Interview Preparation...

A Crash Course in Marketing (a business approach to interviews):
· Product Research: Know yourself
· Product Development: What skills do you need to improve on?
· Market Research: Know your Audience
· Promotion and Sales: What can you offer?

What do I have to offer? (Product Research)
· Work and Volunteer Experience
· Education => will look like everyone else
· Skill Set
· Unique abilities
Work/Volunteer experience and your skill set and unique abilities are what are going to set you apart from other candidates…work on those!

What else do I need? (Product Development)· Identify your areas of weakness
· What can you do to improve?
o Volunteer
o Take Courses
o AQ’s
o Try to find local organizations that you can get involved with to improve any skill you need to work on
o Read books (Professional readings)

What does the job look like? (Market Research)
· Research:
o The Organization
§ Look at the job posting
§ School website
§ Current employees
§ parents
o The posting being applied for
§ talk to the teacher you might be replacing
§ read curriculum documents

How do I fit in? · What are they looking for and how do you meet that?



The Resume:
· The average time for a resume review is 25 seconds
· Principals are always looking to weed out resumes due to the usual high number of applicants
· Be accurate
· Be easy to read
· Be free of spelling and grammatical errors
· Highlight your strengths quickly
· Remember --- Appearance Counts!!!
· Choose your words carefully
· Include internships, summer and part time employment if necessary
· Emphasize skills, strengths and accomplishments
· Use reverse chronological order (most recent first)
· Don’t exceed 1-2 pages
· Don’t use negative words or abbreviations
· Don’t use unnecessary words
· Don’t include personal information
· Don’t use overly precise dates
· Don’t use too many/unprofessional fonts
· Don’t forget to Proof read!!!

The Cover letter:· It is an opportunity to introduce yourself and hook the reader
· Open with Dear ________________ (very important to use person’s name)
· Usually contains 3-5 paragraphs
· Match resume
· Be brief
· Highlight relevant experience and qualifications
· Provide contact info
· Say “thank you”



The Interview:· Goal: To persuade the employer that you have the skills, background and ability to do the job and will fit in with the current employees and students.
· Before the Interview:
o Find out:
§ The interview team
· How many people?
· Who?
§ The length of the interview
· Usually 25 to 35 minutes
§ The format of the interview
· There are a few different types of interview formats. The standard 4-6 questions, but the new way of interviewing (dependant on the position) is that the interview team will not ask any questions but it is up to you to sell yourself. You have about 30 min to say everything you think they might need/want to hear and to prove to them that you can provide a safe and productive learning environment for their students.
· It is appropriate to ask the person offering you the job what type of format the interview will be.
o O. Opportunity
A. Action
R. Result
this may come up in an interview. What Opportunity occurred to you (an incident whether it was positive or negative), what Action did you take, and what was the result. Positive and Negative responses are good for this if the Result was a learning experience that you were able to turn into a positive opportunity the next time it came up.

This is a great way to prepare for an interview!
o Engage in some planning
§ Know yourself
§ Know the job
§ Anticipate questions.
o Confirm the Time and place
o Dress appropriately
o Arrive early => more than ½ early is best. Gives you time to settle down, maybe look around the school, get a drink, use the washroom etc.
o Think, “What would you ask?” when prepping for an interview.
o Try to find websites on teacher interviews
· During the Interview:
o Stay calm, breathe
o Speak clearly
o Be enthusiastic
o Sell Yourself
o Listen carefully
o Bring examples into interview => some principals prefer you bring a portfolio.
o Pay attention to your nonverbal behavior
o Don’t be afraid to pause before answering or to ask for a question to be repeated. Make sure you have the right answer for the question being asked.
o Inquire about follow-up procedure how do you find out if you got the job?
o Thank the interview team for their time.
o They read the notes you leave behind. Sometimes there is info you have written but not provided in one of your answers
o IF THE PRINCIPAL IS NOT WRITING SOMETHING, YOU’RE GIVING THE WRONG ANSWER.
o Be brief…but complete
o Limit answers to a few minutes. Five questions should take five minutes each. Shows time management skills.
o Try to use O.A.R. for all your answers.
o Put yourself on their team
o Demonstrate your ‘Fit’
o Remain positive and DON’T USE NAMES!
· Always have an “Interview Wrap-Up” This allows you to mention anything you haven’t, but wanted to mention. This is a place where you can seal the deal. At this point you could have either lost the job, or this will get you the job if they are looking for something to set you apart from all the others.


The Portfolio
· Your philosophy of education. ‘I believe…’ statements
· And updated resume
· Samples of written communication
· Samples of planning Long term, short term, unit plans…
· Samples of assessment and evaluation practices rubrics, checklists etc…
· Pictures – if they are relevant
· Your most recent professional reading and learning experiences
· Workshops certificates Not from every workshop you have ever been to, but only the good ones
· Reflections: how would you do something differently the next time? What did you learn from the experience?
· Understand the principal will likely not look at your portfolio if you leave it with him/her. Even if you do, the real impact of the portfolio is as a tool to illustrate your responses
· Principals differ, but some don’t really care about letters of reference or letters from parents in an interview situation because you would not include them unless they were good.

· Principals are looking to hire School Teachers who are competent in their subject area. Not Subject teachers who bring nothing to the school. The portfolio can help prove your fit in the school environment.

· Your portfolio can be used to prove that you love kids
· It shows your competency in non-verbal communication skills.
· Prepare your portfolio like you would prepare yourself for a job. Add things, remove things, gear it towards the position being applied for




Other Notes
· Teachers want to be able to picture you in front of your class during your interview.
· Strong student focus in ALL your answers.
· How are you going to be/get involved with the school and the community
· Always have a wrap-up
o Prepare it before hand
o Think about questions
o Add information you might not get to present in your answers but that you feel might be information the principals will want/need.
· Photocopy highlights from your portfolio in case the principal wants a copy.

· Make sure you know the school you are applying to. Different schools have different clientele/climates. You wouldn’t answer your questions the same way if you were interviewing at Ottawa Technical Secondary School or Lisgar Collegiate Institute
· Think about the profile of the learners
o Do you hold the necessary required qualifications to teach in a certain environment?
· How are you going to use EA’s?
· Educators Resource Guide…KNOW IT!
· Translate Experiences
o What have you learned from previous experiences outside of teaching and how can you relate that, and reflect it in your teaching?
o Don’t pretend you are qualified for something if in fact you are not! Keeping that in mind, it is important and useful to mention : “While I am qualified to….I am willing and able to….”

· Principals are charged with the safety of their students. How can you prove you will provide a safe learning environment?
· Prove that you are willing to work with other teachers, support staff and admin.
· It is acceptable to say: “I have never done this, but I know someone who has and when I talked to them about it…”
o They usually know if you have any experience or not, so don’t try to hide the fact that you don’t.
· You are there for the students, not to talk about the material. Be a School Teacher and not simply a Subject Teacher
· Use the curriculum to create success, but before that the student needs to feel good about where they are.
Sample Questions
1. Communication is an important aspect of teaching and learning. Please share with us what this means in the context of your classroom.
2. Teaching requires working with students who have a wide variety of learning styles. Please demonstrate how you address this variety, using a lesson that you have recently delivered.
3. You have a student in your ENG3C class whose attendance is erratic. You believe that he/she is capable and choosing not to perform. This student frequently disrupts the learning environment by pulling others off task. Please describe in detail how you would address this particular situation.
4. One of the overall expectations of GLC20 (any course) is the demonstration of ability to research information about education and work opportunities, using print, electronic and human resources. Using specific lessons, resources and assessments, how will your students meet this expectation
5. Demonstrate your knowledge of the curriculum for SPH 3U. What steps will you take to ensure that you are fully prepared to deliver the course content, and to assess your students’ achievement?
6. Integration of students with special education needs into the regular classroom continues to gain greater acceptance. What are your beliefs concerning this particular practice?
7. What do you know about this school?
8. Using your portfolio, please highlight your work in the courses advertised. IF you have not had experience in these courses, please highlight your work form other courses in the same or similar discipline.
9. What co-curricular activities have you been involved with as a teacher? How will you become involved in this school?
10. Creativitiy and flexibility are two strengths of a great teacher. Using examples from your portfolio, or your teaching experience, demonstrate your flexibility and creativity to us.
11. What does differentiated instruction look like ina CHC2D classroom?
12. This is your chance to tell us anything that we have not allowed you to express, or demonstrate, during your interview that makes you the best candidate for our students.
13. What are your professional development goals for next year? How will you reach them?