It's That Time of the Year Again - Media Specialist Job Interviews

Last week I had an interview for my dream job.  It's a small upper elementary school in an award winning school district, and it's so close to my house, I would walk to work!  I tried to over-prepare for this interview, I wanted to go in feeling confident and knowing that I could represent who I am as an educator.  I haven't heard back from the principal yet, but I feel that I did my job and got across my message. 

If you're preparing for an upcoming interview, maybe the following information will be useful for you:

• I made my husband ask me over 70 practice questions that I pulled from websites, LM_NET archives, emails, etc.  If you'd like to save some time, here's the list I put together: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wsgwqn5z10wnx8j/Interview%20Practice%20Questions.docx
• Verbal communication is not my strong suit.  With that in mind, I put together handouts that I passed around when I first arrived.  I used Prezi to create some diagrams on first year goals, curriculum ideas, and reading program ideas.  I was then able to refer to these as I was speaking, and it helped me show all that I could bring to the program.

• One more advantage I had during the interview process was that I actually knew the retiring media specialist.  I had spoken with her a couple of times for MLS assignments.  I felt this gave me great insight into the school, the library program, and student abilities.  If you're still in grad school, I highly recommend that you use your assignments as networking opportunities.  It's a great way to get to know other media specialists in your area. If that's not a possibility, make sure that you do your research and know something about the school going into the interview.  Trust me, it'll help!

So if you're gearing up for interviews, good luck!  And if you've been successful in your interviews, let me know if I forgot to mention anything.