Dallas Independent School District Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process was pretty straightforward. They asked typical interview questions, including using the STAR method for behavioral questions. They wanted to know about my background, why I was interested in the role, my strengths and weaknesses, and what I thought made a company ideal.

I got hired at a job fair. I first talked to who I think was an admin, then I went back to talk to the principal, but they were actually leaving for another school. We talked about my journey to get a degree in Art Education and how I want to inspire students, similar to how teachers inspired me.

So I applied and then got this take-home task that I had to submit by a deadline. Based on that, they invited me for an in-person interview with a committee of 9 people. I had to give a short presentation and then answer questions from them. They only allotted about 20 minutes for questions, but the questions were really layered and scenario-based, and honestly, they were impossible to answer thoughtfully in the 1-1.5 minutes I had for each, so it felt super rushed and stressful. The questions also felt like they were pointing out obvious problems with their current issues, which suggested serious culture and workload problems. Everyone there looked so unhappy and unenergized. Nothing about the experience made me want the job or want to work there. There was no follow-up, almost no interaction or eye contact. It was like I was just talking to the walls while 9 people furiously took notes. After the last question, the hiring manager started to walk me out, then remembered they hadn't let me ask questions, so they quickly offered but then rushed the answers and started walking me out again. As I left, they just said 'bye - we'll be in touch,' and closed the door. No handshake, incredibly unprofessional. I'd heard rumors about DISD admin before, but I didn't want to believe it was the actual district culture until this. I sent a thank you email and never heard back. I asked for feedback and still never heard back.

My experience with DISD's interview process was quite lengthy and lacked organization. After they indicated they wanted to proceed with me for the role I applied for, they contacted my references on a Wednesday and promised an update by the end of that week. However, a full week passed with no communication. I reached out, and a few days later, I received an email informing me they had chosen another candidate. This was after they had already expressed their intent to move forward and had spoken with my references. While I felt misled, I'm ultimately okay with not receiving an offer, as I wouldn't want to work for a company that operates unethically.