Asking an Employer the Right Questions

When I tell my clients that they should be prepared to ask the interviewer questions, they inevitably ask, "Well, what should I ask them"?

In the January 2008 issue of Office Solutions magazine, I came across this article on "Interviewing Your Interviewer," which quotes the online Career News newsletter.

Here are the questions they recommend a job seeker ask:

• Why is this position available right now?
• How many times has this position been filled in the past five years?
• What should the new person do differently from the last person?
• What would you most like to see done in the next six months?
• What are the most difficult problems that this job entails?
• How much freedom would I have in the decision-making process?
• What would be my options for advancement?
• How has this company succeeded in the past?
• What changes do you envision in the near future for this company?
• What do you think constitutes success in this job?
  

Interview Questions for Teachers

Thanks to M J Feld, MS, CPRW, of Careers by Choice, for assembling this list of questions:
1. Tell me about yourself.
2. What/who influenced you the most to become a teacher? Why did you choose education as your career?
3. How have your past experiences prepared you for teaching?
4. Why do you want to teach?
5. What do you enjoy most about working with young people?
6. What do you enjoy least about working with young people?
7. Tell me about your student teaching/internship experience(s). What kind of problems did you have and how did you resolve them?
8. What classroom management techniques did you use? How effective have they been for you?
9. How do you handle discipline problems? What is the most difficult aspect of discipline for you?
10. How would you handle a student who is a consistent behavioral problem?
11. How do you keep students on task?
12. How would you handle a student who refuses to work in your class or do what you ask?
13. A student is consistently late for class. How would you handle this situation?
14. Some students always finish their assignments early. How would you deal with the free time that they have?
15. What do you feel are the most important things students learn in your classroom?
16. Describe an ideal classroom.
17. Describe a teaching strategy you used to maximize the learning potential of all students.
18. Describe how you conduct a lesson. Describe the components of an effective lesson plan.
19. Do you believe in detailed lesson plans? How do you use lesson plans?
20. Define cooperative learning and give an example of how you have used it.
21. What curriculum materials have you developed?
22. How do you individualize your teaching?
23. Would you rather teach the slow learner or the advanced learner? Why?
24. How do you teach to low achievers?
25. How would you work with a mainstreamed learning disabled student?
26. How do you handle the different ability levels of students? How do you help a student who is having difficulty?
27. How do you work with students who perform below grade level?
28. How do you personally feel students learn?
29. How do you motivate students? What are several effective ways to motivate students toward active participation in the learning process?
30. How do you reinforce major ideas or concepts that you want students to learn?
31. How do you provide feedback to students about how they are doing?
32. How will you determine if students are learning? What evaluation techniques do you use?
33. How have/would you use paid/volunteer aides in your classroom?
34. How do you involve parents in the learning process?
35. What is your philosophy of teaching?
36. What attributes are common to good teaching?
37. What are the three most important strengths you possess that will make you a successful teacher?
38. Give me one or two examples of things that you discovered about yourself while student teaching that you would like to improve.
39. What kind of relationship do you have with your students?
40. How do you think your students would describe you?
41. What kind of learning environment do you try to create?
42. How do you reinforce self-esteem in students?
43. Describe your ability to listen and be responsive. Can you give me an example?
44. Are you the kind of person children and adults confide in?
45. How do you make students feel at ease around you, while still respecting you?
46. How do you show your students that you understand them and their frustrations?
47. Through your teaching, do you think students can be changed?
48. Is it appropriate to tell your class that you are angry with them?
49. What do you expect from your supervisor? What qualities would you like to have in your principal?
50. What issues in education are of greatest concern to you? Why?
51. What is the toughest aspect of teaching today? What are some of the greatest challenges of being an educator?
52. What is the most exciting initiative happening in your area of education today?
53. What books/journal articles have you read in the last six months/year?
54. Do you plan to continue your education/seek an advanced degree?
55. What do you want to accomplish in your profession?
56. Why should this district hire you?
57. What things about yourself would you like to bring out that have not been brought out in the interview?
58. What questions do you have that I may be able to answer?
– Courtesy of the University of Montana-Missoula (http://www.umt.edu/career/edinterview.html)
Technology and the Classroom Questions:
1. What technologies did you have access to during your field placement, both in the classroom
and the lab?
2. Describe the ways in which your mentor teacher used technology in his/her teaching.
3. Describe how you were able to integrate technology in your field experience. What conditions
in the classroom inhibited/enhanced your ability to integrate technology?
4. Did your mentor teacher provide a good model for the integration of technology?
5. Has the field experience helped prepare you to integrate technology into your future teaching
practice?
6. Describe how you modeled safe and responsible use of technology and developed classroom
procedures for technology use.
– Courtesy of UNLV.edu
The 2002 AAEE Job Search Handbook lists these INTERVIEW QUESTIONS every teacher candidate should be ready to answer. The interview is the single most important factor in the hiring process. To be competitive, it is important that you are prepared to respond to potential employers' questions and discussion topics.
Take the time to think about your answers to these questions that may be part of your next interview. Where possible, use concrete examples from your educational and work experiences.
1. Why do you want to teach?
2. What is your philosophy of education?
3. If students are having difficulty learning a skill or concept, what do you do?
4. Describe your style of teaching.
5. How would you become involved in school/community activities?
6. What do you plan to be doing in 5 years? What are your career goals?
7. Describe your student teaching experiences.
8. What was your biggest problem in student teaching? How did you resolve it?
9. What three words would your students use to describe you as a teacher?
10. How do you individualize your teaching?
11. What techniques would you use to keep students actively involved and motivated during a lesson?
12. What are the rules of your classroom? How are they established?
13. What are the qualities of an excellent teacher? Which of these do you have?
14. Some of your students always finish assignments early. How do you deal with the free time that they have?
15. How would you work with students who perform below grade level, especially those from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds?
16. What coursework have you taken that you feel has made you an especially competent teacher?
17. How would you use teacher aides and parent volunteers in your classroom?
18. Why/not are parent-teacher conferences important?
19. Why do you want to work in our district?
20. What materials have you used that you find most effective for slow learners? For quick learners?
21. Why should our district hire you?
22. Describe an ideal classroom.
23. Describe the types of quizzes and tests that you give. In a grading period, what types of evaluations comprise your grade report?
24. A student is consistently late to your class. How do handle that?
25. What would you do about a student who refused to do the work you assigned?
26. How would you handle a student who continually "acted up" in your class?
27. How do you engage a parent in the education of her/his child?
28. How should a student's educational achievement and progress be measured?
29. What do you expect from your supervisor?
30. Explain your use of technology in the classroom.

More questions.....

1. Describe your past teaching experiences. What made them successful?
2. What are your strengths? Weaknesses?
3. How would others describe you? How would you describe yourself?
4. What if..... (scenario questions that deal with situations, topics, trends.)
5. How have you challenged students in the classroom?
6. Describe teaching strategies you have used for students including gifted students, second-language students, reluctant learners, and special needs students.
7. How do you incorporate your teaching philosophy into your daily instruction?
8. What experiences have you had with volunteers in your classroom?
9. Describe an effective teacher.
10. Define collaboration and give examples from personal experiences.
11. What are your plans for self-growth and how will you achieve them?
12. How have you individualized instruction for your students?
13. Tell me about the type of learning environment you create.
14. Identify the characteristics of an outstanding principal.
15. Tell me about yourself.
16. What strategies have you used in working with parents?
17. What technology do you need in your classroom to promote a good learning environment? What specific technology skills do you possess?
18. What are some of the strategies you have used in managing your classroom?
19. Describe how you develop lesson/unit plans for your subject area.
20. Identify ways in which you have motivated students.
21. In what ways have you incorporated critical thinking skills into your instruction?
22. How have you implemented multicultural/gender-free practices in your teaching?
23. What assessment and evaluation strategies do you use for student learning and for your own personal and professional performance?
24. Visualize an ideal classroom. What does it look like? Who's in it? What resources are you using? What are your goals? Accomplishments?
25. What motivated you to enter the teaching profession?
– Courtesy of Montana State University-Billings
* Why did you decide to become a teacher?
* When did you decide to become a teacher?
* Are children born with the ability to learn, or is that provided by you, the teacher?
* What was your best lesson?
* What was your worst lesson?
* Tell me an adjective to describe yourself.
* What was the last educational article you read?
* How would you handle working with someone you do not get along with?
* What are the duties of your assistant? How would you use an assistant in your classroom?
* What is your weakness?
* What is your strength?
* How have you used technology in your classroom?
* How do you handle discipline in your classroom?
* Do you contact parents? How often?
* Would you send a child to the principal's office?
* How have you used parents in your classroom?
* How do you include parents in their child's education?
* What have you done to improve your school?
* What have you done to improve your classroom?
* How do you teach a classroom of children with differing intellectual abilities?
* How do you teach reading?
* What is your favorite subject to teach?
* What is your least favorite subject to teach?
* How do you help those who are below level?
* How do you help those who are above level?
* Tell me about your past teaching experiences.
* Tell me about yourself.
* Describe your personal and educational background.
* Why did you choose to enter the teaching profession?
* Describe positive/negative student teaching experiences.
* What techniques or model do you utilize to ensure good classroom management?
* Describe a typical lesson in your classroom. What would I see you and your students doing?
* What questions do you ask yourself when planning lessons or units?
* What do you look for to evaluate that learning is taking place in your classroom?
* How do you handle different ability levels of students in your classroom?
* What principles do you use to motivate students?
* What are some of the most successful strategies or techniques that have worked for you in the classroom?
* What steps would you take to handle a student who is a consistent behavioral problem in your classroom?
* How will you interact with parents of the students you teach?
* What is the most difficult aspect of teaching today?
* What qualities make a "superior" teacher?
* Three words to describe yourself. How would students, colleagues, friends, etc. describe you?
* In what areas would the district need to provide support for you in order to help you become an excellent teacher?
* Goals 5 years from now?
* Changes to educational system?
* What is your philosophy of education?
* With what kind of student do you least/most like to work with?
* Describe your teaching style.
* Describe student teaching experience(s).
* How do you individualize your teaching?
* Why should we hire you?
* Write a letter home on the first day of school. What would you say in your "Back-to-School" letter?
* Compose a weekly newsletter. What information would you include? Why?
* How would you handle an attendance problem in your classroom?
* How would you handle a personal attack from a parent? (For example: A parent tells you, "What do you know about teaching children, you don't have any!?")
Respond to the following education terms (usually they have 4-6 of these):
1. Constructivism--Piaget
2. SOL'S (Standards of Learning in Virginia)
3. Cooperative learning
4. At-risk students
5. Assertive Discipline
6. Madeline Hunter
7. State regulated questions (for VA teachers, see #2!)
8. Grouping practices (tracking)
9. Site-base management
10. schools of choice
11. national standards (curriculum/assessment)
12. ungraded/non-graded
13. middle level
14. higher level thinking
15. gifted education (Talented and Gifted program)
16. authentic assessment
17. whole language
18. peer coaching
19. parent involvement
20. restructuring
21. National goals
22. interdisciplinary curriculum
23. learning to learn
24. portfolios
25. developmental appropriateness
26. learning styles
27. special education (mainstreaming and inclusion)
28. outcome-based education
29. Home bound
30. home-schooling vs. public schooling
31. home-schooling vs. private schooling
32. Lee Canter
MATH-RELATED QUESTIONS:
1. What techniques do you administer in your classroom for teaching mathematics? (open ended questions, schema, constructivism, etc.)
2. How do you keep enforcing student involvement?
3. Do you incorporate technology into your instruction? What's been more effective/less effective?
4. What manipulatives do you use? How effective are they?
5. Do you teach in whole group settings or individual instruction?
6. How do you provide instruction for a cultural diverse classroom...what modifications are made?
Some of the interviewers asked "situational" questions. For example, "You know that a colleague has been talking behind your back about what he or she sees as an ineffective teaching method. What would you do?"
OR
"A student is consistently late with assignments. How do you handle the situation?"
– Amber
http://members.aol.com/amberp813/Interview.html

*** QUESTIONS TEACHERS CAN ASK ***

1. Which grades are responsible for what topics?
2. Who has the responsibility for a particular topic?
3. How does the administration work with teachers to improve instruction?
4. What types of media resources are available?
5. What textbooks do you use in this subject area?
6. What professional skills do you expect of the person you hire?
7. Does the staff spend time together outside of normal school hours?
8. How active are teachers in working with community organizations?
9. Tell me about the students who attend this school.
10. How involved are parents in school activities?
11. What do parents expect of their teachers?

Interview Questions to Share With Your Clients

I often give my clients a list of interview questions they might be asked (compiled from a survey I did a while back, asking my clients to send me lists of actual questions they were asked). Along with it, I provide a short list of questions they should ask.

These are the questions I recommend my clients ask:
1. How long has this position been open?
2. What are the creative opportunities available in this position? What kind of individual control of projects will I have?
3. What are the company’s priorities, and what specific results would be expected from me in the first 90 days or so?
4. Is this a new position? If so, why was it created? If not, why did the person who held this position leave the position?
5. What kind of opportunities for advancement are available?
6. How many other professionals will I be working with? What is the title of my immediate supervisor?
7. Why did you (the interviewer) join the company? How long ago was that? What is it about the company that keeps you here?
8. Did my resumé raise any questions I can clarify?
9. Where is the job located? Does it require travel? How often?
10. What do you look for in an employee?
11. What type of training is required and how long is it? What type of training is available?
12. What would my first assignment be?
13. What are the skills and attributes most needed to get ahead here?
14. How regularly do performance evaluations occur?
15. Do you have a job description available for this position?
16. Are there any expansion plans for the company?
17. What are the opportunities for on-the-job training and further education?
18. Do you have a tuition assistance or book reimbursement program?

Thanks to Evelyn Salvador for pointing out the following web site, which offers 200 MORE questions they can ask:
http://workforce.com/section/06/article/23/24/30.html#2

These 200 additional questions are ones that applicants may ask recruiters, managers, HR pros and others.

Here are the categories of questions:
* Questions for Headhunters and Recruiters
* Questions for HR
* Questions for Hiring Managers
* High-level Probing Questions
* Questions That Are Defensive
* Questions Designed to Get Feedback
* Questions Designed to Close the Deal
* Questions Stars May Ask

Share these with your clients!!