Toughest interview question and most common interview question?

Hi Everyone,

I had a preliminary interview today and I'm not exactly sure how it went other than I know it could have gone better. I have another interview coming up for a district that I would love to work for and I want to be as prepared as possible. So I'm curious to know what interview question was your most difficult to answer or threw you for a loop as well as the most common question you got during your interviews. Also, if you have the time, what advice do you have for answering those questions?

Thank you!!

 

I've always hated the "what is your greatest weakness" question (and I understand this popular interview question is criticized quite a lot). It's hard for me to make myself look unnecessarily bad but also not... lie

 

,

 

,

 

Before I respond to your inquiry about tough questions, there are several other critical areas that should be addressed first. My suggestions to you are based on my having been offered the positions I interviewed for on five separate occasions. In each of my interviews, I made it a point to establish a comfortable atmosphere in the room by: sharing some interesting aspects of my personal background (strong assets for the job in question); sharing some in-depth information that I learned about the district and/or school; or by sharing my impression of the school as evidenced by specific indicators. My opening remarks (and others yet to come) right out of the gate showed that I was a strong contender with knowledge about the school's academic record and outstanding issues - they were also meant to set me apart from the competition.

I also found it helpful to ask a preliminary question related to the amount of time allocated for the interview and the number of questions involved. This enabled me to pace myself and to hopefully avoid running out of time, thereby losing valuable points. If there were to be twelve questions, I would quickly write the numerals 1-12 and cross them out as they were answered. I like to think that this had the additional benefit of showing the panel that I was on "top of my game"!

Now for your question about questions. For the most part, interview panels seem to ask the same questions which you can find everywhere. Whatever you say, keep your responses as brief as possible - quality not quantity. The trick is to learn to tailor your responses so that they always put you in a positive light - the more experience you have the easier this will be. List as many terrible situations as you can recall that resulted in a positive outcome - involving co-workers, your supervisor, students, parents. Whenever you're asked, What's the worst . . . ? just refer to your list and grab the most relevant response. If necessary, keep this list in front of you to help you remember to insert a brief successful anecdote whenever it's appropriate.

Finally, if you're asked to describe your proudest accomplishment, refrain from giving a response that puts the spotlight on you. Instead, surprise them by describing a situation in which there were multiple winners - it's called being humble and is something that the panel may be looking for. Hopefully, what worked for me will work for you too!

 

I would love to hear your input.. Can you respond to my post in the sped forum? Thanks

 

STAR questions...

Situation - Five 2nd gr. students scheduled for retention.

Task - How would you deal with this?

Action - I worked exclusively with curriculum materials for under achieving students. Colloborated with 1st gr. lead teacher for tutoring and textbooks. Met with parents & students and explained my goals & expectations. Got students & parents on board with real threat of retention.

Result - Three students brought up math & reading scores to passing level. One did not improve enough for promotion. One was already 9 yrs old., and failed twice. Can’t retain more than 2 times and 2 yrs past age.

That was a positive, result-based question/answer exchange.

 

Be ready for panel interviews. Common in Head Start/Pre-K. Certain districts do this as well. Sometimes they include parent board member, a current teacher, dept. chair, social worker. Bring several resumes, and be ready to leave copies.

Pan the room for something that you can connect with. (Break the ice and be brave: (“I see you’re a Bears fan! Think that last draft pick was a good move?) Points!!! Take water but no thanks to food. (Don’t want to choke on a donut or have food stuck in your teeth). Besides, while he’s getting water you can scan the room, get comfy.

If you really don’t understand the question, ask them to repeat it. Think about it, and be ready with a good response. If they ask, Are you familiar with Saxon Math? Be honest. “No, but I’ve used Harcourt Brace, and I’m willing to learn any program.”

Most importantly, clear your schedule. Nothing more obvious than you sweating, trying to rush outta there because—oh no, you scheduled two interviews today! Big mistake. Plan on staying later..It’s wonderful when they say, “Can you stick around a bit longer?? I want you to meet so-n-so”. Yes, yes you can!

 

Toughest interview question:
"So...why do you want to teach ED?"
My answer: "Good question!" Which made the good Doctor laugh, and then I followed up by explaining I liked working with challenging children, and how it kept me on my toes. Got the job pretty much on the spot.

Oh, and that awful "What is your greatest weakness" question. Yikes. Hate that one.

 

Three afterthoughts:

1. I think it's important to "read" the interview panel. If you notice that they all mark their scores at the same time within a minute of your response, you have more than likely hit the mark and can finish up your answer.
2. IMO, it's more powerful to use "I believe" in place of "I think" in your responses.
3. As you watch the clock and monitor the length of your responses, there's good reason to avoid being overly verbose. Oftentimes, if there's time left over, you'll be asked if there's anything else that you may want to tell the panel about yourself - or they might simply ask, "Tell us why we should hire you." Make good use of this opportunity to leave them with a favorable lasting impression. For example, my ace in the hole (not bragging, just sharing!) was my forte which was devising innovative teaching methods to reach the most challenging students - the engaging group conversation that ensued lasted about five minutes and ended only when I realized that I probably shouldn't wear out the welcome mat!

 

Save that Ace card for 2nd interview. If (no- when) they call you back )you want to save your best story to close the deal. You don’t want to be stuttering or repeating same answers verbatim. Don’t want to sound rehearsed. Knock them out with a jazzier response than the first time. Be confident, not arrogant.

 

They may exist, but I never had the pleasure of going to a 2nd interview for either teaching or administrative positions. They were all one-shot deals.

 

I have maybe been to two intereviews that were two-shots. The rest were truly one-and-done.

 

Maybe it's not really a hard question, but an annoying one, in that "why do you want to work here?" BECAUSE I WANT A STINKIN JOB, WHAT DO YOU THINK????

 

,

 

After going on my first dozen interviews out of college I decided to google "most common teacher interview questions" then typed out my response to each one and rehearsed them. Most importantly, I included a successful personal experience I had handling the question being asked to show I had experience and I wasn't speaking in hypothetical. It helped me to make sure I was bringing up different experiences for each question rather than getting my mind stuck on the same student for every question since it's hard to look back clearly when you're nervous and six people are all watching you. After I did this I finally started getting call backs and I felt so much more comfortable and confident sitting in that chair.

In regards to the 2nd interview, I've found all the schools I've interviewed with ask for a 2nd interview or demo lesson if there is plenty of time to fill the position. The position I have now was for a Sept start, but I interviewed in June so there was a 2nd interview. When the school is much more pressed for time it was a one-shot deal (interviews at the end of August).

Make sure you have at least two questions for them at the end of the interview too to show them that you are interested in working there, but they're also competing for you against other schools. At the very least it makes you look diligent to be thinking about different aspects of the job. Some of my go-to's were "Are parents welcome to participate in the classroom and how involved would you say parents are in the school?" and "How would you describe the relationships between staff members?" FYI, this was for K-2 positions. Whatever question I was asking I would choose a a panel member to direct it towards instead of keeping all my focus on the principal. And make sure you listen to them when they are introducing themselves so you can easily reference their names in the interview or follow-up email.

Most importantly, ask yourself if this is a place you want to work and trust that intuition!

 

Boy, I had a few of those myself!! I really think those are questions to see if they can tick you off!

“What can I do for you?” (After a two hour wait in the hall without a/c.)

“Do you have any experience working with children?”

“Why did you leave your last job?

“How do you deal with difficult co-workers?”

“What were some of the things you didn’t like about your last school/supervisor?”

“The weather is so nice in ____. Why did you leave?”

“Can you fill out this application?? (Uh, I did it online already!! Isn’t that how you got my name and number?!)

And more...

 

I would think the hardest questions can be "why do you want to work at this school? or "why do you want to work for this district", but only if you have applied to a dozen schools, all that were hiring, and now you're sitting at this interview where the school is exactly like other middle / elementary / high schools, similar struggles, achievements, mission statements and nothing stands out. I would really struggle with a good answer.

When I was applying for jobs I was very specific. I want to teach alternative ed, because I wanted to teach at-risk youth, so this would be throw - away kids, expelled, in trouble with the law, etc. high struggles, big challenges, but also big rewards. And that's all I applied for (which was 4 schools in the entire state of California) So when they asked me this question, it wasn't tough at all, I really wanted to work with these kids and was willing to move anywhere, willing to leave San Diego for the Central Valley (!!!) which was a big deal and I did just that.

So to answer this tough question well, you really have to want to teach at that school because there is something specific going on there, and you must find it. Otherwise it will sound like you just need the job (that is really the case most of the time) but there will be other applicants who will say something clever, and they will probably be more memorable. So research the school. It could be their technology focus, or art, or music, or the student population, they might be piloting new program, etc.

 

Thank you so much!!

 

GREAT advice. Thank you so much for your time!!!!

 

Thank you for sharing this!!

 

Great stuff. Thank you!!

 

One of the most common questions is "Why do you want to be a teacher?" My teacher education program stressed that you should never ever EVER say "Because I just love working with children." While that may be the answer, it may sound forced and generic.

One of the most difficult questions that I encountered was a question on how to deal with a difficult co-worker. The question started out: "How would you regularly communicate with parents?" My answer was that I would send out a weekly email, updating parents on what is going on in class that week. Well, the response to that was "Well, what if one of your team teachers is against this, what would you do?" I'm pretty sure I came up with some BS answer, but I'm still not sure what I would do in that situation. Luckily, I get along with my team teachers.

 

Awesome advice. Thank you!

 

Good point!! Thank you!

 

Potential employers want to know how well you deal with conflict.

I say:

“I would ask why they question my ideas. If they ignore me or refuse to listen, I start taking notes, then bring it to supervisor. Take supervisor’s suggestions. If I still get drama, ask for a meeting with this person & supervisor. If he continues to block me, I report back to supervisor.

They want to make sure you’ll give some effort and not run crying for everything.

Or they know they have lousy staff members...want to see if you will sink or swim.

 

Glad to help!

 

"Tell about a hardship in your life." It threw me for a loop because it verges on personal rather than professional. I mean a hardship can be financial, health-related, abuse...etc. I wasn't sure if they were looking for the most awful story or what. I honestly couldn't come up with anything at the time, and talked about how it took ten years before I finally got my teaching credential because I worked my way through school and couldn't afford to student teach without an income. Then afterward I thought that I could have told them all about suffering from fibroids, dragging myself to work everyday with serious anemia and my ultimate visit to the emergency room because I was having trouble breathing that ended up in a hysterectomy. But....that could have gotten pretty gross if I went into detail. The most irritating thing about the question was that it was in a school with a very high socioeconomic population, so "hardship" in that world probably has a much different context than in the other side of the district where many families exist below the poverty level.

 

TeacherWhoRuns,

Yeah, as much as you may think that’s what they want, be careful, You are strong and it’s good to know you’ve made it through some hard times.

IMO, you don’t want to get yourself worked up and headed on an emotional rollercoaster, and get teary eyed...blowing your nose..turning your head, asking for a minute to get it together. This isn’t “Dancing With The Stars” or “American Idol”. They won’t give you points for your dramatic sob story....

I think they are looking for how well you bounce back. I believe you must guard your emotions...so it does’t turn into a counseling session.

 

I think the scenario questions can be hard because you just don't know what they're going to ask. The "What would you do if..." questions. I had one about a colleague being crabby and difficult. I said I'd bring her coffee and otherwise leave her alone, because that's the truth. I don't go fishing for people's issues. Got enough of my own!I've also gotten classroom management scenarios, data analysis scenarios, and intervention scenarios that can be difficult to answer without a context.

 

It is sooooo nice to receive a personal thank-you! So much more meaningful than a "like". Don't hesitate to let us know how your job search goes.

 

I have seen some of those online application questions, and they can be just as difficult. You think you were filling out a passport application!

I always print out a copy, and look it over before the interview. Usually, the interviewer has your copy in front of them. If your answers are totally different from what your application says, he will start looking back and forth and question you.

Some people say, "Check yes for everything, just get your foot in the door." I think that works against you if you're not sincere. If you mark you're willing to do after school activities/clubs, don't be surprised when they ask you about it during the interview.

 

WRONG ANSWER!!! It shouldn't annoy you at all, but is definitely one that you should anticipate. If you want to be their #1 choice for the job, you need to take every opportunity to shine. Your answer to this "annoying" question has the potential to set you apart from the rest of the pack. If I were asked that question, here is how I would respond (based on actual conversations with staff members since I arrived early for the interview).

"I've spoken with several teachers (identify them by name) who unanimously expressed their enjoyment working here - they pointed out the strong school leadership, strong teamwork among the staff, supportive parents and enthusiastic students. I believe this would be a perfect fit for me and I look forward to being able to join the team!" Short, but concise. Naming the teachers that you spoke to may earn additional points, especially if the interview team follows-up by getting invaluable feedback from them about you.

Now you have the proper perspective for successful interviewing! Works for both teaching and administrative interviews.

 

Didn't even think about one like this. Thanks!!

 

That's great idea!!

 

I'll try to find some scenarios to help prepare me a little better. Thanks!

 

Make sure you have a strong beginning (problem), middle (solution) and a solid ending (results). Don’t ramble or become a comedian.

Be pleasant and delightful. Keep smiling. It ain’t over until they reach out to shake your hand. So don’t get too confident or annoyed.

 

Every interview I've had always asked, "Tell us what a typical day in your classroom would be like?" They want to hear about things like routine, schedule, programming and management. It took me a few tries to answer that one really well. I finally created a section in my portfolio for it and I use pictures of former students in action and schedules to walk them through my classroom environment.

When I interviewed for my current position as an instructional coach I was asked a question about budgeting at the divisional level. I answered that one honestly - "I don't know. I've never worked with a large divisional budget before and I'll need some help at first to figure that out." I didn't want to say something I couldn't back up, and I still got the job.

 

I don't think "Why do you want to work at this school?" has to be difficult. Put in the effort to research the school community a little and find something you connect with. Like: "Oh, I noticed you have an arts partnership with ABC Nonprofit. I was active in theater and would love to work at a school that supports creative learning." Or "I noticed PBIS posters when I came in this morning. I am PBIS trained and would love to help with that school-wide effort."

I certainly favor candidates that come in knowing something specific about my school. You SHOULD really want to be there...not just anywhere for a job.

 

They have holes and you want to fix them!