Interviews

[GrumbleDook]

I have been knocked back from 2 jobs recently (didn't even make the interview list) due to not having a first degree or a plethora of trade qualifications.

 

I accept this as a hazard of the job and any interviews I have attended I always stress my keeness and ability to adapt to the needs of the school / college / company.

 

When asked about if I would accept I always say 'yes, barring any contractual commitments' ... and this is a nice escape clause that allows me to turn round and say that I can't accept it at this time as my present contract requires me to complete project A or B.

 

I only do this because a few places I have been to ... once I have been round I have been put off the job or realise that it is not as good at what I was doing / am doing.

 

An interview is a two-way thing ... it is also a chance for you to work out if you really want to work there.

[mattx]

An interview is a two-way thing ... it is also a chance for you to work out if you really want to work there.

 

Good point, I went for a job once and before the main interview had a tour of the school - I got the low down of all the problems they had and boy the place was in a mess !! Needless to say even after getting down to the last two I was not going to accept if they offered it to me.

Also I asked lots of questions and because they had no one technical on the interviewing panel they were not able to answer many of them - not their fault of course, they were looking for a NM !!

[bossman]

@Witch:

 

I went for a position at a school not far from me due to some misunderstandings at my present school about 2 years ago. I was short-listed and at the interviews I knew that the position was mine, however I learnt from the NM that was leaving that it was clear cut until his headteacher had called our school for a reference and the long and short of it was I was underhandedly given a reference which did not fill my worth and so the job was offered to another person who then turned it down.

 

Well you may think that they would have been immediately on the phone as the headteacher had told me after the interviews that he and the ICT co-ordinator could definitely work with me and would it be alright if he got in touch with me over the weekend. I naturally said yes but didn't wait in all weekend for a call but remained in the house the best part due to other commitments.

 

Did he ring "No" not at all and did he ring during the week "No" in fact he didn't ring at all and the best part was that the school readvertised due to the post not being filled. So i decided to wait a week and then get back in touch with the headteacher first thing in the morning which I did and put him on the spot by asking him if it was worthwhile re applying for the post he couldn't say no as this would have been legal suicide on his behalf. Anyway I re applied and waited but never even got short-listed or a reply sent out and to cap it all they gave the job to an eighteen year old who was on the sick from another school just up the road a ways who had only downloaded the application form from the schools website on the deadline evening and resubmitted it after the deadline.

 

So Witch the moral is you can please some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time but you can't please all of them all of the time. Sorry you didn't get the job. but have a good weekend.

[paulhyman]

Being honest is good but does work against you.

 

I went for a interview and i wanted the job, the interviews seemed to like me but yet i think they were unsure about what i wanted.

infact one of their questions was.

 

"So what do you want ?? "

 

that was after they had said told me that they were impressed with my CV and my attitude and they like i was very honest. Now how can you answer that honestly.

 

I want to work hard, get promoted quite afew time earn lots of money so i can retire early.

 

I wish i had said that , i did get the job anyway. The feedback i got was i had a excellent interview but there was 2 people with stronger CV's then me.

 

but hey i think there is going to be a good job there soon.

[torledo]

I have been knocked back from 2 jobs recently (didn't even make the interview list) due to not having a first degree or a plethora of trade qualifications.

 

I accept this as a hazard of the job and any interviews I have attended I always stress my keeness and ability to adapt to the needs of the school / college / company.

 

When asked about if I would accept I always say 'yes, barring any contractual commitments' ... and this is a nice escape clause that allows me to turn round and say that I can't accept it at this time as my present contract requires me to complete project A or B.

 

I only do this because a few places I have been to ... once I have been round I have been put off the job or realise that it is not as good at what I was doing / am doing.

 

An interview is a two-way thing ... it is also a chance for you to work out if you really want to work there.

 

I think the person specifications are always a bone of contention. Sure, if you're a SAP consultancy you want the brightest graduates with 1st class honours and little or no experience (so that you can indoctrinate them into the evil ways of SAP contracting). But the trouble is for most jobs the only reason degree requirements are there is becuase the people managing recruitment haven't got a clue what the job entails and b) its a way to easily whittle away candidates. Often the best candidates are discounted during this process so it's very hit and miss. As for professional qualifications, the only ones that are worth the paper they're written on are the various CCIE tracks. And CCIE holders are what ? 0.1 % of all IT proffesionals

[torledo]

BTW grumbledook;

 

Is it ok to say yes at interview when asked about whether you want the job. And not bother with the 'yes, subject to....' line. And then turn it down if that's what you want to do for whatever reason if/when it's offered to you.

 

After all it's no skin off their nose - they'll just offer it to their 2nd or 3rd choices after all.

[laserblazer]

Interviewing is a difficult process, I used to run an electronics company and we recruited a lot. My Tech Dir. who was self taught rejected anyone with a degree out of hand. My secretary would look at the rejected cv and if they looked good we would persuade him to give them a chance. With experience, I think we got to be pretty good at selecting the right people, we seldom picked a bad-un and got some class acts. I'm still in touch with several of them.

 

Anyway, I don't think the average school interview panel has the same skill. It's asking the right questions and getting a gut instinct. Even then, it takes up to six months to know if you have made the right choice.

 

The interviewee has to learn the ropes as well. We had a really good Head of Year who went for countless Deputy Head jobs without success. He said that each interview went better but he never got past 2nd place. He finally got a job at a very challenging school and two years later he was HT. So all the schools that rejected him probably made a big mistake.

 

Look at each interview as a learning process to set you up for the right one.

[MkII]

My school inteview for an IT Tech with absolutely no experience of the subject, and won't involve people with experience. Of course it's pot luck wether they get anyone that can actually do the job. To them, someone that can use a spreadsheet is obviously at the top of their game when it comes to managing a vanilla windows domain, etc etc..