Hey everyone,

Hope you’re all well!

I wanted to share my recent interview experience for a non-teaching role in a secondary school in London and see if anyone has gone through something similar.

I come from a manufacturing background but, after dealing with some health issues, I decided to pursue something a bit more rewarding . So, I applied for a pastoral support role, which paid very low, £24k.

The interview day started at 8:30 AM with no clear idea of what the day was going to have. First up was a 1-on-1 informal interview with the headteacher in their office – very relaxed, which was a nice start.

I was then taken to a meeting room where all the candidates (10 of us!) were asked to socialise. 3 of them were internal candidates who’d been with the school for 5 years. It was a bit intimidating knowing some of us with no education sector experience were going up against long-time employees of the school.

We then received an itinerary of tasks for the day, and here’s how it went:

1. Student-Led Interview: My first task was a 1-hour session where I was interviewed by a group of six students (years 7-11) with a teacher and a sixth-form student supervising. They had loads of questions – quite a unique experience!
2. Written Assessment: Next, I did a 1-hour written assessment on handling various school emergencies.
3. Panel Interview: I then had a formal 1-hour interview with the deputy head, head of HR, and someone from admin.
4. Interview with Head Students: Finally, I had a brief interview with the head boy and head girl from the sixth form.

By the end, it felt like a really intense process, especially for a role with relatively low pay. I didn’t get the job, and I’m pretty sure it went to one of the internal candidates.

Just curious, if others have had similar interview experiences before?