Maths Teacher
Interview process
The start of the assessment centre day was a one on one interview, lasting approximately 20 minutes. The interview was based solely on answering questions based on the competencies that Teach First look for in potential teachers such as leadership and resilience. There were also questions to test your knowledge of Teach First's mission statement and your understanding of educational disadvantage.
Most difficult question
Describe a situation where you had to persevere over a long period of time to reach a predetermined goal.
Interview tips
Make sure you know the competencies very well as well as why you want to join the leadership development programme. Have a couple of examples prepared for each competency so you can draw on as many as possible in the interview as you will be asked detailed questions.
Experiences at the assessment centre
We were greeted by a graduate recruiter who talked through what we could expect from the day and given an opportunity to talk to the other candidates informally. The interview was first, then a group exercise and then we had to deliver individually a 5 minute lesson (that we had already prepared for) to two graduate recruiters. The group exercise was enjoyable and was a theoretical situation where we discussed who out of our 'students' should be offered an internship with a company linked to the school we were working with. We then individually evaluated the performance of the group and the performance of other individuals in a one to one 'debrief' with a recruiter. The final task of the day was a lesson delivered on a subject we were able to prepare for before the day. This was over very quickly and again there was a self-evaluation exercise afterwards.
Interview steps
Interviews:
- Phone
- 1:1
- Group / Panel
- Senior Management
- Video
Tests:
- Numerical
- Personality
- Verbal reasoning
- Psychometric
Other:
- Assessment centre
- Group exercise
- Background check
- Presentation
- Competency based questions