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      Teach for America Corps Member Interview

      26 Oct 2016
      Anonymous interview candidate
      New York, NY
      No offer
      Negative experience
      Average interview

      Application

      I applied online. The process took 5 months. I interviewed at Teach for America (New York, NY) in Oct 2016

      Interview

      The hiring process was one that was long, and clearly geared to elite current or recent college graduates, or elite graduates of good schools with a few years of work experience. During the interview process my own elite education got me to the "final interview" phase, where my nightmarish journey commenced. For grown-ups with say, 20 to 30 years of work or life experience TFA had you jump through hoops. My Carter administration transcripts in 2016! Really not reflective of much. There were short answers which were timed, but not correctly timed. So, set your phone to the 20 minute mark to make sure you get your answers in on time. The questions were about your experience in underserved communities and commitment to education inequities. But, really they want to know if you have big plans to work for TFA and then leverage that into something like an elite law school, medical school or business school which you would not be successful in getting into without the resume builder. There was very, very, very little emphasis on actual teaching, except for a ridiculous 5 minute lesson you are to give in front of your colleagues or should I say college students who in my case were mute and non-responsive to most others instead of interacting. The 5 minute lesson must be perfect. Bring posters, plan an interactive group activity keeping everyone busy. Make sure to state your objective and make sure you meet this objective. I got nervous, went off my well-rehearsed script and choked, which was the cloak of doom in an already doomed "ageism" or "person who worked full-time in the home" elitist scripted interview day. Now, mind you I have degrees from Yale, NYU and such with honors and years of experience, have tried many jury trials and want to return to work after family obligations are no longer such that I cannot work outside of the home. I want to teach and work in underserved schools. I have a recently minted degree with honors up the wazoo that would train me to be great in the classroom, but not necessarily in a five minute lesson where it is artificially limited and you are cut off at exactly five minutes. Kids don't have expiration dates, so while classes have time limits and there are lesson plans, it makes no sense to have a full day of interviews with most of the day pushing the "we create masters of the universe" who teach maybe for the two year commitment and then go on to great things and send our name throughout the world, instead of a full day of teaching related tasks. Instead, you will have an insane and inane policy question which as a group you will have to answer, which is the kiss of death for anyone who actually knows about education policy, because the TFA push is to talk about community and outreach and ... getting to see a pattern here, anything but actually supporting teachers in the classroom who might stay and teach after they have some experience doing so. So, be prepared to spend the day with people, who in my case, did not speak with each other during the breaks, showed themselves to be perfectly prepared with perfect five minute lessons, but no people skills, no ability to empathize. They will get offers.

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      Insanely focussed on my calendar method, instead of going off script and asking about my organizational skills related to the many complex jobs I have done in my legal and other career. It was clear that I had already been doomed and my interviewer at this point was just saying "yes" to any question I posed, such as "are you familiar with the old school Franklin planner" question to answer his question about my calendar. When he said "yes" and then asked follow-up questions, it was clear he had no idea about what a Franklin Planner or Day Timer was, or he would not have asked these questions. Instead of focussing on my many experiences with kids or teaching or in communities with racial, educational and health care inequities, he stuck to his script which often began with "in your employment or school in the last four years", despite knowing that I had taken time away from paid employment to do things, like focus on personal and family issues (raising kids is not, in TFA land a full-time experience that might be perceived as helpful to teaching ummmmmm......... kids, nor would the experience of dealing with cancer or other issues of disability which might take one away from Masters of the Universe work, but would be directly related to one's ability to understand and inform others about facing hardships and working through them, but I digress). There will be a detailed "In the past four years, what experiences have you had in communities which were challenging and how did you handle them. If you have a skillful interviewer they will work from your resume and their script, if not, you will have a reading of the TFA mantra in artfully interjected, or not so artfully interjected into your life story. Be prepared to talk about your stamina, your flexibility and your promise to stick with it when you find yourself with only one week of classroom training before you are trained for an hour or so a day but in a class of real students depending on your teaching to learn for the rest of the school day during the five week summer program, and then plopped into a real school with real, needy and complex and culturally different students, too many at a time, with no formal instruction on the art of teaching that education programs would give you..... In other words, don't talk like I am writing about TFA, even if you understand that TFA these days is about perpetuating TFA more than hiring the best and the brightest to actually stay in the classrooms instead of the board or court rooms. Learn the TFA Mantra over and over. Community building, raising kids up through positive reinforcement methods, and showing off the kids who leave the community to go to the elite ... oops there I go again.
      3 Answers
      2

      Other Teach for America Corps Member interview reviews for Teach for America

      Teach for America Corps Member Interview

      4 Nov 2022
      Anonymous employee
      Accepted offer
      Positive experience
      Average interview

      Application

      I interviewed at Teach for America

      Interview

      The interviewer will not give you any indication of what they are thinking throughout the interview and comes off as very cold. This is just how they are instructed to act during the interview so don't let it throw you off!

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      Speak to your educational experience and what specifically led you to want to be a teacher.
      Answer question

      Teach for America Corps Member Interview

      30 Mar 2022
      Anonymous employee
      Accepted offer
      Positive experience
      Difficult interview

      Application

      I interviewed at Teach for America

      Interview

      Phone interview first round, then individual interview with interviewer and group interview with other applicants and observers consisting of teaching a five minute lesson and working together with others to solve a problem. Clear process broken up into sections.

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      Tell me about your experience working with others from different backgrounds as yours.
      Answer question

      Teach for America Corp Member Interview

      11 Jun 2021
      Anonymous employee
      Accepted offer
      Positive experience
      Average interview

      Application

      I interviewed at Teach for America

      Interview

      TFA prioritizes Corp member knowing their mission statement and the educational inequity that occurs throughout the United States in various regions. Knowing your purpose for TFA is dire during the interview process.

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      What does educational inequity mean to you?
      Answer question
      2

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