Make It Happen!

This has always been my philosophy in providing for my students and staff.

Change the Way You Interview!

I just finished my sixth year as a Principal, and I can't count how many interviews I've conducted. I've hired classroom teachers, EC teachers, music and art teachers, assistants, a financial secretary and numerous custodians. The typical way I have interviewed consisted of this process:

• Develop 8-10 questions
• Gather leadership team members that would provide input on the selection
• Schedule interviews
• Round robin the questions
• Ask team for their top three
• Make decision

How well has this worked for me? Fairly well. I've hired many great individuals. But I've also hired some duds that quit before they even had one day on the job. What I've learned is that anyone can have a good interview, but you don't really get to know someone in 15-30 minutes. Many questions can be found online, and candidates can adequately prepare for the interview by scripting their answers. You can even find suggested answers and mold them to fit who you are. I can't lie, as a candidate myself, I googled questions and "good answers". I'm sure most of us have been in that position before, right?

This year we had a teacher retire, a teacher move, and a growth position come open. Hiring three classroom teachers can either be dreadful or looked at as an opportunity. Another blessing and curse our school has is the number of applicants for each position. We typically get at least 40, and sometimes as many as 80 applicants, due to our proximity to the largest city in our state. The last thing my leadership team and I needed during this Pandemic was to sit in our conference room for several days asking the same 10 questions to 20+ people.

So we changed the way we interviewed.

I only have room at my school for the best of the best. I want our students to be loved and challenged. With so much unknown about the future of schools right now, I need teachers who will prioritize relationships and take risks in how they reach their students. If you've read my previous post about what Principals look for in a teacher (CLICK TO READ), you can see more of the things I'm looking for in a candidate.

First of all, we did not post specific grades. I wanted to feel out each candidate's comfort level, but also know that they are flexible. Each candidate was required to:

1. Prepare a 10-minute ZOOM lesson to teach to the five members of my leadership team conducting Phase 1 interviews. The candidates were all given the same standard to teach.
2. Create a "Meet the Teacher" newsletter using a Google App.
3. Respond to an angry parent email.

During the Phase 1 ZOOM interview, the candidate taught the lesson to the team. At the end of the lesson, the candidates were asked two questions:

1. How will you assess students at the end of the lesson to ensure mastery?
2. If you were to teach the same lesson tomorrow, what would you do to make it better?

Based on their ZOOM interview, newsletter, email response, and references, the leadership team made the decision on whether to send the candidate to Phase 2.

Out of all candidates who went through Phase 1, only 9 went to Phase 2. Phase 2 interviews were also on ZOOM, but were only with both administrators and our admin intern. We had five questions, then gave the rest of the 1/2 hour to the candidate. You see, it is just as important to us that the candidate wants to work with us. Plus, who doesn't love to brag on their school for 15 minutes? Here were our 5 questions:

1. Your references used these three words to describe you {word, word, word}. What is your reaction to their description?
2. We believe that building relationships is the most important thing you can do as a teacher. How do you plan to do this?
3. Describe how you take risks in your classroom.
4. What are your expectations of your Principals.
5. Share something about yourself that has nothing to do with teaching.

Our admin intern sat through both phases of interviews, and was able to provide us with input from both levels. We wanted to be sure that the candidate was consistent with who they were in front of potential colleagues versus potential employers. While the process overall was laborious, it worked wonderfully in this situation. I truthfully do not think we will ever go back to the old way of interviewing even if we're not in a Pandemic!

Here is a summary of what we were truly looking for out of these interviews, and some things we learned along the way:

• I wanted to see candidates teach TO the team, not summarize how they would teach the lesson. I wanted them to interact with the team as teacher to student, answering and asking questions. The candidate's reflection at the end of the lesson was just as important. I wanted to see that they could instantly tell whether their students understood the concept, and knew they could always improve any lesson in the future.
• In the newsletter, I was looking to see how appealing the layout was as well as how easy it was to read. Teachers need to be tech savvy, especially right now. I wanted the newsletter to teach me something about the candidate, but also see that they had done their research and added information about our school. While I truly couldn't tell if they used a Google app to create the newsletter once it was converted to a pdf, the request conveyed to the candidate that Google is a part of our school community. I really enjoyed reading and looking through these newsletters, but I'm a geek.
• The response to the parent complaint email measured cool under pressure. I wanted to see that the candidate acknowledged the complaint and suggested a resolution. My ideal response would have been that the teacher would not respond in an email but pick up the phone and call the parent. Only one candidate did that. Most candidates offered the parent to come in for a conference to discuss, and that was also a good response. Several candidates got defensive, and that was a huge red flag especially since it wasn't a real situation. (Sidenote: Great opportunity for grammar check)
• Professionalism on ZOOM was important to us as well. For all I knew, they could've been in underwear but as long as what I could see from the waist up was professional, I was pleased. I will tell you that we had one candidate not dress professionally and I was in total shock. The candidate dressed professionally during Phase 1 and then came to Phase 2 showing way too much skin.
• The five questions in Phase 2 are atypical of previous interview questions, so I'm hoping nobody had pre-googled any answers. The risk-taking question was the one that threw most people off. But many had good answers!
• The final Phase 2 question allowed us to open up a casual discussion and also most often ended in laughter. It's important to see the candidate talk about what's important to them aside from teaching. Plus, I want to see that they can hold a conversation and a sense of humor is a huge PLUS. We laugh a lot at our school!
• Lastly, I was very interested to see what questions the candidate had for us. Their questions demonstrated their priorities (class size, technology, community, etc). Only one question threw me off but got me really thinking: What will your expectations be of teachers should we return to school continuing with distance learning? 

I am completely satisfied with our hires through this process. I feel that I know them far better before they even set literal foot in our building!