As of today I have done 27 job interviews for teaching positions.

17 of those were done at a two-day job fair.

6 of them were in Houston, and I traveled 1,500 miles round trip to interview in person.

2 of them were in Deming, and I traveled about 175 miles round trip to interview in person (did that twice, for a total of about 350 miles).

1 was over Skype, and then went to phone when Skype stopped working.

Oh, and I have another one tomorrow over the phone.

In case you didn’t figure it out, I want a job. I really want a job.

“OH MY GOD, SHE’S DONE ALL OF THAT AND STILL DOESN’T HAVE A JOB?!”

No, calm, my child. Calm down.

The job fair interviews were with people from Human Resources, and I learned that Principals are the most important people in the hiring process. You interview with HR, sure, but the more important interview is the one with the Principal. They decide if they want to add you to their team or not. So, almost nobody is hired at job fair where the HR people are doing the interviews. (Or, at least that’s what it’s been in my experience.)

And, yes, I traveled 1,500 miles round trip to do one set of interviews. But the reason why I did that was because one of the HR guys showed his interest in my resume and performance. The school district that I visited, which is in Houston, has a special part of their online application, which is called HireVue. The HR guy that contacted me said that he did so because he thought my HireVue was really good.

Not to sound like a commercial, but HireVue is innovative and extremely helpful. Not only for the employer, but also for the prospective employee. I feel like I have a good resume. I just graduated, so I have no full-time teaching experience, but I have a lot of good practicum experience. However, I don’t like just sending out my resume. I think it will be my personality that gets me a job, and that’s why I like HireVue. HireVue will show you the question you need to answer, and gives you about a minute to formulate your response. Then you can record your answer with a webcam. I love this technology, and I know it has already helped me a lot.

Anyway, because the HR guy said he liked my HireVue, I decided that I would take the leap and spend some money to fly out to Houston to interview in person. I worked with their HR department to get a visit set up, and it was awesome. Just like at the Job Fair, I was doing an interview marathon.

I was there exactly two weeks ago, and the HR people thought I’d hear back within a week. Well, it’s been two and I haven’t gotten any offers (or rejections) yet. This past week was their last week of school, Saturday was their graduation, and Monday was staff meetings. The worst part about trying to get a job is the wait to hear back.

Meanwhile, last week I did two interviews in Deming. I got called to do an interview for a middle school, so I did that. As soon as I got home, I got another call from the Deming HR department, asking me to do an interview at the high school. About a day later, I got a call from the middle school, saying that did a transfer within the district to fill the social studies position, but that they would offer me a job teaching technology, so they were curious to see if I had those endorsements. But, I don’t, so I can’t teach it.

Literally as soon as I got home from my interview at the high school, I got a call from the Deming HR department, offering me the job. I asked if I could think about it for a couple of days. I said that because I am waiting to hear back from Houston, and I really don’t want to live out in Deming. A few days passed, when the Deming HR department called, asking about my decision. I had to decline. I am really wanting to work in Houston, and I think I’d be doing a disservice to work in a place that I don’t want to be.

So that’s where I am right now — I’ve gotten offered a job I’m not licensed to do, I’ve declined a job that I was qualified for, and I’m anxiously waiting to hear something from Houston.

Now, finally, here’s the reason why you wanted to read this entry — tips on interviewing, in no particular order.

1. Do your research.

If you know about the school or district you are interviewing for, you can anticipate the questions they will ask you, and you can come up with some good questions to ask them. They’re not going to throw questions like, “what percentage of our demographics are African-American?” This isn’t a quiz. But, if you see that they have a particularly high amount of minorities, and you have experience working in a school district with similar demographics, that will help you out. Don’t only keep race in mind, but also other demographics, like Socioeconomic Status (SES), and the amount of English Language Learners (ELL).

2. Customize your resume and cover letter.

This is very important, and very simple. In my resume, I only have to change one line, and that is under the “Objectives”. Many people will tell you to tailor your resume to every job you’re going after. And, while that could be true in many situations, I don’t think it’s all that important when going after the same job (such as a teaching position), when those jobs don’t vary very much. However, let’s say that you are wanting to teach in the school district you graduated high school from. Put on your high school on your resume. It’s common sense, but if there’s something you think is pertinent to the job, put it on there. That being said, keep it short and concise. There’s an unwritten rule that says your resume should be no more than a page. I broke that rule, but for a good reason. I have a lot of practicum experience, as well as a lot of leadership experience. They are both important, in my opinion, and I also feel like they could help me get a job. (In case you’re wondering, I figure the leadership experience is good mostly because they are also looking for advisors/facilitators for extracurriculars.)

As for the cover letter, you need to put the school (or district)’s name and contact information in the top left. Doesn’t matter that you’re not mailing it out. It shows that you have attention to detail and you bothered to take the time to personalize it. Like I have put in another post, one HR lady commented on that, and they ended up offering me two jobs, so it’s a nice little thing that makes a big difference.

Example Resume

Example Cover Letter

3. Pay attention. Listen.

Yes, it’s an interview, but it is a conversation. This is directly related to numbers four and ten.

4. Be personable.

Smile, joke around, laugh. What kind of people do you want as your coworkers? Be that person. You are selling yourself (in a completely legal way). Give your interviewer(s) a firm handshake at the beginning and the end, and thank them for their time. Be sure to be personable to everyone, especially the receptionist and everyone else you encounter. If you get this job, you will be around these people all the time. Be the person you want to work with!

5. Be early.

One of the things I was surprised by when I started doing interviews at schools was how much paperwork was to be filled out before going into the Principal’s office. It’s not, like, paperwork that you fill out when going to the doctor, it’s more like little open-ended questions so they can get a feel of your personality and style. I understand that, I really do. It just stinks when you have six interviews that day. Your hand starts to cramp. And one school that I interviewed at was very unusual. In addition to answering a few open-ended questions, they also had the interviewees read a short book, called “Through the Cracks“. It’s a good book, but I was kind of confused as to what questions were going to be asked about it. I’m a fairly fast reader, but I was trying to pay more attention than normal. I wasn’t sure if it was to test my attention to detail, or what. Turns out, they asked “Which one of the classrooms in the book looks the most like what your classroom looks like?” Not a tough question, thankfully. My point, though, is that you need to anticipate pre-interview things like this. Get to your interview 15 minutes early.

6. Be prepared.

In addition to doing research about the school (or district), personalizing your cover letter and resume, and getting their on time, there are some other things you need to be prepared. Make sure to bring two copies of your resume. You may only be interviewing with one person, in which case, you’d have an extra one. No big deal. You may be interviewing in front of a panel. Then two will be fine.

You also need to anticipate questions, and figure out your responses beforehand. At the bottom of this post, I will post some common questions.

7. Bring a portfolio.

When I go into a school to do an interview, I bring a padfolio (like this, to keep my resumes and cover letter flat), my iPad, and a 1-inch three-ring binder, which I use as a portfolio. This portfolio includes many things — pictures of bulletin boards I’ve done, handouts I’ve created, projects I’ve created, examples of groupwork assignments, an example of an article I have in the classroom for students to read after tests, tests I’ve made, and, most importantly, evaluations students have done of my performance.

Using examples from your Student Teaching experience are very important, yes, but they’re even more valuable if you can bring in examples of what you do. I don’t pull out my portfolio and say, “Hey! Look at this nifty thing!” I will have the interview/conversation, and then pull out whatever I just brought up, specifically.

8. Cite examples from Student Teaching.

Speaking of using examples, use examples! I’m sorry if this list is just common sense stuff, but it’s really important. The people who are interviewing you will ask for specific times, for example (no pun intended), “If you have a student who refuses to do his work, what do you do?” You need to give them a story about what you did when this happened to you.

9. Gently and subtly steer the conversation.

Did your interviewer(s) just mention literacy? Well, I could, for example, say how I think that literacy is very important, and that’s why many of my groupwork assignments have the students analyze primary source documents. It’s at this point when I would pull out my handy dandy portfolio, and show them an example of the primary sources I’ve used, along with the worksheet to go with it. I could also mention how I find history articles online, and print them out and have them accessible in my classroom, so that when the students are done with a test, they can read these articles. I can elaborate further by saying that these articles are about things I think they might find particularly interesting, such as Bones Found in Scotland Linked to 19th Century Serial Killers.

That being said, don’t be pushy. Don’t turn them off. You want to lure them in.

10. Know the buzzwords.

Going back to number three and nine. When you’re listening, cling on to some of those words. Does your interviewer(s) keep saying “collaborative”? Use it. Differentiated instruction, ELL, formative assessment, summative assessment, EOC, multiple intelligences, Bloom’s Taxonomy. Things like that. They will use them a lot, so you better know what they mean when those words and phrases come up. Not only that, but try to incorporate them in your vocabulary.

11. Incorporate technology, if possible.

Another thing to incorporate is technology. Like I said in the entry about the Job Fair, if you have a tablet, bring it. One of the most common questions I’ve been asked is about how I incorporate technology in the classroom. If I have my iPad with me, they barely even have to ask that question, because it is pretty clear that I am comfortable with technology and that I use it in my everyday life. Don’t be distracted with it, but kind of show it off, if you have it.

12. Follow up.

Thank them for their time. Again, most of this is just common sense. Keep yourself fresh in their minds, and be genuine.

Common Interview Questions

Why do you want to be a teacher?

What are three characteristics of a good teacher?

How do you let students be creative?

How do you stand out from other teachers in your content area?

What do you know about our district/school?

If you could teach any grade or subject, what would it be?

If a student said they didn’t want to do the work because it seemed irrelevant, what would you do?

How would you interact with parents?

What would you do if you had a student who didn’t want to learn history?

If half of your students were two years behind, how would you address that?

How would you differentiate your instruction?

How would you help ELL students succeed?

How would you help Gifted and Talented students succeed?

How would you help SPED students succeed?

Who do you think is creative?

How do you think NMSU has trained you?

How do you use student data to drive instruction?

How would you describe your classroom management style?

If I walked into your classroom on any given day, what would I see?

What is your knowledge of Common Core?

Do you have any experience with PLCs? What was that experience?