varied techniques in interviewing

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Home : 2002 : July : 28

varied techniques in interviewing
By Carolyn

I had had the same experiences. I am sure that a lot of us had.

I have never liked the system where you have a panel of judges. Really now, you don't need such a huge number of people to judge if a candidate is suitable
or not! My feeling is that some school boards require it so that it can't be said that the decision to hire a candidate was politically motivated. I think it is anyway. I interviewed in such a setting a couple of times and remember well that I was just being interviewed because I was a sub in the district and I was pestering them for an interview. Well, of course we all know that

being interviewed doesn't always lead to a job, and in this case, I think we all knew beforehand that I wouldn't get the job that I was being interviewed for, because there was only one opening in the school where I was interviewing, and a teacher's daughter had just graduated and needed a teaching job. Of course, she got the job, not I, even though I had subbed in the district for three years.

I have been in the situation where I was interviewed by a principal, then sent on to the superintendent for a final interview. I was once one of three candidates who was sent on for a final interview for a position. To this day, I wonder if the final candidate was a relative of somebody in the school district.

There have been times when I attended an interview and watched the interviewer fill out a rating sheet. Others have taken a lot of notes. I liked the interviewers who gave me some feedback when I was interviewing. I got tired of interviewers who said nothing or even acted like they didn't hear my response. I got to the point where I would ask for their opinion or ask questions of them. That got them talking. As an interviewer, you need to know their philosophies, not just share your own.

I have even had more loosely oriented interviews where I was actually offered a job on the spot. This has happened three times since I have been in the South.