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Teacher Interview Day was held by the College of Education on February 15, 2022. The event consisted of education majoring students being interviewed by 75 different school districts in search of future teachers in need of a job.
The College of Education hosts this interview day annually in February. The event covers all education majors from special education, to elementary education, to any various subjects taught in a middle or high school.
Various school districts attended the interview day- schools ranging from as far as Kansas City, Arkansas City, Topeka, Oklahoma’s Union Public Schools, Missouri’s Liberal Public Schools, and even the Desert Sands Unified School District from California. All of the 75 schools in attendance brought different school officials to conduct interviews with the students, and were registered through the app CareerFair plus in order to attend the event.
Each student first went through a waiting process in the Heritage Room of the Overman Student Center. Then, various school officials would speak with them, or call them back to their table for an interview. Some students were even offered jobs on the spot, others were considered amongst a large pool of potential candidates. Through this speed interview process, students had the opportunity to be hired as an educator for any one of the schools in attendance, and get a jump-start on their future after college.
“It offers basically an opportunity to bring in school districts who are looking for help and have positions to fill, all to one place where our students also can be, and it just brings people together and makes it easier to fill those spots.” said Jaime Dalton, director of career services.
Dalton helped to organize the event.
Part of the teacher education program is to go through a process that helps prepare the student for interviews and future job opportunities. There are specific teachers that help along with this process that help with studying and what districts are looking for. These processes can include student teaching in the final semester which provides the student with real life experience in the classroom.
“They’re likely looking for people with strong communication skills and the ability to deal with a lot going on around them and multitasking, but also being able to focus in and have that kind, caring personality.” said Dalton, on what an interviewer may be looking for.
“What inspires me to teach is a natural desire to help people while also fostering growth and providing opportunities to kids who may otherwise not get those opportunities,” Camille Hadl-Raby, senior in elementary education said.
One of the difficulties of the interviews was getting over the nerves according to Krull and Raby. Knowing that they had a day full of interviews also brought some comfort through the settling of a routine. They also noted as the day went on, that they were able to get more into themselves, and say what they really wanted the interviewers to hear.
“What inspires me to teach is the passion that I have for kids and helping them grow and develop as not only students, but people,” said student Katie Krull, senior in elementary education Unified.
For any student also inspired to teach and interested in more information, the teacher education office is located in 110 Hughes Hall, and can be contacted at 620-235-4489.