job interview

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Hi everyone,

I have been offered my first teaching job interview and I'm quite terrified.

I will be interviewed by a panel of staff.

Then interviews by a panel of children.

Then support as a teaching assistant in a class.

AND prepare and teach a 30 minute lesson to one of three classes I have been given scant information about (all are autistic, some have ADHD), the age groups and ability levels are different.

Currently, I am a teaching assistant (and sometimes cover teacher) in a class of students with a range of disabilities, and have cover taught some lessons of other classes as well as my own.

I feel paralysed. I don't want to prepare for the interview, I'd rather send a thousand other job applications out. But one interview is going to have to be the first if I am going to be a teacher.

But maybe I am not meant to become a teacher?

If not, why did I spend such a long time (10 years +) trying to get a teaching degree?

I am very conflicted and anxious. I don't know how to get started. I only found out that I had been shortlisted for interview yesterday, and the interview is on Thursday.

Sometimes I feel like I'm just a wreck of a person, and how on Earth can I expect to get or be able to maintain such an important job?

Drink one glass of wine before interview...


you wont be dependent on alcohol because when you've done it once, you'll see there's nothing to be scared of.

I can SO relate to what you are feeling! You do all of this work to be qualified for an awesome job, but then you have to contend with interviews to prove that you can do the job. It is a lot of pressure.

Hm... Do you enjoy your current job? If so, then of course you were meant to be a teacher. You have the skills, education and experience for it. Don't contemplate quitting teaching because you don't like interviews. YOU WILL HAVE TO DO INTERVIEWS FOR ANY JOB, REGARDLESS OF THE FIELD! But if you don't actually like teaching, that is another matter altogether.

But you CAN get this job. You are already doing the job, essentially. All you have to do now, is jump through a few more hoops. Yes, it is one day of trials, but afterwards, you can just...coast. Well, probably not. But one day of interviews can be withstood. You can even do a good job! Really, I used to be so terrible at interviews. I would just answer the questions honestly. lol. Silly aspie. Now, I prepare like crazy and then let the interview flow naturally from my exhaustive prep. I excel now. But it took me a while to figure out.

If it is helpful, I have some shortcuts I've learned. They work for me, but YMMV.

Step 1: UNDERSTAND THE COMPANY'S NEEDS & THE ROLE Spend at least an hour going through the job ad and researching the company. Think about - what does the company really need? What skills are they looking for? What is their philosophy or culture? It's not always as obvious as it seems so dig deep!

Step 2: MAKE A PERSONAL INVENTORY Go through your resume and past experience. What are some of your attributes that match up with the company's needs? What are some things maybe not mentioned that you think you bring to the table that might be unique? How do you think you might be different/better than other applicants? Spend a few hours at least thinking this through. You should come up with some sort of way to present yourself. For example, if you are applying for a job in a school that emphasizes a certain teaching method you are familiar with that is rare, you might make sure to present this as part of your brand. Something like: "I am a teaching assistant with x # of teaching days under my belt, with experience teaching all age levels and a range of disabilities. My honor's thesis was in X teaching method and I incorporated it into my practice." Also, think about it from the interviewer's perspective. They are going to interview a bunch of candidates. What can you say about yourself that will be memorable? Sometimes, it is even just about being memorable, not necessarily the best. One potential avenue is personal links with school or interviewers. Like if one of the teachers has done presentations at your college or something, this can be a way to break the ice. Write down all of your thoughts on what you can bring to the job from this step.

Step 3: COMPILE A LIST OF ILLUSTRATIVE STORIES In this step, you are preparing for behavioural questions. You know, the questions where they ask about what you did in x or y situation. For example: "Tell us about a problem you had in your classroom and how you handled it". How I prep for these is I look for 4 negative experiences and 4 positive "win" experiences. For the negative experiences I comb my background for stories where something difficult came up that I was able to successfully deal with. For the positive experiences, I look for 4 situations where I was able to do something different or new that helped the company/colleagues/students in your case. These are your bragging points. Identify the 8 situations and write them down in detail. During the interview, you can use these points either to answer a behavioural question, or to illustrate an answer with an example. You'll be surprised at how you can weave these stories into the interview. It makes much more of an impact to use actual stories. Even better if you have any kind of metrics to back up your successes.

Step 4: PREP FOR SPECIFIC QUESTIONS Make a written list of all of the question they might ask you. Go through them and prepare answers for the most difficult and the most likely questions. I always make sure to put extra prep time into the most common interview question: "Tell me about yourself". This is your chance to make sure they know why you are a good fit for the job, so tailor your answer to highlight the things about yourself you came up with in step 2 personal inventory. Another really important question to prep for is "Why did you apply to this role", which is another chance to show you understand the role, the company and how you would fit in. You can't exactly memorize answers to all these questions, but it helps to have at least thought about how you'd answer them.

Another thing that helped my immensely, is reading this book. Particularly Section 2, called "The First 60 Seconds". This book explains, step by step, how to present yourself in terms of non-verbal stuff. Stuff that comes naturally to NTs. It was a game changer for me!! !
You can read it for free online:
https://books.google.ca/books?id=a1vZgG ... &q&f=false

OK, sorry if this was too much detail and just overwhelms you even more. :/ I do hope it can be helpful though. I might just be an over-preparer...

Best of luck in the interview! I am sure you will do great!

Thank you both so much for your advice.

I went to the interview, and my nerves melted away when I got there (although I very nearly just sat in the car!). I managed to do everything, I didn't fall apart or cry, and I feel so proud that I did it. I didn't get the job, but that's ok. Getting that job would have meant moving nearly 2 hours away, and I was very torn as to whether I would take the job or not were it offered to me. They gave me such lovely feedback, said they liked my lesson, the panel liked me, and I had good answers to their questions at interview. In September 2023 they will be opening a much bigger school, and invited me to apply then if I decided to move. They went with a candidate who had more experience.
Now that I have done one interview, I know I can do it.

Thats good to hear, (I still think the wine was a good idea though )

It would be, but I can't stand the taste! I'll try some alcohol before the next one

Try some WKD instead ?