Interview help and advice

Vlw30

Hi
I have an interview next week for lunchtime welfare assistant in a primary school.
It's been over 7 years since I went to a job interview I am really nervous and don't know what to expect.
The interview is only 20 minutes,, but 
Has anyone got any advice as to maybe what sort of interview questions will be asked?
I have never worked in a school before
Thankyou

tacpot12

Hi, as the interview is very short, they will not have chance to ask you a lot of questions. They may extend the interview to 30 minutes if they are interested in your answers and want to know more, so don't worry if it does run over slightly.  

I expect the questions will be about your experience with children, so it would be sensible to think about any situations where you might have helped a child, e.g. when they were injured, when they needed comforting, or when you were concerned about them or their welfare. Be prepared to explain the situation briefly, say what you did and say what happened as a result.

They might also ask you questions based on a scenario they put to you; e.g. "Child x comes up to you and says that they are being picked upon/bullied, what would you do?"  If you are not sure what you would do, just say something like "I'm not sure, so I would speak to someone else on the staff", or you could reply with a question -  "I'm not sure. Will I receive training on your policy and approach to safeguarding and bullying?"

There might be the odd practical question, such as when can you start! 

You might have a think if there is any question you might want to ask them; e.g. about the role, or about the size of the team you are joining, or anything else. If the question is relevant and important, you should be fine asking it. 

Your nervousness is only as a result of not knowing what to expect. Fear of the unknown is perfectly reasonable; but they should not ask you anything that is unreasonable, and if they do, you probably want to know that they can be a bit odd before accepting any job offer!

Good luck - I'm sure it will go fine.

Marcon

Vlw30 said:

Hi
I have an interview next week for lunchtime welfare assistant in a primary school.
It's been over 7 years since I went to a job interview I am really nervous and don't know what to expect.
The interview is only 20 minutes,, but 
Has anyone got any advice as to maybe what sort of interview questions will be asked?
I have never worked in a school before
Thankyou

Be prepared for the standard why do you want the job/what can you offer us type of question. Try and come up with something a bit more original than 'I love children'.

Have a couple of questions of your own up your sleeve - you don't need to think of anything 'clever'. Just ask something you'd like to know more about.  

Brie

Any chance you could have a practice session with a friend or your other half?  

And is the interview on the phone, by skype or in person?  This can change your approach. 

Obviously if they are going to be able to see you make sure you are presentable (amazing how many people look like they've been dragged along by a bus!) and if it's by skype or phone ensure you have a presentable background and a quiet environment.  A friend was doing skype meetings from her bedroom for months last year before someone pointed out that she had a rather, um, shocking picture directly behind where she sat.

curtis122

Remember one main thing when you go to interviews, you are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you. its not just them seeing if you are a good fit and right for the job but you are seeing if you like the sound of the job from what they are telling you. You may do the journey and not like it, when they talk to you about the role you may decide its not for you. They have to impress you as much as you need to impress them.

I've had lots of interviews and lots of jobs due to the nature of how I work, I go into automatic when interviewing as most of the the time its the same process and questions. I have prepared answers to questions I know they are likely to ask, some do some don't but have the same answer every time if they do. Questions like, What's your strengths, weaknesses. Tell me an example of questions.... like give me an example where you dealt with a difficult person and how you handled it, where you have shown initiative. Why do you think you are the right person for the role?  what can you bring to the role that someone else can't ? Why do you want the role? There are no right or wrong answers but so you don't go blank or get mind fog due to nerves think of answers before hand and reuse them every time in other interviews, after a while they become routine and you know them off by heart. 

Questions you can ask, it depends on the role, but how big is the team, whats a typical day like? (thats a good one as it gives you an idea of what you may have to do)

Main thing to remember is as i said look at it the other way round, they have to impress you enough for you to want to work there. Good luck.

Vlw30

curtis122 said:

Remember one main thing when you go to interviews, you are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you. its not just them seeing if you are a good fit and right for the job but you are seeing if you like the sound of the job from what they are telling you. You may do the journey and not like it, when they talk to you about the role you may decide its not for you. They have to impress you as much as you need to impress them.

I've had lots of interviews and lots of jobs due to the nature of how I work, I go into automatic when interviewing as most of the the time its the same process and questions. I have prepared answers to questions I know they are likely to ask, some do some don't but have the same answer every time if they do. Questions like, What's your strengths, weaknesses. Tell me an example of questions.... like give me an example where you dealt with a difficult person and how you handled it, where you have shown initiative. Why do you think you are the right person for the role?  what can you bring to the role that someone else can't ? Why do you want the role? There are no right or wrong answers but so you don't go blank or get mind fog due to nerves think of answers before hand and reuse them every time in other interviews, after a while they become routine and you know them off by heart. 

Questions you can ask, it depends on the role, but how big is the team, whats a typical day like? (thats a good one as it gives you an idea of what you may have to do)

Main thing to remember is as i said look at it the other way round, they have to impress you enough for you to want to work there. Good luck.

Thankyou for your comments 🙂

Vlw30

Marcon said:

Vlw30 said:

Hi
I have an interview next week for lunchtime welfare assistant in a primary school.
It's been over 7 years since I went to a job interview I am really nervous and don't know what to expect.
The interview is only 20 minutes,, but 
Has anyone got any advice as to maybe what sort of interview questions will be asked?
I have never worked in a school before
Thankyou

Be prepared for the standard why do you want the job/what can you offer us type of question. Try and come up with something a bit more original than 'I love children'.

Have a couple of questions of your own up your sleeve - you don't need to think of anything 'clever'. Just ask something you'd like to know more about.  

Thankyou for your comments 🙂

Vlw30

Brie said:

Any chance you could have a practice session with a friend or your other half?  

And is the interview on the phone, by skype or in person?  This can change your approach. 

Obviously if they are going to be able to see you make sure you are presentable (amazing how many people look like they've been dragged along by a bus!) and if it's by skype or phone ensure you have a presentable background and a quiet environment.  A friend was doing skype meetings from her bedroom for months last year before someone pointed out that she had a rather, um, shocking picture directly behind where she sat.

Hi, My interview is in person (formal) it says on the email but only 20 minutes long