There was a time when Southwest Airlines would bring potential new flight attendant hires into a room, and identify which of them made friends with each other the easiest. Those are the ones they chose to hire. A SaaS company I know makes it a point to ask every interviewee, “What is your favorite movie and why?” because they have found this to be a pretty effective way to get to know someone’s personality and interests quickly.
Perhaps the most important school culture builder a leader does is hire the right fit. Not all interview processes are as effective as others. Beside competence questions (an obvious sine qua non), there are cultural-fit questions.
Based of Patrick Lencioni’s book The Ideal Team Player and our own experience in school leadership, here are some questions that school leaders we know ask when interviewing a potential new hire. These questions are written for teacher interviews, but can be adapted to various roles in a school community.
“Tell me about the most successful day of your teaching career?”
“What was the most embarrassing or frustrating moment of your teaching career? How did you handle it?”
“What is your greatest weakness?”
“Tell me about a teacher you wish you could be.”
“What kind of hours do you generally work?”
“How do you handle apologies, giving or receiving them?”
“What is the hardest you have ever worked on something in your life?”
“Did you work hard when you were a teenager?”
“How would former parents describe you?”
“What do you like to do when you are not teaching and during the summers?”
“What kind of thing do you do that might be annoying to others?”
“Would your former colleagues describe you as an empathic person?”
“Can you give an example of empathy that you have demonstrated?”
“What did you do to create an environment of ‘happy home’ in your prior classroom?”
“Tell me about your favorite student.”
“Tell me about your childhood favorite teacher.”
“Can you give an example of how your own core values connect with ours?”
“What is the hardest part of being a teacher?”
“Which of our school’s root beliefs is your favorite?”
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