Red flags or paranoia?
Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2018 2:05 pm
Hello everyone,
I had a interview with a high Tier 2/Tier 1 European school and I walked away feeling really weary of it.
The Director was more interested in hearing about my k-12 education than about the rest of my experience, he made sure to tell me that 5 years of experience make me an "inexperienced candidate" (admittedly, I don't have IB experience yet, but I fail to see how 5 years in 2 school would be considered undesirable vs, say, 5 years in 4 schools... wouldn't it show continuity and the ability to plan across years?). He also made sure to tell me that he has 20 or so candidates he was interviewing for a position for September 2018.
And finally, when I asked what the day to day routine was at the school he asked me if I had gone on the school's website (and yes, of course I did, but how can you tell? He had just told me that they have no notebook and no homework and are looking to eliminate classrooms altogether from the school). When I asked how many contact hours I would have in each grade, he told me he didn't know (yet he's looking for me to start in mid-August). When I asked what his ideal teacher/employee would be like, he said he wasn't looking for a teacher but for someone who's extraordinary.
I was also told that, should they like me, I would need to talk to the Principal who is "on vacation somewhere in the world".
Now, to me, this has red flags all over it, but the school is very well known and I have only worked/interviewed in DS. Is it common of IB Directors/Coordinators to not be privy to the kind of information I was requesting?
I had a interview with a high Tier 2/Tier 1 European school and I walked away feeling really weary of it.
The Director was more interested in hearing about my k-12 education than about the rest of my experience, he made sure to tell me that 5 years of experience make me an "inexperienced candidate" (admittedly, I don't have IB experience yet, but I fail to see how 5 years in 2 school would be considered undesirable vs, say, 5 years in 4 schools... wouldn't it show continuity and the ability to plan across years?). He also made sure to tell me that he has 20 or so candidates he was interviewing for a position for September 2018.
And finally, when I asked what the day to day routine was at the school he asked me if I had gone on the school's website (and yes, of course I did, but how can you tell? He had just told me that they have no notebook and no homework and are looking to eliminate classrooms altogether from the school). When I asked how many contact hours I would have in each grade, he told me he didn't know (yet he's looking for me to start in mid-August). When I asked what his ideal teacher/employee would be like, he said he wasn't looking for a teacher but for someone who's extraordinary.
I was also told that, should they like me, I would need to talk to the Principal who is "on vacation somewhere in the world".
Now, to me, this has red flags all over it, but the school is very well known and I have only worked/interviewed in DS. Is it common of IB Directors/Coordinators to not be privy to the kind of information I was requesting?