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Preparing for a Job Interview:
There are a number of things you can do to help you succeed in the interview, even if the interview is as far as couple of weeks away.
“Do your homework”
Prior to the interview, make sure you do your homework on the school. This includes finding out as much information as possible about the school. You may find it useful to consider the following when researching the school in question:
Ofstead Reports
Local Papers
School Website
League Tables
Exam Results
School Prospectus
General research on the internet & via other mediums
Job/person Specification
A job/person specification is usually provided to you by the company prior to the interview. This is very likely to perform a role in the interview, so it is certainly worth taking the time to look at this is some detail.
Visiting the school
You may also try to arrange a visit to the school prior to the interview. Although this may not always be possible, it is certainly worth finding out and confirms your interest in not just the position but also the school. If you do manage to arrange a visit to the school, try and make a few mental notes about certain things which you can discuss later at the interview.
Know your skills, strengths & professional achievements
Prior to the interview, make sure you know what all your major skills, strengths & achievements are. Most importantly how these meet the job/person specification. Make sure you are prepared to discuss these in detail throughout the interview, after all that’s what you are there for.
What else can you offer?
Can you teach more than one subject? If so be prepared to discuss this, no matter how trivial you think this may be. It may be that the school offer extra-curricular activities & you may have the necessary skills to help out with what the school is offering. If this is the case, it may give you that extra edge over another candidate they are strongly considering.
Keep your finger on the pulse
As you will be applying for an educational position, it is possible that the school will assume you are keeping up to date with the latest educational news. They may ask you what you think about the latest law change affecting a certain aspect of education. If you haven’t heard of this latest law, it is unlikely that this alone will cost you the job. However if you have the knowledge and enter into a discussion about the topic, you will almost certainly be scoring ‘brownie points’ with the school.