Admin assistant in school

RobertoMoir

tyllwyd wrote: »

Thanks everyone! I'll be much better prepared if this comes up again.

Another question ... I was a bit taken aback that for a low wage part time job they were interviewing six of us as a group, and we had to do a sample task, a tour of the campus and then individual interviews, which took four and a half hours in total. Is that perfectly normal for jobs in a school?

Perfectly normal - as has already been mentioned, this is the way many schools interview teaching staff, and it makes a lot of sense to have a consistent hiring practice for all staff...

And while the day may be a bit trying (and a surprise to those who are not expecting it) at least its over and done with and you know you're just waiting for them to make a decision. Where I work we try to reach a decision and notify people as quick as possible to eliminate the frustrating post interview wait for news.

paddedjohn

OP, dont take it to heart regarding your answers to questions being wrong, you gave your answers which may well have been correct but someone else was more suitable for the job. It happens and could possibly happen a few times more until you get your job. Good luck.

tyllwyd

paddedjohn wrote: »

OP, dont take it to heart regarding your answers to questions being wrong, you gave your answers which may well have been correct but someone else was more suitable for the job. It happens and could possibly happen a few times more until you get your job. Good luck.

Thanks! It's a bit frustrating because I don't think I was headed in the totally wrong direction, but I haven't done an interview for twenty years, and never in a school, so I'm sure I didn't come across as well prepared as I should have done. I'm quite tempted to start applying for some jobs I don't want, just to try to get a bit more interview experience!

barnaby-bear

tyllwyd wrote: »

Oh, I'm not taking it personally that I didn't get the job - to be honest, having met the other candidates I would probably have hired one of them in preference to me! (especially the one who was an internal candidate already doing the same job but in a different department ...) And I had one of those days when everything went wrong - I broke the printer in the admin test, and I've got trouble with my ear and sinuses at the moment, so in group situations I was half deaf, and when we went outside the cold air made me breathless which made me have a mini panic attack so that I could hardly breathe let alone talk. I just hope I didn't come across as too much of a head-case!

I've a relative trying to get a similar role after a career break, lots of experience and these jobs are fiercely competitive and often earmarked for an internal / volunteer etc. To get to the last 6 you must have been very strong - 100+ applicants fairly common. Your answers sounded fairly good.

Mojisola

barnaby-bear wrote: »

To get to the last 6 you must have been very strong - 100+ applicants fairly common.

I would second this. You would have been considered a very strong candidate to have got as far as an interview.

tyllwyd

Thanks folks! You are right, it does help thinking about it that way - they did mention having 40+ applicants, so I must have done something right!

tyllwyd

Oh, I've just discovered something that has annoyed me a bit - it turns out that the school contacted both of my references and sent them a long form to fill in. It wouldn't matter, except that they are not HR professionals, they are both clients of mine who I only know by phone/email and who were doing me a personal favour. Seeing as I had no more than a 1 in 6 chance in best of getting the job, it seems pretty over the top asking for two references before the interview - easier for the school, obviously, but it makes it more difficult for me to go back to those clients and ask for them to act as references in the future because there are only so many favours I can ask before they get fed up of me. I'm going to have to think very carefully before I try applying for another job in a school.

makeyourdaddyproud

tyllwyd wrote: »

Oh, I've just discovered something that has annoyed me a bit - it turns out that the school contacted both of my references and sent them a long form to fill in. It wouldn't matter, except that they are not HR professionals, they are both clients of mine who I only know by phone/email and who were doing me a personal favour. Seeing as I had no more than a 1 in 6 chance in best of getting the job, it seems pretty over the top asking for two references before the interview - easier for the school, obviously, but it makes it more difficult for me to go back to those clients and ask for them to act as references in the future because there are only so many favours I can ask before they get fed up of me. I'm going to have to think very carefully before I try applying for another job in a school.

I think you will have a very hard time finding many jobs where references are disregarded. Since you are working in the vicinity of children, references are extremely important as is an enhanced CRB check which will both be used to assess risk and your persona in general.

I wouldn't get too hung up about it. Perhaps the references you are reliant on may not be so in future?

MQW.

tyllwyd

makeyourdaddyproud wrote: »

I think you will have a very hard time finding many jobs where references are disregarded. Since you are working in the vicinity of children, references are extremely important as is an enhanced CRB check which will both be used to assess risk and your persona in general.

I wouldn't get too hung up about it. Perhaps the references you are reliant on may not be so in future?

MQW.

Oh, it's not that I minded them following up references, but I wish they could have waited and followed them up after the interview, if they were considering offering me the job, rather than before.

makeyourdaddyproud

I can see your point. Maybe they feel it's worth the time not spent interviewing as time well spent gaining those credentials. And, I sympathise with you on many levels since this process could go on ad infinitum.