Should I be wary of this teaching job?

In My Humble Opinion
1

As I wrote about here, I recently applied with Teach Memphis to become a math teacher. I finally heard from them last night, via email: they want me to come to Memphis for an interview. This Thursday. I wrote them back, basically saying I’d really like to interview with them, but with two days notice a plane ticket would be $1400 or more - out of the question.

This morning they wrote back, asking if I could do a 30-minute phone interview instead. Great, no problem. It’s set up for Thursday morning.

But wait a minute… their normal interview process is an all-day event, involving several candidates, group discussions, sample teaching lessons, etc. And, while I have a B.S. in Math, I have zero teaching experience. They know this. Yet, they’d be willing to hire me based on a phone interview? To teach high school?

This smacks of desperation to me. On the one hand, I suppose that means I’ve got a good shot at getting the job, but on the other… why are they so desperate? What could I potentially be getting myself into?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited about the opportunity, I’m just trying to look at it from every angle.

ETA: Their school year starts on August 9th, in less than two weeks, which is, I assume, why they want to interview me right away.

2

I see two possible angles:

  1. The phone interview is to see whether they want to eliminate you from consideration because they have had the all day interview variety and wasted a lot of time with sub-par candidates. If it is this, you are reading too much into the interview and they are simply trying to figure out if it it worth (eventually) bringing you in to Memphis for the “real” interview.

Or, less likely:

  1. You are correct, and they are desperate, in which case perhaps they want to hire someone to work in a horrible school district with gang-bangers and other trouble makers where every teacher quits because they fear for their lives.

Either way, take the interview and see what happens. You can never get enough experience interviewing, in my opinion.

3

I understand, but initially they wanted me to go for an in-person interview. Or… do you mean, perhaps they wanted to see if I’d do it on my own dime, then if not, do the phone interview to see if its worth bringing me in at their expense?

4

Phone interviews are completely normal. I’ve had tons of them when I apply for out of town jobs. I have even had about five video interviews via webcam.

Flying you out won’t cost them a lot. Flying you out at the LAST minute WILL cost them a lot, so this is fair.

And yes, I’ve had interviews go on far too long. I once interviewed for an accounting manager job in the beginning of June and didn’t get an answer till mid September (I didn’t get it). I had taken the drug test, background check, had my references checked in July, and was still interviewing in September. Why? I don’t know. Some companies are weird. And frankly companies can afford to be choosey in this economy

As for desperate? You really don’t know. I had a job where it sounded great, till my first day. In my interviews they kept asking me about my about my attitude toward disipline. I thought they were referring to ME. If I had any past issues with disipline or had been written up.

No turns out my entire staff (eight people) were, for lack of a better word, lazy jerks that needed to sorted out. Which I did, it consisted of writing two people up and firing one, within the first 60 days. In otherwords I was hired to be a “Hit man,” 'cause no one in the hotel had any guts to do it, years before.

Go to this website City Data and ask what the neighborhood and school district is like.

Look you gotta take chances in life. If this is a crappy job, so what? It’ll be an experience you can look back on later on. And you know what? You WILL take crappy jobs that are awful. It’s gonna happen, you can’t always have it nice.

The only thing I wouldn’t do is pay for the plane ticket and hotel room while they interview you. I’ve also had people fly me in and out in one day to avoid paying for the hotel room. Which strikes me as odd as I interview at hotels and the room would be free. It was hard as the job was in Seattle and I live in Chicago. That’s a long flight to get up, fly four hours, get ready for a job interview. Have the interview and then haul yourself back to the airport for another flight back :slight_smile:

And finally remember you can always quit.

5

Tennessee teacher checking in: Yarster wasn’t too far off with scenario #2. Memphis schools are notorious for poor working conditions, and this is a particularly difficult year to begin teaching in Tennessee due to the strings that came with our Race to the Top money. Yes, you are highly likely to get the job, but, depending on your circumstances, it might not be worth it (especially if you have no previous experience).

6

The two best jobs I ever had were due to telephone interviews.
One required a follow up interview (at their expense) where I had to fly to their offices and meet with some people - but basically, they had my contract waiting for me so it was less an interview than a meet-and-greet, and “sign here”.

The other job said, “you’re hired” on the phone and two days later I arrived and started teaching.

Both were fantastic jobs.
The reason for the telephone interviews?

The first - well, they were not really looking to hire anyone but some of their staff had met me and liked me and pushed for them to hire me. So I was not really competing for the job with anyone else - I was simply being recruited due to those strong recommendations.

The second job was desperation - someone had quit suddenly and they need to fill the position in two days. My phone interview gave them the answers they needed and they hired me sight unseen. It worked. They liked me and I liked them. I continued to work for them in the summer for the next seven years.

Could be there simply are not enough qualified math teachers in that district, or maybe they hope to get you at a starting salary whereas others will cost too much.

In any case - phone interviews can be very good things! Don’t over think it.

7

Memphis is a town with a lot of hard, gritty places. My sister-in-law worked in Memphis for a few years and my brother has a low opinion of the quality of the schools, FWIW. It’s my understanding that conditions at the schools themselves vary widely, with some being very low on resources. I think “desperate for teachers” is an apt description of the district.

Mark has a good idea about asking on CityData. I definitely would look before you leap.

8

My guess would be whoever extended the initial invitation to interview didn’t realize that you weren’t local. Even if the info was there on the application, they may have forgotten about it momentarily.

Honestly, it would be surprising to me if someone expected me to travel for an in-person interview without doing a shorter phone interview first. We can both save wasting a whole lot of time with a quick semi-formal phone call to make sure we’re on the same page.

9

They’re recruiting teachers from across the country, and you have to ask if they’re desperate? If they weren’t desperate, they’d be doing just fine locally. The real question is whether they’re desperate enough to make you an offer good enough.

10

I think you should assume that any school that is willing to hire an inexperienced teacher and provide on-the-job training to get them certificated is desperate. If you want to get a teaching credential through this type of program, that’s part of the game. Your only real question here is whether this school is more desperate than some other school you might be able to get hired at.