A Year-Long Journey of Interviewing.

It's What You Do When You're Teaching:  A Year-Long Journey of Interviewing.

Over the past year, I've applied for 9 positions. All of them were teacher roles focused on Technology Integration and Digital Learning. All of them supported teachers and were not direct classroom teaching; more professional development, coaching, modeling, and training.

Here's the breakdown of results:
• No Interview = 1
• Interviewed, not offered = 5
• Second interview, not offered = 1
• Position Offered = 2

I know full well that there are thousands of reasons that someone is not offered a position after an interview. Did I internalize this anyway? Absolutely. It was crushing.

I do need to acknowledge that some people are just innately awesome at interviews, selling themselves well simply by answering questions. 

That's not me; I'm good but not great. 

But that's not what this year-long journey actually taught me. This process reaffirmed what I believe 100% about teaching and learning.

What matters most is what you do when you are teaching. It's the planning, creating, relationships, and presenting. 

Both positions that I was offered required a 5-10 minute presentation. These interviews had a built-in 'can you teach' aspect that was missing from all the other ones.

Did I put a ton of effort into topic selection, planning, creating, and presenting? Absolutely! Do I believe that the presentation helped win the position offer? 100% 

Great teaching shines when things are actually presented and taught. I know this in my heart and see it play out in the classrooms of veteran teachers and brand-new teachers. I see it in graduate students when they share creations in class. I see it in 2nd semester teacher candidates when they teach in front of a group for the first time.

If I'm ever responsible for interviewing and hiring, I want to see the candidate present to the hiring committee. It's not about interview fluency. It's about teaching and telling a story that can't be told by answering questions only.

#K12 #Teaching #JobInterview #EdTe