Honestly, I needed to know that when the committee asked me to tell them a little something about myself that they were not interested in learning about my four eclectic out of the box thinking teenagers, my unbelievably handsome husband, my somewhat awkward dancing feet and my occasional stint in the pulpit.
Nope, not even the slightest bit interested.
Unfortunately, I am not the only who has failed to give an appropriate answer to the one question that could either make or break an interview.
But have no fear, my need to share every thing I learned will hopefully help you the next time you find yourself in the hot seat. So what exactly have I learned? I am so glad you asked. I learned that this question gave you a chance to highlight those bullet points on your resume. You want to tell them about your experience, your successes and how your presence on their team would add to the overall success of the team.
It might go a little something like this, "Hi my name is Mrs. G and I am an experienced educator with over 15 years of experience, eight of which has been in administration. I am currently the principal of an elementary building with approximately 400 students and about 50 staff members, including an assistant principal. The largest building I supervised had just over 600 students and about 75 staff members. As an administrator I have adopted new text books, facilitated district and building level professional development workshops, written curriculum guides, etc."
I think you get the picture. However, before I leave you, I want to encourage you to do some more research. Find out what type of questions are being asked for the position you desire and practice answering them aloud. Be sure to include specific examples in your answer. This will not only add validity to your answer, but it will also let your interviewer know right away that you are not just speaking jargon.
Until next time...
