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The ESL / EFL Job Interview

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Experience is first thing we look at content-wise. We like to see variety and flexibility and we especially like if they’ve worked abroad. It is an undeniable truth that people are much better teachers if they’ve gone through the same learning process themselves. For us, this matters much more than if you’ve simply got a certificate that says you can teach.

Lastly, we add our level of desperation into the process, then begin making phone calls.

This leads us to part two of the process.

The Interview

My interview in the pizzeria showed but one of the many manifestations an interview can take. The can be electronic, telephonic, or face to face. They can involve suits and ties as well as Bermuda shorts and Hawaiian shirts, cold sterile offices or benches around a camp fire.

Naturally, the best way is face to face because it allows you to employ an important skill when selecting a candidate, your intuition. The types of questions an employer chooses to ask are also of tremendous importance. Any employer whose ever been on the receiving end of the questions, should know that the candidate is going to try and answer questions the way you would like them. From my point of view, there are too many employers that rely on the list of typical questions.

For myself, the most important thing for me to discover in the interview is the real reason this particular person chose this kind of work rather than why they chose my school. Teaching English as a second language is about as unglamorous as the cheap food we live on. The pay is peanuts, the security non-existent, and it can be excruciatingly monotonous at times. Remember that deep breath you took before launching into 250th time you explained the Present Perfect?

So why does someone choose this line of work? This is often my first question and one of the most important answers they will give. In regards to the other questions I ask. I generally employ a show don’t tell policy. I want to be shown what they’ve done, not just told. Rather than asking if they are punctual, I’d ask for an example of when they’d been late and why. Other questions I like are:

1) Tell me a time when you felt overwhelmed as a teacher?
2) Under what conditions would you consider quitting this job?
3) Tell me a time when you made a mistake in class, and how did you respond to it?
4) How do your friends and family react when you told them you wanted to do this?
5) What was the strangest complaint you’d ever received as a teacher?

Lastly, if the applicant impresses you to the required degree, (again mitigated by the desperation factor) you naturally proceed to the next phase.

The Demo Phase

The demo phase involves the applicants actually putting their money where their mouth is. Now, anyone who’s ever been observed knows that the lesson plan for that lesson is, shall we say, far more professional, far more thought out, and far more “student centered” than the others you scribble down on your way to class. You may even put on a tie for the occasion. So, although they are not the most authentic situations, an employer can learn much if they pay close attention.

 

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