Online Interview

I have learned that my online interview skills are less-refined than my in-person interview skills. Granted, both could use some improvements, but I'd rather interview in "real life" than online.

Some things that are nice about online interviews is that you don't have to do the awkward "do we shake hands?" or worry about if your outfit looks ok when you stand up and sit down.

Overall, I think my biggest strength is expressing my passion for teaching and helping students. I feel as though that was evident in the interview, which is great because it is the most important aspect of the job.

As we were starting the online interview, both of us had technical difficulties. In order to troubleshoot this ahead of time, it is important to make sure all equipment is functioning properly and it would be a good idea to do a "practice" interview with a friend to work out technological difficulties and to be more prepared and relaxed in an interview.

Another struggle I have in an online interview is looking at the camera. It is so much easier to look at the eyes of a person than at a little black lens on a computer, but it is important to remember that by looking at their eyes on a screen, it appears as though you are looking away from them. This is one of my biggest weaknesses in online interviews because it is so much less comfortable.

One thing I struggle with in all interview situations is staying concise. I feel as though I'm slightly improving, but I need to make sure I know the purpose behind my responses and make sure they are focused on answering the question rather than giving background.



In the interview, VoNique was very professional and friendly. She is able to seem comfortable and make the interviewee feel comfortable while remaining extremely professional and poised. I give her a 5/5!

Resumes and Opportunities

I graduate in 9 and a half months. In January, I'll be a real grown-up (hopefully) with a job! In my excitement, I started the job hunt. First, I looked at where I want to go. Then, I looked at the schools in the area to do a bit of research. Lo and behold, there was a job listing for my dream job: Middle School Math Teacher. Now, this job is for next school year (2014-2015) and I won't be able to work until 2015...but it seemed like a good idea to just put out a resume and see what came of it.

Unfortunately, the website wouldn't let you submit a resume unless you have a Bachelor's degree, and I can't lie about these things to my future employers (ok, I'm really crossing my fingers on this one), so I will have to wait and see if they post another job next year.

With this experience, I realized that I need to improve my resume. Resumes are a sneak peak of all the wonderful things you've done in your life. But since it's a sneak peak, you only get one page and about 30 seconds. So how do you fit it all in?

You don't. You have to break it up so it is pleasing to the eyes and the important information stands out. Based on the profession, different things are important. Of course, my education is important, but I can only say so much about a degree in Mathematics Education. "I learned a lot of math and a lot of education..." Not such a great line. Are prior jobs really important? Maybe if they're related to your career, but otherwise they might not need as much space. So there was my quandary: what IS important on a resume to become a teacher?

Story time! Right when I was wondering about all these things, BYU hosted a lovely dinner with a whole bunch of principals. Unfortunately, I had to leave work early and rush over and got to dinner right when the opening speeches were getting started. In fear of embarrassing myself and making a scene, I snuck around to the back and found a table with an open seat. The fates were on my side! I sat right next to a principal of a high school and she had formerly been a principal at a junior high!

When I asked her what things principals look for from the glance of a resume, she gave me two things:
1) She looks at how they did in student teaching (if they're a new teacher), and
2) Their interests.

I hadn't even thought of the importance of interests! It makes sense. Some professions may not value this, but in a school, she expressed how they look for people that are able to do more things than "just" teach. Obviously, it is most important to be an effective teacher, but it is also good to see who could coach a sports team, or be the head of a club?

She even told me I could list things I'd done in High School! While I generally consider myself fairly boring, I realized I have so many interests! I love Cross Country, Track and Gymnastics. I play the cello. I did Math Team (and even spent my summers at Math Team practices and traveling to a National competition). Do I want to be a coach? I'd love to! Let me coach sports! Let me start a Math Team and coach that! I'd love to do more! And since I want to do more, my resume should reflect that.

I want to be the best teacher I can be and I want to contribute as much as I can to the school and community. The hard part: packing all this in to the resume. The easy part: loving what I do and being excited for who I'll become and help students to become.

Interviewing Skills

This week, I have gotten extremely excited about my opportunity to become a teacher. My fear has been that I have not sought enough jobs that are "related" to my career. However, as I get closer and closer to teaching, I know that I have been preparing for this for a long time and everything I do shows me that this is what I want.

Ok, so I know I already said that I only really have one fear, but let's be really honest for a minute: I have a lot of fears about teaching. What if I can't figure out how to articulate my thoughts in front of a classroom? What if I'm too mean? What if I'm too nice? What if I spend all day, every day at the school and never see the sunlight and turn into a crazy person?

But here's the kicker: What if I can't even get a job because my resume and interview don't sell my passion for math, teaching, and helping students?

Thankfully, we practiced interviewing in class this week. It was definitely an eye-opening experience. I've learned that I am extremely passionate about teaching. I mean, I already knew it, but I'm fairly confident (now) that my passion does come across when I talk about it. I've learned that I can tie my work experiences into my career as a teacher and that they have helped lead me to this goal. I've learned that ,more than anything, I want to be an influence for good in the lives of children.

Yes. I've learned a lot of good things about myself this week. But I've also learned some things I can definitely improve upon. I am a rambler. You can probably tell from this blog post. Thoughts pop in my head and come out my mouth, and not usually in a highly-organized fashion. When I get nervous, I ramble more. NEWS FLASH! That's not a good thing in an interview! Chances are, I'll be nervous! Because of this, I need to go through my experiences and really think about how I can talk about my experiences and what points from them are most important in an interview. I need to learn how to organize my thoughts and express myself concisely.

Another (actually, sort of related) improvement is learning how to finish and conclude my thoughts and responses. Half of the reason I ramble is because I do not know how to stop talking. Because I don't know how to stop, I just keep going until I realize I am rambling, then I stop and look down awkwardly.

To improve, I have found that I need to think about interviews ahead of time and practice my responses. I need to speak with confidence and end with confidence.


Another thing about interviews? Ask questions! I found this great guide to good interview questions.