Minneapolis Schools Teacher Interview Questions
& Process

They called me on very short notice for an interview. When I arrived, they had printed questions ready to review. About 30 minutes after my scheduled start time, the interviewer finally met me. The entire interview lasted only 15 minutes, and the interviewer spent most of the time talking about the position. The role wasn't what was advertised. I never heard back after the interview, even though they said HR would contact me.

I had two initial screening interviews. I passed the first one, but there was a mix-up, and the second time I went in, they realized I didn't need to be there since I'd already passed that stage. Then, I was invited to an "open house" hiring event. I gave them my availability and was assigned a specific interview time with a school. When I arrived, it was very chaotic, like a big cattle call with many schools and administrators at tables in a large room. An HR person from MPS told me to just wait by a table and "jump in" when there was an opening. After a conversation/interview ended, I got a chance to speak with the Principal. He told me he had already decided to hire the person who interviewed before me (who apparently jumped in during someone else's scheduled time). It turned out they weren't strictly following the schedule; Principals were making on-the-spot hiring decisions after very short (5-10 minute) conversations, and it felt like they were competing for candidates.

I applied to a candidate pool for my subject area and after that I was offered a first interview with HR staff. Then the principal at the school site offered me a second interview.