Wanting to know how to get your foot in the door for an interview? Look through the sections below and find tips and tricks to help you stand out as a candidate.
Standing Out as a Candidate
Getting Your Foot in the Door
- Take a full time or part time non-teaching job. Most districts will allow you to leave that position mid-year for anything considered a promotion.
- Consider a temporary position such as an after school worker. Elementary schools often look for people to work in those programs.
- Become a substitute teacher. Even if you can sub once a month, it will help you learn the schools and meet key administrators.
- Consider volunteering at any schools that interest you. For instance, many schools need mentors or tutors.
- Interview for a teaching position that you would be willing to do even if it is not your top pick. You might be able to move into your desired position in the future.
Maximizing Your College Intern/Student Teacher Experience
- Dress and act professionally during your internship.
- Go above and beyond in your placement when asked (and when NOT asked).
- Volunteer to support school-based clubs and special events.
- Attend student concerts or sporting events.
- Go see other teachers whenever you can to learn new strategies. Use planning/lunchtime to get advice from teachers. This shows that you are motivated and hungry to learn - people will take notice!
- Ask the instructional coach, department head, assistant principal, or principal to come and watch you teach and give you feedback.
Emailing School Personnel Your Resume:
When applying for jobs, use the preferred method on the district’s Human Resources site. In addition, you may want to consider emailing the school’s principal your resume and cover letter (unless expressly told not to in the job listing). If you do choose to email principals, follow these guidelines:
- Do not send a mass email to multiple principals.
- Re-read your email to ensure there are no grammatical or spelling errors (i.e. “principal” vs. “principle”).
- Don’t email a principal using a template and forget to change the name of the principal/school/district in your salutation or the body of your email.
- Keep the length of your email at 5-6 sentences. This email does not need to be a cover letter because that is too long to read. Feel free to attach a cover letter.
- When you write the email, give a brief introduction of yourself including what you want to teach. Note something specific about the school that interests you. Let the recipient know that you have either already applied or will apply if a job were to be posted.
- Avoid asking for an interview. Your goal is to simply let them know that you’ve applied and are interested.
- Be sure to attach a copy of your resume. You can also include a copy of your teaching certificate if you have it.
- You may not hear back from the administrator after you email. If that is the case, do not follow up because school administrators are very busy. It is likely that they saw your email and may have saved your resume should the right opportunity come available that is a fit for you.
Submitting Your Application & Resume
Resume Basics
- Keep your resume at one to two pages maximum.
- Use your personal contact information and not a school or university-issued email address.
- Do not include references on your resume. Most online applications will have you list them when you apply.
- Showcase a variety of schools and settings that you have worked in as an educator.
- Include relevant volunteer experience - especially if it relates to working with kids.
- Craft bullet points so they follow the same grammatical structure.
- If including a photo, make sure it is a professional headshot.
To see a more in-depth guidance document on resume writing, check out the Teach in the Peach Resume Writing Guides:
Applications
- If the district has a teacher pool application, fill out the application. Sometimes the system will save your information so you don’t have to re-enter it if you apply for multiple jobs.
- Sign up for job alerts if you have that option. This is smart because jobs are often posted beyond the typical hiring season (March-May)
- Apply to any positions you are willing to do even if it is not your top pick.
- If asked on an application about your criminal history, be sure to disclose any relevant information in your background because most school districts run the most thorough background checks available. These background checks even include instances that may have been expunged from criminal records.
- Be sure to include professional references and not friends or family members. If possible, include your current supervisor and former supervisors. If you’re a student intern, it is recommended you include your current mentor teacher and any supervising professors.
Preparing for an Interview
Pre-Interview Research
- Thoroughly review the district’s website and social media channels. This can show you what the school district values and celebrates.
- Watch or read minutes from some of the latest school board meetings to get a feel for what is currently happening in the district.
- When you review the school’s website, read through the school improvement plan to see school-wide initiatives and goals.
- Take time to learn about the area where the school is located including the population dynamics and demographics. Who lives there? Who works there? How has the area changed over time?
- If possible, drive around the local area to see where the families of that school live, work and play.
- Learn the names of administration and other key people who may be in your interview so you can call them by name when you see them.
Interview Preparation
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Think about what makes you stand out above other candidates.
Consider the following:- What experiences in your background or skill sets make you someone who would bring value to that team? (i.e. summer camp leader, bilingual, real world business experience)
- What unique teaching settings have you been in that make you a great asset for this role? (i.e. Title I, co-teaching/advanced, specialized schools, international experience).
- Is there a talent you bring to the classroom to make your lessons come alive in an innovative way? (i.e. musician, artist, website developer)
- Write out your WHY and practice saying it out loud. Be able to easily and concisely answer questions such as: Why do you want to teach? Why do you want to work at this particular school?
- Write out your WHY and think of specific stories you can tell about your prior experience that may answer interview questions. Practice telling those stories out loud. If you are in college, your student teaching reflections may be helpful for this exercise. Be able to easily and concisely answer questions such as: Why do you want to teach? Why do you want to work at this particular school?
- Prepare questions ahead of time for the interview panel because you will likely have the chance to ask a few at the end of the interview. If possible, let your questions flow from your pre-interview research.
Practicing Interview Questions
Sample Teacher Interview Questions
- How do you create a positive and structured classroom environment?
- How do you build positive relationships with students?
- How do you accommodate different learning styles in your classroom?
- How do you engage students who are uninterested in the lesson?
- How do you foster a sense of community in your classroom?
- How do you ensure your lessons are engaging and effective?
- How do you assess student learning?
- Can you provide an example of a successful lesson you taught?
- How do you integrate technology into your teaching?
- Tell us about a time when you dealt with a difficult student. How did you handle the situation?
- Describe a time when you had to collaborate with a colleague or parent to support a student.
- How do you handle a parent who disagrees with your teaching or grading methods?
- What would you do if a student refuses to participate in class?
- How do you track and measure student progress?
- What do you do when a student is struggling academically?
Don’t have an answer that comes to mind right away?
- Feel free to ask the interviewer to repeat the question or ask for clarity.
- If you don’t immediately have an answer, pause for a second to think before you speak.
- If you still can’t come up with an answer, share what you would do if you were ever in that situation.
Formatting Your Answers
When answering interview questions, it is good to follow a structure to keep you on track. Use the following framework to help organize your interview responses.
Observation
What did you observe happening? What problem or issue were you trying to tackle? Was this something you saw or something that emerged from student data?
Action
What did you do in response to what you observed? How did your observations inform the actions you took?
Result
What happened when you took action? Was the result positive or negative? Did things go as planned?
Reflection
Upon reflecting on this experience, what is something you learned? How is this experience going to help you in the job for which you are interviewing? What would you have done differently? Did something go well that you hope to duplicate in your future classroom?
Considering Best Practices & Pitfalls
What to Do
- Arrive early.
- Dress professionally.
- Be warm and friendly to the front office staff that greets you upon arrival.
- Be confident and look interviewers in the eye.
- Have energy throughout the interview.
- Be yourself. Interviewers prefer to see the real you and hear actual stories from your experience over educational buzzword answers.
- Answer questions with stories from your experience as much as possible.
- Be willing to admit when you don’t know something.
- Be willing to share about a time when something didn’t go well or you wish you did something differently.
- If interviewing virtually, test the platform and your microphone/camera ahead of time.
What to Avoid
- Don’t have a distracting background or be in front of a window where lighting might be an issue in a virtual interview.
- Don’t have an unprofessional email address or voicemail greeting.
- Don’t have an unprofessional presence on social media. Interviewers (and parents!) may look you up.
- Don’t bring a parent or friend with you to the interview. You can do this on your own!
- Don’t cancel at the last minute. If you can’t make the interview or are no longer interested in the job, call with plenty of advance notice to cancel.
- Don’t talk too fast. Slow down your rate of speech and stop to think before you answer. Breathe deeply to calm down your nerves.
- Don’t blame others (students, their parents, your colleagues or the curriculum).
- Don’t be arrogant - everyone has room to grow! Showcasing that you are teachable and open to feedback, regardless of your years of experience, can help you in an interview.
Asking Questions
Asking Questions in an Interview
- Don’t ask questions that can be easily found on the website. (i.e. salary, work calendar, school start time)
- Ask questions that come out of your research of the school or the district.
- Ask questions to see how you as a candidate can add value to what the principal is trying to do at that school.
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Feel free to think through what YOU value and ask questions that align with those values. Some examples may include:
- What kind of support does the district/school have for new teachers?
- What does collaboration look like in your school?
- What teacher leadership opportunities are available?
- What career ladder opportunities do teachers have here?
- What has the district done to tackle a recent pain point?
- What is technology access like for teachers?
- Can you tell me about the community involvement here?
Most interviews will close out with a time to ask questions. This can be another way for you to shine as a candidate.
Sealing the Deal
Post Interview Tips
- Send a thank you email or hand-written thank you note to the interview team.
- If the team gives you a timeline in which you will hear back, do not follow-up until after the timeline has passed.
- If you say you will get back to the school regarding a job offer by a certain date, make sure you respond within that time frame.
- If you are trying to decide between multiple job opportunities, feel free to follow-up with the school to ask additional questions.