Educator Job Interviews

As you begin your job search, you may find yourself wondering about references, letters of recommendation, and how to most effectively use both throughout the process. Following are some tips to help you better understand the purpose of each and how to use them most effectively.

A fun game for all ages, especially if you're good at it. Think of recruitment fairs as a strategic game of memory. Many educators, new and veteran, will ask if they should attend recruitment fairs. Absolutely!

As someone looking into teaching, you may think I never took education classes in college. The great news is many states have alternative licensing programs. These programs allow you to teach, while earning your teacher license/credential.

Looking at teaching, we can spin this game differently to help educators find their dream job.

There are endless possibilities for your education career, keep growing your personal story by adding to your "have you ever" story.

Our profession has become more and more competitive. Districts are on the hunt for the best and the brightest. Our children deserve no less! Candidates are competing for jobs with others from all over. We recognize the shortages in areas of math, science, special education and world languages.

We are more digitally connected than ever before. Because of that I have become more digitally paranoid than ever before and frankly, it is a paranoia that I have embraced because it comes from the horror stories of careers being derailed and professional reputations trashed through the many forms of social media.

School districts, charter schools and private schools are scrambling to fill their schools with qualified teachers, while the universities are producing fewer and fewer teachers. Over the last several years the candidate attendance at the fairs have been at a steady decline. Other locations across the country are even canceling fairs due to lack of job-seekers. Recruiters need to make the most of the dwindling number of job-seekers at career fairs.

There are three key areas that teachers outside of salaries that must be considered before accepting a position.

Student engagement is more than the design of the lesson, it is the delivery that is key. Teachers today, must provide engaging lessons that catches a student's imagination within the first eight seconds.

If you've been interviewing and applying for positions but you still haven't found a teaching job, you might be overlooking some key elements that could impact the impression you are making on school districts.

Employment market can be overwhelming for candidates and employers. Before you begin looking, create a shopping list to identify opportunities that are a great fit.

Back in the early 90's when I was in college, my advisors and professors spent hours upon hours with us on job preparation. We were taught the correct resume format, what content was to be included and that the structure should be a nice, clean professional document. I specifically remember having specialists and members of the community come in and provide us with examples of various things related to topics centered on proper interview etiquette, body language and correct posture during the interview. We were told that our facial expressions and mannerisms could significantly affect the outcome of the interview and they provided tips on how to avoid some of the common miscues during this process. We had been dressed for success by some of the finest professors at the school and by the time we actually got to the interview we were all like robots trying to remember all of these things that we had been taught. Once that interview was finished we were to do just one more step and the process was to be complete, besides the waiting game of finding out if in fact you did get the position. It was time for the follow up. Now at the time, some 20 plus years ago, the hand written note that our professors just mentioned during our studies of the job search process was the absolute best way to follow up with that prospective employer. Fast forward to 2016, and guess what is being taught as the best way to follow up after the interview? you guessed it, the hand written note. Have times not changed? This cant still be the most effective way to seal the deal.  There wasn't a lot taught on this, what was the note to say? Was I supposed to get an answer to my note? How could I, everything I was coming up with to write on this note wasn't requiring anyone to respond to me. Was my note even reaching its intended person?

School districts should approach talent acquisition like professional sports approaches drafting professional athletes.