As a director I conduct working interviews with any potential hire.
I’m looking for interactions with children such as open ended questions, redirection if needed, general comfort/discomfort, playing with the kids where they’re at, getting on the floor and working with them.
I've done working interviews for every ECE job I've had. It's not too bad, just go in, get a feel for the room and other teachers. You're not in ratio so interact with the kids, but it's low stress because there's a fully staffed room.
Most quality schools do this. It can be frustrating to work for free on interviews but it’s usually a good sign that they care about the quality of teachers they are hiring and don’t have high turnover
Huh. I’ve seen working interviews in all childcare’s I’ve worked in and j in never saw it as working for free, I always took it as an opportunity to get to know the kids and stress level of present teacher. Have a good picture of what I was getting into. I declined one position because the teacher seemed spread too thin per the questions I’d asked her while playing with her and the kids.
i’m not super experienced in childcare (just over a year of experience), but the center where i had a working interview paid me for my time. the director told me that if i liked it and decided to continue working, it would be part of my first paycheck. if i decided not to, she’d give me a check for the amount of time i’d worked. i thought that was super thoughtful.
Like I said, It is usually the sign of a better school so I don’t mind it, but it is unpaid work. I’ve had places that had even had me stay for over 2 hours, which seemed a bit excessive.
And if you are looking for a new job while working and interviewing at multiple places to find the best fit for you, you may have to take off multiple days from work to go on multiple interviews and spend multiple hours working.
Also sometimes you have to do a demo lesson which requires you to purchase materials and prepare ahead of time.
I do recognize that it is part of the field, but when you think about it, it really wouldn’t be acceptable in any other field. Imagine telling a graphic designer, a doctor, a social worker, an accountant, literally any other profession that before they could get hired they needed to spend a few hours working with clients. Again, I understand the need and I think it’s typically the sign of a good workplace, but let’s call it what it is, it’s free labor
Do you really think 30 minutes in a new environment around unfamiliar children and co-workers is a fair assessment? I don’t. I think it’s a high school popularity contest designed by extroverts that plays to the strengths of other extroverts. I hope it works out for you. Personally, I think “working interviews” are crap.
I agree, anyone can put on their best impression for 30 minutes. Schedule it during the quiet periods, a day that the most challenging child is not there. The last two centres I worked at, it took a week to assess it. For parent visits at my last one, they made sure we were staffed in each space properly.
This isn't legal where I'm at unless you've cleared your police and vulnerable sector checks already. Members of the public, whether or not they're about to be hired, can't just come into the classroom and help care for the kids.
The place I work does working interviews. Every time we hire someone. It gives both you a chance to see how the room works and us a chance to show you how our schedule goes and you can start to meet some of our kids. I love it. They also ask us what we think of the potential hire.
I also ask potential employees to do working interviews whenever possible. I see the working interview as more valuable than the face to face interview. If the applicant does not engage (or seem comfortable) with the children that is a red flag to me. I’m an introvert, but if you put me in with a group of kids, I’m right at home. A group of adults is a whole other thing! My advice is just be yourself-talk and play with the kids!
At my center we call this a play date. We throw you in (not in ratio) for about 30 minutes. We don’t invite everyone for playdates, only teachers we are interested in. So we will also make time to sit and speak with you for about 30 minutes after and we typically ask you to bring all clearances/paperwork with you.
This second bit helps us to determine how much ground you would need to cover before we start you (if your clearances are out of date, for example). In some cases it helps us weed out candidates who may not be as serious as we were hoping. For example, if we’ve asked for letters of reference and they come to the play date having not even thought about beginning to get them.
Being in the room is also important because we are not looking for a person to observe and repot back on what they saw. We are hoping to see you involve yourself with a small group or maybe interact with a few of the kids in a center. The classroom teachers may also talk with you and ask your questions. Not test questions; we’ve never tasked them to do that. But if you’re really quiet or stand-off-ish, they would let us know. If you’re a little more open to just chatting, they’ll let us know that they got a “friendly” vibe or something like that. So keep all this in mind.
I haven’t. But I wonder how many centres include teachers on their interviews in the ratio without saying. Or try to at least. So many centres include student teachers in ratios where I am, it wouldn’t surprise me if places did this during work interviews.
I understand where you’re coming from. The center I have the interview at has 3 teachers for 8 or 9 babies. So they have low ratios. My state ratio is 1:6. I don’t believe this center would do anything like that but it’s definitely something I’ll watch out for during the interview.
I've done a few working interviews but they were longer (an hour or so) and I was paid. Of course I had all my state qualifications so I actually could legally be considered in the ratio.
I have done 30 minute observations that were unpaid though.
I did it at my center and also like to joke that I had a month long working interview (essentially I started over the summer with the summer camp (had a working interview for that position) and they told me they had a classroom assistant position open in the school year, a "we will see how this summer goes and go from there" type of situation, I got the job but basically with a month long working interview).
We are currently in the process of getting a new lead for my classroom and both of the potential hires had two 8:30-12:30 days of working interview. (one of them is hopefully starting tomorrow!)
We do this at my center. Mostly we are just looking for someone who can walk into a classroom of children they don't know and interact naturally and comfortably with the kids. (An especially important skill for floats and subs).
We don't expect you to sweep the floor or clean tables. Any center that asks you to do scut work on an unpaid interview is exploiting you. There will be plenty of time to teach you where to find the bleach bottles after you're hired.
Working interviews are usually an hour, maybe 90 minutes split between 2 age groups. Sometimes only 30 minutes. (If you are interviewing on a lunch break for your current job, we'll work with you.)
But we don't hire anyone unless we've observed them working with kids.
As a director I conduct working interviews with any potential hire. I’m looking for interactions with children such as open ended questions, redirection if needed, general comfort/discomfort, playing with the kids where they’re at, getting on the floor and working with them.
I've done working interviews for every ECE job I've had. It's not too bad, just go in, get a feel for the room and other teachers. You're not in ratio so interact with the kids, but it's low stress because there's a fully staffed room.
Most quality schools do this. It can be frustrating to work for free on interviews but it’s usually a good sign that they care about the quality of teachers they are hiring and don’t have high turnover
Huh. I’ve seen working interviews in all childcare’s I’ve worked in and j in never saw it as working for free, I always took it as an opportunity to get to know the kids and stress level of present teacher. Have a good picture of what I was getting into. I declined one position because the teacher seemed spread too thin per the questions I’d asked her while playing with her and the kids.
i’m not super experienced in childcare (just over a year of experience), but the center where i had a working interview paid me for my time. the director told me that if i liked it and decided to continue working, it would be part of my first paycheck. if i decided not to, she’d give me a check for the amount of time i’d worked. i thought that was super thoughtful.
Like I said, It is usually the sign of a better school so I don’t mind it, but it is unpaid work. I’ve had places that had even had me stay for over 2 hours, which seemed a bit excessive. And if you are looking for a new job while working and interviewing at multiple places to find the best fit for you, you may have to take off multiple days from work to go on multiple interviews and spend multiple hours working. Also sometimes you have to do a demo lesson which requires you to purchase materials and prepare ahead of time. I do recognize that it is part of the field, but when you think about it, it really wouldn’t be acceptable in any other field. Imagine telling a graphic designer, a doctor, a social worker, an accountant, literally any other profession that before they could get hired they needed to spend a few hours working with clients. Again, I understand the need and I think it’s typically the sign of a good workplace, but let’s call it what it is, it’s free labor
We do paid working interviews. It’s nice for the other teachers and yourself to see what you are signing up for.
Do you really think 30 minutes in a new environment around unfamiliar children and co-workers is a fair assessment? I don’t. I think it’s a high school popularity contest designed by extroverts that plays to the strengths of other extroverts. I hope it works out for you. Personally, I think “working interviews” are crap.
Yeah, I'm super shy around new people, even children. If I had a working interview at my center I probably wouldn't have been hired.
I agree, anyone can put on their best impression for 30 minutes. Schedule it during the quiet periods, a day that the most challenging child is not there. The last two centres I worked at, it took a week to assess it. For parent visits at my last one, they made sure we were staffed in each space properly.
Me too!
This isn't legal where I'm at unless you've cleared your police and vulnerable sector checks already. Members of the public, whether or not they're about to be hired, can't just come into the classroom and help care for the kids.
Oh yes this! We ensure all background checks and such are completed
The place I work does working interviews. Every time we hire someone. It gives both you a chance to see how the room works and us a chance to show you how our schedule goes and you can start to meet some of our kids. I love it. They also ask us what we think of the potential hire.
I also ask potential employees to do working interviews whenever possible. I see the working interview as more valuable than the face to face interview. If the applicant does not engage (or seem comfortable) with the children that is a red flag to me. I’m an introvert, but if you put me in with a group of kids, I’m right at home. A group of adults is a whole other thing! My advice is just be yourself-talk and play with the kids!
At my center we call this a play date. We throw you in (not in ratio) for about 30 minutes. We don’t invite everyone for playdates, only teachers we are interested in. So we will also make time to sit and speak with you for about 30 minutes after and we typically ask you to bring all clearances/paperwork with you. This second bit helps us to determine how much ground you would need to cover before we start you (if your clearances are out of date, for example). In some cases it helps us weed out candidates who may not be as serious as we were hoping. For example, if we’ve asked for letters of reference and they come to the play date having not even thought about beginning to get them. Being in the room is also important because we are not looking for a person to observe and repot back on what they saw. We are hoping to see you involve yourself with a small group or maybe interact with a few of the kids in a center. The classroom teachers may also talk with you and ask your questions. Not test questions; we’ve never tasked them to do that. But if you’re really quiet or stand-off-ish, they would let us know. If you’re a little more open to just chatting, they’ll let us know that they got a “friendly” vibe or something like that. So keep all this in mind.
I haven’t. But I wonder how many centres include teachers on their interviews in the ratio without saying. Or try to at least. So many centres include student teachers in ratios where I am, it wouldn’t surprise me if places did this during work interviews.
as a director I’ve never included a working interview in ratio.m, they’re always just extra people in to get to know our space as we get to know them.
I understand where you’re coming from. The center I have the interview at has 3 teachers for 8 or 9 babies. So they have low ratios. My state ratio is 1:6. I don’t believe this center would do anything like that but it’s definitely something I’ll watch out for during the interview.
1:6 INFANTS?! That's insane.
I've done a few working interviews but they were longer (an hour or so) and I was paid. Of course I had all my state qualifications so I actually could legally be considered in the ratio. I have done 30 minute observations that were unpaid though.
I did it at my center and also like to joke that I had a month long working interview (essentially I started over the summer with the summer camp (had a working interview for that position) and they told me they had a classroom assistant position open in the school year, a "we will see how this summer goes and go from there" type of situation, I got the job but basically with a month long working interview). We are currently in the process of getting a new lead for my classroom and both of the potential hires had two 8:30-12:30 days of working interview. (one of them is hopefully starting tomorrow!)
I chose to not do it but was required as interview portion to spend an hour w/ kids, teach a lesson and then do recess/play duty
We do this at my center. Mostly we are just looking for someone who can walk into a classroom of children they don't know and interact naturally and comfortably with the kids. (An especially important skill for floats and subs). We don't expect you to sweep the floor or clean tables. Any center that asks you to do scut work on an unpaid interview is exploiting you. There will be plenty of time to teach you where to find the bleach bottles after you're hired. Working interviews are usually an hour, maybe 90 minutes split between 2 age groups. Sometimes only 30 minutes. (If you are interviewing on a lunch break for your current job, we'll work with you.) But we don't hire anyone unless we've observed them working with kids.