What are your hobbies?

Ya young teacher in a brown jumper is explaining a lesson to the children in a classroom. Her body language is positive, and she gesticulates with her hands. The children (we can see three of them on the picture) listen to het carefully.Interviews at schools are often led by vice principals, principals, or other school administrators.

These people have not graduated from human resources, or from psychology, they specialize in other fields, and they often struggle to compare the interview answers of various job applicants (unless a skilled HR professional sits in the hiring committee).

What is more, most job applicants have similar background (and little working experience), and the people at school struggle to choose the best person for the job.

At the end of the day, their decisions are more emotional than rational. They may eventually choose the candidate who shows similar opinions, and have similar hobbies as they have.

Look around, find something you have in common

Picture of elementary school building. The weather is cloudy, and we can see trees in front of the building, and an access road for cars. Look around the office.  You may find some pictures, or other things, that indicate hobbies, interests and opinions of your interviewers. You can sometimes deduct the things from the discussion in the interview.

Try to find something you have in common, and mention it in your answer. Mutual hobbies, interests, opinions–all of that will help you to build good atmosphere in an interview, and good atmosphere will improve your chances of getting the teaching job.

And if you like to play musical instrument, or enjoy going to the nature, or do sports, you should definitely mention the hobbies in your answer. They show the range of activities you can do with the children.

Next questions: