Preparing for interviews: Ask yourself ‘What else?’

There is one particular question I love to ask my clients when we are trying to figure out all of their talents and capabilities. That question is; What else? As many of the educators I meet are hardworking, modest professionals who show up and get the job done, they often find it hard to declare what is so great about themselves. Once we start to delve into their capabilities and strengths together, I ask them to delve deeper.

Identifying your strengths

Brainstorming is a great way to start to discover your strengths and then you can commit them to paper and create a list that you can draw on later for your SAF, CV and interviews. Think of one thing you are great at and then ask yourself; what else? What else do I bring to my school? What else is there that makes me a great teacher? I love football and I took my team all the way to the finals! What else did I do that helped my school? Brainstorming like this about you as a teacher, alone or with a colleague, can really bring your capabilities to the fore.

Read ‘3 strengths that are overused in teaching interviews’ here.

Psychometric tests

It amazes me that psychometric tests are not widely used used in education. Considering we are responsible for the effective transmission of knowledge to our pupils, it is essential for us to know our strengths and weaknesses. Psychometric testing is standard practice for most other professions and are used by HR departments to assess candidates’ personality, intelligence and skills. I always do a psychometric test myself often, to gauge how I have grown. There are many free tests on the internet that you can take. For educators, you will get much more out of a test however, if you do one with a professional career coach like me.

Developing your skills

Make a list of all of the ways you can develop your own CPD. If you have a list of courses you would like attend, you can strike them off your list as you complete each one. Your list should also include things that help you as a person, such as learning ways to decrease stress and get more joy out of life.

We all know that teachers are givers by nature. Now is the time to start giving yourself a bit of credit. Take the time to discover what is so great about you as a teacher and as an individual.

If you need help with discovering your strengths, skills and capabilities, or to undertake psychometric testing with a professional strength profiler like me, get in touch with me at hello@orladempseycoaching.ie or find out more here. I will be delighted to help!