first career-type interview post-college!!

[GoogleGirl]

So I got my first *hopefully* interview next week for a teaching position. I'm really excited/scared! I had emailed a principal like 4 weeks ago and pretty much gave up on him to reply back, but apparently someone answered my prayers! I don't know how to dress or how to prepare for this. I'm really nervous as this is my first real career type interview and I reeeaallly can't screw this up. Anyone have any suggestions/advice/stories they would like to share? haha

[ocean24]

What worked for me:
Being friendly and personable to all I came across: interviewers, other interviewees, receptionist, etc.
Dark, tailored suit
Rehersing the answers to the standard interview questions for teachers
Bringing my teacher portfolio and presenting parts of it that were relevant to my answers as I interviewed
Researching the district, calling everyone I knew that worked there so that I could appear as well informed as possible
Having a few questions ready to ask the interviewers about the district when they said "do you have anything that you'd like to ask?"
Showing a good balance between confidence (prepping is key for that) and genuine interest in working for the district

I pretty much followed this for all of my interviews with the district. My first was a panel interview with several principals, the next two were with district administrators and the final one was with the actual principal of the school. Find out how your district hires if you can (top-down or bottom-up).

Good luck!

[playingbyheart]

Congrats on landing your first interview! That's the hard part. The easy part is the interview. Don't stress out about it. You should dress nicely - in a suit, preferably, that's pressed and fits well. Bring extra copies of your resume and if you have samples of any work you've done in the past (lesson plans, etc) bring those as well. You'll never know when you will be kicking yourself for not bringing an example of that great project you completed that is just too hard to explain in words.

Prepare for the basic interview questions - like - name a time you failed in the past, why did you fail and what did you learn from it? Don't be overly cheesy (that seems forced) but always spin things positive. Never focus on the negative. If you spurt out a negative because of nerves, that's ok. Just come back in and say "but I'm also... xy and z" and I did "abc" which everyone loves me for.

Best of luck!

[GoogleGirl]

thanks so much! I was wondering what I should bring with me; samples of lessons/evaluations are really good ideas! I will definitely keep those things in mind.