Hi all,
Thanks for reading in advance.
I’m at the final interview stage with the Head of English and school principle. I’ve got the qualification and experience required for this role which helped me get past the first interview but I’m just worried about not appearing to be the right candidate. I want to give myself the best chance of getting this job.
In all my interviews so far, I’ve been honest about my personality and teaching style but so far have not had any luck. I would describe my teaching style as laid back/calm, but a negative way to describe that too relaxed/not caring enough. I’m 28M from UK and my personality is very stereotypical British. I have a dry sense of humour and I’m reserved with my opinions and some people may see me as shy. In the interview, I smile as much as I can but I try not to be fake or over-enthusiastic because that’s not who I am in real life.
My question is; If you are an English teacher interviewing a possible candidate/colleague, what are the key things that would:
\-set you off and make you not want to work with this person
\-impress you and make you want to hire this person
7 comments
What kind of job are you interviewing for? Is it a full-time teacher at an international school? A full-time job at another kind of school? If it is, keep in mind that you should act as if your princi*pal* concern is the overall welfare of the students, rather than only their English abilities.
There is no particular reason to be honest about whatever your “real” personality, behavior, or opinion are, as you’ll be playing some sort of role anyway, as do all teachers. If you’re worried about seeming too relaxed, come up with pedagogic justifications for your approach.
We need a lot more details. It all depends on the position. Sometimes your final interview is just a formality (i.e., the boss insists on holding one but you’re good to go) and other times you’re on the short list and it’s more significant. What is the job? What have they told you about the interview? (Edit the original post and add this for maximum feedback.)
It’s notable that you gave us almost no contextual information, which suggests either that you don’t have much information, or that you don’t think it’s important. In the latter case, you should research that school. Read the website. Watch the prospective student videos if they have any. See what their target demographic is. That will help you understand where they’re coming from, which in turn will help you relax when interviewing.
You have experience and qualifications. You’re good enough as you are, so don’t try to change your personality. Most people will see through that and get a bad vibe.
Don’t say your ‘laid back’. Say you remain calm under pressure.
It would help if you included what kind of role you are applying for, and what kind of school it is.
I hired for my private jhs/shs and it was important for me that the candidate have experience in curriculum design, be proactive with ideas, and have strong organizational skills. Personality only mattered to me in as much as how the candidate would interact with students.
But again, without knowing anything I out what is expected from the position, it is hard to give advice.
“Laid back” isn’t a teaching style, you gave us no info about how much knowledge you actually have about teaching and spoke entirely about your personality. I oversee hires and interviews for some roles in the teaching company I work for. If you told me all that in an interview the giant red flag to me would be that you don’t seem to know anything about pedagogy and you may have no relevant qualifications. If you do have a professional understanding of teaching, you decided personality was the most important thing to share.
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Different people may have different views, but as someone who frequently plays a role in hiring decisions and in interviews, I’m not interested in playing games in the interview. I’m not interested in wasting the interviewee’s time with gotcha questions or micro-analyzing their comments to screen for the slightest imperfections. All I want to know is if the applicant can do what we need them to without making trouble for anyone else. Get me that, and I don’t really care what your personality is.
So the words “laid back teaching style” don’t set off the slightest red flags for me – as long as the interviewee doesn’t leave the description there. How do you present target language? How do you resolve a language gap with a student? How do you follow directions from the department heads and coordinators? How do you deal with a discipline issue? Can you read lesson goals and exercise the good judgment to work out where you need to stick to what’s in the textbook and where you can innovate and go in your own way?
As a mature adult and experienced teacher, I understand that not every teacher needs to have the same persona in the classroom to get results. So rather than worry about what your teaching persona is, I’d like you to demonstrate what results you’ve gotten in your classroom, and how you’ve gotten them.
>what are the key things that would:
>
>-set you off and make you not want to work with this person
When they spend more time in the interview telling us how they disagree with how they think we teach than they spend actually demonstrating how they teach.