panels.  i look at the whole package, including the actual interview, and it always seems like the best candidates are the ones with the highest university GPA's. i don't even usually look at transcripts until afterward, but that's just something i've noticed.  

 

and yeah, most people are terrible at teacher interviews in my experience.  i could tell within about 2 minutes of my interview who was on my side, and i could tell whether or not they cared about education lingo (state standards, trends in teaching reading and writing, etc).  when i figured out that they didn't want to hear all of that garbage, it made things easier.

 

i would recommend to any teacher that you find out as much as you can about the school you're interviewing for, especially if it's a bigger district that has several schools.  some schools are very much focused on state standards (now known as COMMON CORE in most of the country), while others are more focused on more real world/pragmatic approaches to education.

Totally agree with pretty much everything.

I had to memorize common core lingo and strategies ( close reading, text dependent, blah blah). After I got home, I would always review the answers to the questions I did not do so well on. As a new educator, I think it is important to explain how you have used common core, but also to admit that you don't know everything about it yet. Most educators necessarily don't.

Two things I have been told that have helped me approach interviews:

1) never turn one down, even if you know you will not take the job. Each interview you go on gives you confidence and experience.

2) the applicant should treat the experience as if they are interviewing the school / job. If the principal / panel seems cold, think how it would be to work with them. If the area is someplace you don't see yourself feeling comfortable, it might interfere how you perform day to day.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

I know the interview could have gone better. I think there was a few more things I should have brought up. I also felt it was to fast. I was nervous at the beginning.

 

I normally interview well. I find it easy to talk to people and to formulate thoughts when answering questions. I have done this often enough (on both sides of the table) that it is usually almost automatic. That said, it is a rare occasion when I walk out of an interview and don't think of something I could have said better, something I could have added and (on at least one occasion) something I would have been better off not saying at all.

 

I am about to sit on the far side of the table again. My boss abruptly resigned about a week ago, and a position that I expected was filled for the next 15-20 years (which would have been well past my retirement date) is open again after a year and a half. The announcement closes on July 16.

 

In the nearer term, I am sitting on a panel on Thursday to hire a radiology technician.

Edited July 9, 2014 by Vegas Halo Fan

[Blarg]

My wife went on an interview for a teaching position and they asked for an example of how she would handle a situation involving an acronym she never heard of. She asked if they could define the acronym and none of the panel of four could tell her what each letter stood for.

What in the hell do you say after that?

[maximus p]

My wife went on an interview for a teaching position and they asked for an example of how she would handle a situation involving an acronym she never heard of. She asked if they could define the acronym and none of the panel of four could tell her what each letter stood for.

What in the hell do you say after that?

The acronym????

[Tank]

My wife went on an interview for a teaching position and they asked for an example of how she would handle a situation involving an acronym she never heard of. She asked if they could define the acronym and none of the panel of four could tell her what each letter stood for.

What in the hell do you say after that?

Thank you for calling halothunders house. Please leave a message after the beep?

[Stradling]

Thank you for calling halothunders house. Please leave a message after the beep

Boop?

Fixed

[Tank]

My wife went on an interview for a teaching position and they asked for an example of how she would handle a situation involving an acronym she never heard of. She asked if they could define the acronym and none of the panel of four could tell her what each letter stood for.

What in the hell do you say after that?

Colon actually marks for an exclamation point!

[Blarg]

I relay the message so she doesn't screw up her next interview.

[Tank]

As long as she doesn't look like Brazil playing against Germany she should be okay.

[Pbonetheman]

You google it. Problem solved.