Interviewing Skills

A teacher I coach had an interview last week.

It was at a good local school, and she was rather nervous about her own conduct, any questions posed, and so forth.

We had no time to meet up beforehand, but she did message me right before the interview. She needed some reinforcement, but also some tips on certain questions that are generally asked in this field.

I quickly messaged her some possible scenarios, and then it was time.

Once I got home, she phoned me up exhilarated. She was so excited I could hardly follow her.

She gave me every detail (he said-she said) of the interview - which was a good lesson for me as well -, and in the end thanked me about 6 times for my coaching.

Confidence.

It's not like they hired her right away. In fact, she might not get the job at all. However, she was very happy with the way she had carried herself, and answered the questions.

It all comes down to confidence.

When we started our sessions she was very insecure. She mentioned she's always had these issues, but I noticed she was very unhappy with her current job. We have since worked on her confidence, and more.

Intonation

The way you express yourself is pertinent. Put the stress on the wrong words, or part of the sentence, and the message you wanted to convey may be lost. This has been a big part of our labors.

Enunciation

Certain accents may greatly affect the way you present yourself. Accent elimination is very important in those cases. This starts with going back to basics: Phonics and Phonetics.

Facial Expression and Gestures

These are very important to carrying the message you want to send out. Use too many, it's distracting. Use too few, and you come off frigid.

Planning

Know what you want to say. Prepare your answers so you can go in confidently.

Today, we discussed her second interview, as she has been invited to teach a trial lesson, which will be observed. We went over the details together; the topic, the props, intonation, etc.

She is still over the moon, and hopefully she gets the chance to grow in a new and open environment.

In any case, our sessions have certainly paid off....