I’ve mentioned before in this little rantfest that, while I’m a teacher, I’m also one of those lazy, evil folks who works in the central office of our overly large school district. Our little group supports the large number of technology trainers who work with the teachers in our schools. Part of our job is to interview and test applicants for these jobs to create a pool of candidates the principals can choose from when a vacancy occurs. That task is what has been filling most of this week.

Having been on this side of the interview table far more than I’ve been on the other side, I have something to pass on to any of you who are/will be applying for a job (ours or others). There’s no earth shattering universal wisdom contained here. Only an observation and a suggestion.

Most of the people who apply for the positions we’re filling are teachers and, for the most part, teachers do not know how to sell themselves very well. They are great at selling the Civil War, Algebraic equations, and F. Scott Fitzgerald*. They can market Mozart, Monet and Mali to third graders (a tough crowd :-). However, many seem to have a very difficult time telling a panel exactly why they are the best person to walk through the door all week. I’m not sure why that is. It’s just an observation.

Finally, if you are applying for a job, do your homework. Find out as much as you can about the business/organization/school and what it’s like to work there. Because in the end you need to apply for the job being advertised, not the job you want. We see lots of people who haven’t gotten much past the job title and in their minds have crafted a job that’s not what we are recruiting for. A small few in this world are able to talk someone into building a job just for them. But that doesn’t happen often and certainly not in a large, government bureaucracy.

As I said, nothing earth shattering, just a small amount of experience.

* I had an English professor who sold nothing but The Great Gatsby – for one long semester!