10 Possible Questions to Ask At the End Of Your Teacher Interview
Apr 28, 2024Season 1Episode 91
Helena Hains
Not sure what to ask at the end of your teacher interview?
Here we break down 10 questions to ask the hiring committee at the end of your teacher interview. PLUS possible red and green flag answers to keep an eye out for.
These teacher interview questions will help you confidently prepare for your upcoming teacher interview, discover the perfect district for you to work for, and know with confidence how to stand out during your next interview from other candidates.
I’m Helena, a coach for new and first-year teachers sharing knowledge on how to have a thriving career and personal life.
The Present Teacher Podcast is a resourcefor teacher interviews, classroom setup, classroom management, and time management. Follow along and learn how to thrive in the classroom and in life.
Subscribe to The Present Teacher Podcast to get inspired by new weekly podcast episodes!
Not sure what to ask at the end of your teacher interview?
Here we break down 10 questions to ask the hiring committee at the end of your teacher interview. PLUS possible red and green flag answers to keep an eye out for.
These teacher interview questions will help you confidently prepare for your upcoming teacher interview, discover the perfect district for you to work for, and know with confidence how to stand out during your next interview from other candidates.
I’m Helena, a coach for new and first-year teachers sharing knowledge on how to have a thriving career and personal life.
The Present Teacher Podcast is a resourcefor teacher interviews, classroom setup, classroom management, and time management. Follow along and learn how to thrive in the classroom and in life.
Subscribe to The Present Teacher Podcast to get inspired by new weekly podcast episodes!
Helena:
Congratulations. You just got notified that you have a teacher interview coming up and you have a million questions like what should I wear, what should I do to prepare, what interview question should I prepare for and what question should I ask them at the end of my interview? If this is you, you are definitely not alone. During my first round of interviews for my first teaching position, I was scrolling social media like crazy. I was posting in all the free Facebook groups, wondering what on earth I should do to prepare for my upcoming interview. So today we are going to be talking about 10 possible questions to ask at the end of your teacher interview. Now, in general, typically after an interview, they give you time and open up the floor for you to ask questions at the end of an interview. Now, in general, I don't recommend doing more than two to three questions because you want to be mindful of their time, but it's also important to ask come with some questions prepared and to ask questions because something that might be a bit of a mindset shift. I know it was for me, but you are interviewing them just as much as they are interviewing you, meaning they are looking for a good fit, but you should also be looking for a good fit for you, too. You want to find a district that you're aligned with and that, when you start teaching there, it's going to be a good fit for you. So that's why I recommend two to three strong questions to ask, based on what you want to prioritize asking during that time. So, that being said, here are 10 amazing questions to ask at the end of your teacher interview.
Helena:
Hey, teacher Bestie, my name is Helena and I'm the creator of the Present Teacher Podcast. I'm a first year teacher coach and in this podcast, you are going to learn everything from simple, actionable classroom management, social learning and teacher wellness strategies. You know that impact you want to make in the classroom we're going to make it happen here. Impact you want to make in the classroom we're going to make it happen here. Now, as a quick recap, if you want to dive deeper into the teacher interview process, I have been covering a four-part series on the teacher interview process that builds off of the one I started last year. So if you want to find more resources in regards to what you should be doing to prepare for your interview like, what should you wear, how to prepare for a mini lesson make sure to check out the descriptions, because I will put links to the other episodes that we covered before in this series. Now back to the content.
Helena:
All right, so this first question is definitely my superpower. It is the question of all questions that I always ask and have always during the interview process, and that is what can I expect the next step to be in the interview process Now? This is important because it opens up the floor to show that you're interested in the district and it tells you how long you should be waiting before the district gives an answer, so you're not in that limbo state after your interview. This also gives you a good reading as to where the district is at in terms of you being a prime candidate. So here are some green flag answers. Now take this with your own discretion, but in my opinion, this is a green flag that this might be a good district for you, or this is a good indicator. If your district answers like well, we will be making a decision or expect to hear a decision from us by the end of the week, that's a very good indicator that they regard you highly in the interview process and you should be hearing from them shortly. Now. A red flag answer that you might hear from districts is something like well, we have a lot of candidates, so expect to hear from us in two to three weeks. That shows that they're not quite sure, possibly quite sure if they found what they're looking for. They're going to continue searching and they have a lot of interviews, or it could just simply mean they just have a lot of candidates. Either way, this is a good indicator to let you know when you should be following up how you're standing so far and where the district's head is at so far.
Helena:
And this is actually the question I've asked at the end of the interview. That's actually been the question that led to me getting hired. During my interview, I asked this question and my first district said well, we really like you and we want you to work for us. Can we want to hire you? So I said well, I'm going to hire you. Best odds is they hire you. Worst case scenario you have to wait a couple weeks, but at least now you know how long you're going to be waiting.
Helena:
The second question you might want to consider asking at the end of your teacher interview is what does a typical school day look like for you? Now, this is a really important question for so many reasons, but mostly it'll give you a glimpse into what your school day can look like. It can also give you a good indicator if the school prioritizes social-emotional time. If the admin is in and out of classrooms, if they answer this question, it can tell you whether or not they prioritize reading and math over all the other studies. It can tell you a lot based on what the school prioritizes in their daily schedule, and this can be extremely important if you're looking for a district that values a particular thing over another. So again, this is a good indicator on what your typical day might look like and what the school values and what actions it is taking to prioritize different aspects in the classroom.
Helena:
Now here are some green flag answers. You might hear Now again personal opinion, but my green flags from this answer is if it's from admin, they stand out and they greet students and staff. That's a great indicator, because one thing I love in a principal is a principal who is out and about, who is active, who is moving around and who is there for the staff and the students to see. Having a principal or admin that isn't visual or visible to the students and staff can be kind of hard to work with when you're wanting their support. Now, green flag answer from a staff or a teacher might be that they have time to do intervention, that they have a prep. If that's really important to you, maybe they have meetings with their co-workers to collab. All of these are really good indicators about the support and the culture of the school, are really good indicators about the support and the culture of the school.
Helena:
Now let's talk about some red flags. Some red flags might be that the principal is always gone or always, you know, in meetings at district office. Some red flags, as a teacher, might be they may or may not have a prep, depending if they need to cover, if they have a lot of duties outside of their teaching that they're required to do, and all of that's kind of depending. What you're looking for could be a possible red flag based on their answer. With all that being said, I do want to preface that most, a majority, of these are my personal opinion, so make sure to use your own discretion as I share my personal opinion based on these answers.
Helena:
A third question you might consider asking is how many teachers do you currently have at your school or district specifically new teachers. Especially if you are a new teacher, you might be wondering what kind of program they might have for new teachers. So this is a great way to ask them and then follow up with. What kind of support do they have? Why this is important is if you are looking for a district that has a program in place for new teachers to be supported, this is a great way to show that the district prioritizes its new teachers and its retention. So here are some green flags you might hear. A green flag might be we have a program in place and these teachers receive a one-on-one mentor as well as monthly coaching.
Helena:
Whatever you're looking for in that program, some red flags might be that they don't have a lot of new teachers in the district and they don't have a program in place for new teachers and supporting new teachers. Now, this isn't a deal breaker, it just kind of depends on you. But that might mean that if you're wanting extra support, you might have typically a really good school environment and a work culture. People are going to tend to stay longer, meaning less vacancies and more veteran teachers, whereas if you have people who are coming in and out a lot and cycling through people, you may not have as many veteran teachers or percentage of veteran teachers. It might also be a good indicator whether or not there's a lot of new teachers coming in, whether you know if it's important that you find fellow new teachers in the district. All of those are things to consider with this question. Some green flag answers personally for me for this answers to this question is that they have a good amount percentage are veteran teachers who want to stick around until retirement. Again, some red flags might be that they have maybe one veteran teacher. A majority of people leave before they are considered a veteran teacher. That just shows that they're kind of cycling through, possibly cycling through staff at a higher rate.
Helena:
This next question is something that I personally love to ask as a teacher who has seen disruptive behavior be on the rise, and if that's something that you are concerned with, feel free to ask this question, which is, if I were to have a student partake in an unsafe disruptive behavior physical behavior possibly how will the school respond? Now, this question is important for several reasons. It'll give you a good indicator that if you were to have a student who is partaking in extreme disruptive behavior, how is the school going to respond? What resources do you have? Is there a protocol in place? Do teachers receive supports or are they kind of left on their own? A green flag answer might be again, personal preference, but that they have a procedure in place that student would be contacted home. Whatever it may be that they have resources in place, like counselors or something like that, to provide support, a red flag would be that the teacher is on their own. They can call down to the office and someone will get to them when they can. So this is a good question, particularly in my case because, as I've said, at least where I'm at, disruptive behavior has been on the rise, especially unsafe disruptive behavior.
Helena:
This next one is a bit feisty, as Kyle likes to say my husband, it's choosing fire, but the older I get, the more fiery I choose to be which is, how often are staff members expected to stay longer than normal contract hours? Now, this might be a little forthcoming and a little bit up front of a question. I realize that, but I know one of the leading causes of new teacher burnout is workload balance and how much they are working outside of contract time. So finding out how much teachers are expected to work, whether it's parent night, whether it's extra duties, clubs performances, are staff supposed to or required to be there? If so, is that going to be a make or break for you? This is important because, again, you can figure out what your work-life balance might include and if you have a family of your own, you may not have be at the stage in your career where you can dedicate a lot of hours outside of your contract time to your career, whereas maybe you are in that time of place where you want a school that has a lot of required things so you have something to do outside of work. Then that might be a great fit for you. So green flag for me would be that you know teachers aren't required to be at the school, apart from you know parent-teacher conferences. That would be a green flag for me. And the stage I'm at, a red flag might be that you know teachers are required to do concessions, go to every football game, stuff like that. As a possible future mom, I don't want to have to worry about that when I'm gonna have kids of my own in the future who are gonna have their own tasks and hobbies and stuff to get to as well.
Helena:
The next question I highly recommend asking is what is the average amount of prep time a teacher has a day or a week? Now, it's no secret that some states, especially, are struggling with a teacher shortage, meaning that there aren't actually teachers in the classroom, meaning they have to pull teachers together during their prep to cover a position. Currently, while, yes, it's great to help out, that can be really hard to, like I said, do that work-life balance and to balance your workload. That's why it's really important to ask this question. This might be, again, an upfront question, but I get spunkier as I get older, I guess. Again an upfront question, but I get spunkier as I get older, I guess. But this is a good indicator to let you know. Are you going to be required to, you know, work during your preps? Do you have a prep and how much time are you going to have during the week to get your planning and prepping done? A green flag answer might be that you know teachers have 40 minutes every single day. Maybe on Wednesdays they have an hour and a half. That would be perfect. A red flag might be, you know, 20 to 30 minutes. However, you might be required to work on your prep for other teachers as they are experiencing a teacher shortage, that might be a red flag. Again, it's your own discretion.
Helena:
The eighth question I like to ask during a teacher interview is a great question to figure out, a if your answers during your interview were what they were looking for and, b, it's a way to figure out how to tweak your answers in the future for future interviews. What are you looking for in an ideal candidate? Now, this is important because, like I said, it helps you check in with how you answered the interview questions and then also to see, okay, if I wasn't what they were looking for, maybe I can take this advice and kind of tweak my answers, as long as it's truthful and aligned with who you truly are as a person, to better match what candidates or what people are looking for in the future. And I can highlight those qualities that I do have. I just forgot to mention during my interview questions. Now, a green flag answer could be. Well, we loved how you said and if they use you as an example, that shows you that they actually really think you're a really good candidate and that you're pretty, and if they use you as an example that shows you that they actually really think you're a really good candidate and that you're pretty much what they're looking for.
Helena:
Now a possible red flag answer could be that they are looking for a bunch of things that you didn't mention. That tells me one not only was I not a good fit during my interview, but two, that maybe they're not the best district for me, because I mentioned all of the great things I'm looking for. I feel about myself and I'm looking for in a district, and if there's a mismatch, that's a good indicator. Maybe this just isn't the district or the job for me, and that's okay, because there are other teaching jobs I can always apply to, and I'd rather apply to a job that I love than try to fit somewhere where I'm not going to feel supported or just isn't aligned with my personality. Now, this last question can be important to you, depending, again, what you prioritize.
Helena:
But I know, moving from a small district where there was one teacher per grade level maybe two teachers per grade level to a bigger district that had three or four teachers per grade level, I was extremely nervous to work with the team. So I asked during my interview how many teachers are there per grade level. This was important because it let me know whether or not I'd be working with a big team or smaller team, and then it also let me know, you know, am I going to be on my own or am I going to have support? Now, again, this may not be a high priority for you and that's totally fine. For me, my green flag was I actually wanted a bigger team because when I student taught, I was used to my mentor teacher having three or four teachers to support them and I was used to the bigger schools where I grew up, whereas the smaller one well, yes, it had its perks. I was actually looking for a bigger team than I had currently that had more resources, that we could really work together and be a good fit. Some red flags for me at the time when I was interviewing for that position was that I was the only one in the grade level, because I wanted someone to help support me and we could support each other. I was looking for more of a community at the time.
Helena:
That wraps up the top 10 questions you might ask at the end of your teacher interview. As a recap, the 10 questions were number one what can I expect the next step to be in the interview process? Number two what does a typical school day look like for you? Number three how many teachers do you currently have at your school district, or new teachers? What kind of support do they have? Number four how many veteran teachers do you have at your school district? Number five if I were to have a student partake in unsafe, disruptive four, how many veteran teachers do you have at your school district? Number five if I were to have a student partake in unsafe, disruptive behavior, how will the school respond? Number six how often are school members expected to stay longer than normal contract hours? Number seven what is the average amount of prep time a teacher has a day or week? Number eight what are you looking for in an ideal candidate? Number nine how many teachers are there per grade level? And the final question is what? How would you describe the school climate? Now, this is important to kind of get a feel for what the school prioritizes and what it doesn't. For me, that looked like for teachers who support each other, that have strong teams and are welcoming of others. Some red flags for me was that they were, you know, a lot of introverts who you know stayed in and didn't really talk and communicate with each other. That would have been a red flag for me. That wraps up the 10 questions you might ask at the end of your teacher interview. Again, I don't recommend any more than two to three, but definitely have these written down ahead of time and figure out which questions you want to ask so you can come prepared and remember you are interviewing the district just as much as they are interviewing you.
Helena:
If you want to dive deeper into the teacher interview process, I highly recommend you check out the Ultimate Teacher Interview Guide. This is a step-by-step guide. It's a combination of all the questions I could ask about the teacher interview process in one spot so you can refer back to it for everything you need to know about landing your next teaching position. And if you want to take it a step further, I highly recommend you check out the Landward Dream Job Now. This is a mini course I created that walks you through everything from researching your ideal district to applying to following up after your interview.
Helena:
Now I am raising the price at the end of this month, so if it's been less than a week, I highly recommend you check out this program. Otherwise I will be raising the price. Since I did update it, I added extra templates and bundles inside as well, as I have gotten a lot of positive feedback from the teachers who have already taken it, so I want to adjust the price accordingly. As always, remember we are stronger together and I will see you in the next one. Teacher Bestie, bye.
Helena:
Thank you so much for joining me on today's episode. I hope that you were able to take away some value that will help you thrive inside and out of the classroom. It would mean the world to me if you could take five seconds right now and leave a review on this podcast. And if you found this podcast especially helpful, make sure to take a screenshot of this episode right now and tag me on your socials to let me know you're listening. As always, remember that we are stronger together. With all the love in the world, helena, aka the Present Teacher. See you next time, teacher Bestie.