Potential Work

I had three interviews today. Bethany had told me another English teacher had decided not to come and that she had told the administration that I was interested in the position. Yesterday I sent my resume over, not really sure if I wanted the job or not.

This morning at 9 o’clock, I got a call from the principal’s secretary asking for an interview at 10.

My first interview was with a middle-aged gentleman. He was very curt during the interview, border lining on rudeness. He quickly got into the fact that I have no formal training in education, nor have I ever taught before.

I had expected this to come up, and had a little prepared thought on the subject. Basically I was going to talk about how I had been a supervisor at my past job and relate my abilities in that field to teaching children. Obviously supervising at a corporate level is different than teaching, but I felt their were enough similarities to make something of a case.

He felt differently. Almost immediately he cut that line of talking off and stated that it was a very different concept. As he asked more questions, this continued to happen. I have a tendency, when answering questions, to relate my answers to something in my past – teaching relates to supervising, being around Chinese speakers relates to being around French speakers, etc. As such I begin my answers with the background information and then attempt to make the connection. This gentleman was having none of it.

Several times I was cut off with a curt – that is completely different. By the end of the interview I really wondered why they had invited me since they could tell from my resume that I had no experience.

When the interview was completed he reinforced the fact that he was no longer interviewing me, and his manner became friendlier. He noted that he liked me and that he would love to have me around to work with the newspaper staff, but my lack of experience would make it difficult for me to be a teacher.

I then pulled out a speech on how I knew I wasn’t qualified and understood that they might have someone better for the position, but was giving it a shot anyway. He then became even more friendly and backtracked just a little to not rule out the possibility that they may hire me anyway.

It was very much like he was a nice person, but felt that for the first interview he needed to be very stern, to put on his interviewer hat so to speak. Amy had a very similar experience with one of her interviews as well. She has since met her “mean” person and found her to be very kind.

I then met with the principal. He also immediately noted that I don’t have the experience. This began to make me mad as I was wasting my time if this was to block me from getting the job. I launched back into my schpeel, but this time was met with enthusiasm towards my possibilities.

In fact he said that because the school is owned and ran by a corporation, my corporate experience might better prepare me for some thing more than actual educators. We had a very nice chat and he was very encouraging.

Next was one of the higher administrators. She had an upcoming meeting and so our chat was brief, but again it was very encouraging. She seemed to think the fact that I am not an educator wasn’t a big deal.

There is apparently another candidate with better experience, though he has another offer on the table. I was told that they would have a decision today, and as it is 9 in the PM already, I am unsure what to think. My guess is the other guy took the job. As orientation is tomorrow, if this is not the case then things may get weird.

As I will not be posting this until later this week, we should already know the answer.

After the interviews I was very nervous. Truth is, I’m not sure I want to be a teacher. I don’t have the slightest idea how to project my knowledge and ideas onto a classroom full of sixth graders. The older I get the more unsocial I become and the thought of having to interact and involve myself with people, even young people, kind of annoys me.

I’m sure after some time; I would warm up to the kids and enjoy myself. But from this angle, I won’t be disappointed if I don’t get the job. Tutoring sounds more to my liking. I’m not sure how much I’ll really enjoy the actual tutoring, but dealing with only one person at a time is more appealing. And being able to set my own schedule and cancel classes when I like sounds marvelous.

I hate to be a blogging nerd, but I really like the idea of getting some blogs off the ground and spending most of my time involved in that process. Tutoring will make me the money I need to live well, and still give me the time to do what I please.

UPDATE! It appears I did not get the job. It is now afternoon the day after and everybody has done orientation. Nobody called me so I must assume they chose the other guy. I can't help but feel a little disappointed, but in the end I think this will be better.