Interview Success Tips

If you think that TEFL job interviews are difficult, scary and worth losing sleep over, then you might be happy to know that they aren’t!  Interviews vary according to the institution you are applying for, but unless you’re applying for top schools or universities, you will find TEFL interviews a breeze compared to the formal interviews you get in your own country.  Nevertheless, you still have to make a good impression, so here are 7 tips to help you:

· Be friendly When TEFL employers call you, they have usually decided your CV/resume fits the bill so to speak. They are simply ringing to check you’re friendly and positive. Every school ultimately wants to keep its students happy. A friendly, positive teacher makes for positive students. Work the charm and laugh – don’t just save your merriness for Christmas!

· Show your interest in teaching Schools don’t want a teacher who just wants some money to support them through travel and doesn’t like teaching! Ask questions about the school and the students. Talk about what you like/would like to do with the students and how you like to create varied, fun lessons!

· Show off your teaching knowledge and experience Any experience is valuable, no matter how insignificant you think it sounds. If you have any experience, no matter how little – flaunt it! If you are a language learner then talk about the fabulous techniques you have learnt from your teacher!

· Show interest One of the biggest problems in many countries is that teachers can’t cope with the culture shock and leave before their contract is finished. Therefore it’s good to show schools how much you want to live in that particular country. Express how much you want to live there and why.

· Be flexible Schools want to know that you are willing to teach any level and age. State your preferences, but let them know that you can be flexible (if you want to that is!).

· Show willing to improve your skills Show the school you are a team player and like to work with other staff members to improve the quality of your lessons. You could also ask what professional development plans the school has and express interest in furthering your TEFL career!

· Listen and speak clearly! When nervous, many people tend to talk over others but try to stop yourself – an important quality in a TEFL teacher is the ability to listen! Speak clearly, politely and in turn. If you have a strong accent, speak clearly as schools want to check their students will be able to understand you! Also try not to speak too quickly, instead keeping an easy pace. (Also it’s important to note that many school owners are not native English speakers).

Sometimes you might even find that schools ring to sell you the job! Above all remember that an interview is also your chance to find out what the school is like. For questions to consider asking your prospective TEFL employer click here.

Anyone else got any good tips for TEFL job interviews?

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Employers will often use group job interviews, especially when they need to hire a lot of new employees at one time.

Generally, these will be in the form of many candidates being asked the same questions or being led in an exercise by the interviewers.

It is difficult to predict what questions may be asked in these settings. This makes preparation for these interviews somewhat problematic but there are a few steps you can take to be ready for group job interviews.

The company doing the hiring will have already brought in the candidates who they think are the most suitable for the position. Group interviews are a great way for employers to sift out the candidates who do not quite meet their criteria at one time. This saves the company a lot of time, compared to individual interviews.

The exercises or questions will have the goal of seeing how the candidates would react to various situations which may arise in the workplace. Quite often, the group will be separated into teams and assigned a problem to solve, with their solution to be presented to the group as a whole.

Group job interview candidates will also, in some cases, be asked to answer questions which are not work related such as the well known question of which 50 out of 100 people should be rescued from a ship which is sinking. These questions will spark a lot of discussion among the group, letting the interviewer assess the candidates’ negotiation skills and decision making.

Interviewers will observe how the process plays out among the group; asking questions, taking notes, even providing encouragement.

They are watching the group, but will be carefully watching the performance of individuals within it as well, so even when in a group setting, you should do your best to make a good impression on the interviewer.

Interviewers will notice:

• How you interact with others in the group

• Your skill at influencing and persuading the rest of your team

• How well you work in group settings

• How strong your communication skills are

• Whether your decisions are based on logic or on emotion

• If you are a good listener

• How well you handle stress

Interviewers will also be watching to see who emerges as a leader within the groups and how effectively they delegate tasks to the rest of the group. They will also be watching how group members react to the leader.

They will want to know if the leader:

• Includes all team members, even members who don’t speak up on their own

• Takes changing conditions into account and makes changes accordingly

• Listens to and asks questions of their team

• Gives credit where credit is due

There is no way to be sure that you will be prepared for any possible question asked in group job interviews, but these tips can make sure that you are as ready as possible for what may come in this interview process.

Here’s more on group job inteviews.

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If you have a job then the chances are you have been interviewed at some stage. Many people don’t enjoy the formal process of being interviewed and often with good reason. Here are a few ways that interviews can go wrong.

Consider a position where you desperately want the job. It might be the money, conditions or you just don’t enjoy your current job anymore. The night before you decide to prepare for the interview.

You try all those tricks you have read on the internet about calming down by imagining the interviewer naked. It works for a few moments until you realise that your interview might be doing the same. You barely look at your CV as you fill your mind full of those negative thoughts like hundreds of people have better CVs or an uncle in the company or are just confident and slick with their language.

Having barely read through your CV you go to bed to dream of turning up to the interview naked. Morning comes round too soon and you are rushing out the door to get there on time. You arrive at the company just on time flustered, dishevelled and out of breath. Wheezing the name of your interviewer at the receptionist you get the clear idea that she thinks you are some crazed maniac as you suddenly go blank when she asks for your name.

After a short wait you are met by a stony faced old crone who looks like she has murdered someone every time she attempts a smile. Walking towards the interview room you desperately try to appear relaxed by attempting some small talk but unfortunately the weather lasts only a few minutes and you find yourself babbling about how easy the place was to find and the traffic situation.

You eventually make it to the interview room and the old crone offers you a coffee. After spending a few minutes wiping yourself down from the coffee you just spilt down your front the old crone asks if you are ready to start the interview proper. She then says something like, “Just as a nice gentle start, talk me through your CV.”

Realising you can’t remember anything on your CV and that you have not brought any spare copies you mutter things about how much you have enjoyed working for you last company. You are convinced she thinks the CV is a fake when you come to the conclusion that she said “gentle start” and that implies things are about to get worse.

The old crone decides to focus you in on some key areas by asking why you want to leave your current employment. You fumble around trying not to admit that you hate the company, the work and your boss and eventually hit on a “looking for fresh challenges” answer. Annoyingly she asks what sort of fresh challenges you think her company will give you.

Like a guppy opening and closing your mouth scrambling for an answer you desperately clutch at straws. Realising that she may be picturing you as naked has not helped and now you have forgotten the original question. You hope to make it out of the interview sometime in this lifetime.

At the point where you have lost all feeling in your extremities the old crone tells you that this is your chance to ask questions as she has finished hers. In an effort to appear keen you ask her when will the company make a decision. Hoping you have got the job she leads you out to the street after answering your question.

If any of this strikes a chord with you then imagine how different this could be if you had an air of confidence, a way of making small talk that builds rapport, a formula for being able to answer any interview question and deal with any objection. Add in the final element of covertly implanting post hypnotic suggestions that you are the best candidate for the job.

Sound impossible? Perhaps not, many of these skills are naturally occurring and you have certainly seen others do this as part of their daily lives.

Some people just amble through life always getting what they want, including the best jobs. I am sure you have met people like that. These are the people using these skills, sometimes naturally, sometimes they have been trained. In most cases these skills are learnt quickly and easily in a matter of hours.

If your CV pulled three over four times more interviews than normal would it be worth spending the two hours of CV Writing to add those NLP and psychological techniques? It may take a couple of hours working through a Hypnotic Interview Answer formula, but once it is done you will be able to answer interview questions powerfully for life.

In as little as thirty minutes you could learn how to banish interview nerves, build rapport and take control of an interview even though they seem like difficult skills.The only question is how much people are prepared to devote to mastering these interview skills because just a couple of hours is the difference between a great job and just the job you are doing now.

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Going for a job interview is probably one of the most nerve wrecking task in the world. You don’t really know what to expect from the job interviewer and you are worried you might get tongue tried and damage your chances of getting your dream job.

Here are some tips for job interviews you should always remember when going for a job interview.

First of all you have to be confident enough to believe you can get the job. This kind of confidence springs from knowing the job that you want, knowing the culture and background of the company you want to be a part of and understanding how well your skills and talents are perfect for a job. Bring a winning attitude to the job interview.

Appearance is very important. And this is not just the clothes that you wear. This is also seen in the way you walk, sit and even talk to other people.

Prepare for anything. Bring at least two signature id’s, several copies of your resume and your transcript, both the original and copies. So that if they need one you can provide it.

Don’t be late. It is actually better to give yourself time and arrive early than to rush to your job interview. It gives you some time to prepare yourself and calm yourself down before the job interview.

Perfect practice makes perfect. If you really want a job and you have a friend who knows the process of that company then you should ask him to try to ask you the questions that he was asked when he was interviewed.

If he doesn’t remember then you can look for questions online. But generally, you need to know how to project yourself outside of what is in your resume.

Ultimately, you have to be prepared to answer some common job interview questions and it will be best if you can think through first how you want to answer them.

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