Recently I had a job interview for a summer camp. The camp had two positions- Aides and Teachers. I wanted the teaching position, even though I didn’t quite meet the qualifications: A teaching credential with 1-2 years classroom experience. I do, however, have a 30-day emergency credential and have subbed almost 2 years. While I obviously know that is not the same thing, I figured that I could try and persuade the hiring manager into giving me the position. She seemed impressed at the interview, which was a good sign.
Ultimately I know that if I don’t get the position, it will be on technicality-“We can’t hire you because we promise our families the kids will be taught under credentialed teachers” However it is still frustrating when they convey to me that while I am capable of doing a stellar job at the position, they still won’t give it to me :mad: .
I’m curious if the hiring culture has changed over the years. In my experience in getting interviews the hiring managers are more interested in what various pieces of paper I have accumulated over the years, and while I can impress them with persuasive speaking, it doesn’t seem to change their mind. I have a college degree, but I’m getting frustrated at the fact that it seems meaningless from a ‘getting hired’ standpoint since I’m either overqualified for jobs that only require a diploma/AA degree or don’t have enough other experience in jobs that do require a BA degree.
I think you are forgetting something. A hiring manager must hire the best person of those available for a job. In most cases the job must be filled by a certain time, and there are muliple applicants. It is not a “I’m good enough, so I should get the job” situation. If he interviewed someone who looks good with the credentials, it becomes a no brainer. He might bend the rules, but only if there were no other, bettter, choices.
How do you know this? They have a position open, ultimately, if you don’t get the position it is because they found a better candidate - perhaps one with the qualifications - but its complete possible the the interview didn’t go as well as you thought it did.
I’ve had cases where I nailed the qualifications and the interview and still didn’t get hired. Apparently, there was a better candidate.
It’s SOP to pad a job requirement list to weed people out. My sister was up for a VP job years ago (which she got). She was worried about all the requirements listed. After looking at the list it was apparent that it was specifically tailored to her or someone on her level.
My job had a freekshow of requirements. It included a test that was tailored to the job. It makes my boss’s job easier if he can narrow the list down before interviewing. To this day I don’t know what all of the requirements were.
In general, hiring managers outside of government or regulated industries have a great deal of flexibility, particularly if the manager the next level up wants to be flexible in the same way. However, education is one of the stickier fields. It is a field that is all about making people take classes and tests, and since there are usually plenty of applicants around with the relevant pieces of paper, they tend to be sticklers. I hate to be a downer, but if they advertise “all of our teachers are credentialed” or similar, I’d be surprised if they went against that in hiring. Even if the first line manager went for it, the second line probably wouldn’t.