Applied for a teaching position at the ABC International School in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and got my first telephone interview - 6 a.m. in the morning UK time. Spoke to a few of the guys at work and they suggested it might just be a "suss me out" type interview, to make sure I wasn't a psycho-weirdo axe murderer. How wrong could I be...Within 5 seconds of answering the phone I knew it was going to be a full on formal curriculum-based interview, and I wasn't prepared. Oh Shit! Needless to say the interview went badly and I didn't get the job. That said, I did learn a lot from the experience.
- Be prepared - make notes on: teaching experience, lesson structure (have examples of good lessons), AFL (techniques - formal/informal/feedback, have examples), strengths & weaknesses, coping with new cultures, etc;
- Make notes during the interview - jot down the questions as they are asked. A couple of times I was asked double-barreled questions. By the time I'd finished answering the first part of the question I'd forgotten the second part;
- If you forget or don't understand a question get them to repeat it or clarify. During a phone interview it's very difficult to gauge response, i.e. tell when you've missed a question or answered it incorrectly, especially when there is a time delay.
- Try to relax and be yourself...
