VOICE Charter School Interview Questions
& Process

The initial recruiting steps were smooth, but once I arrived at the school, the experience changed. They interviewed me for a role I hadn't applied for, even though I'd expressed disinterest over the phone. It felt like a waste of time, but I completed the interview since I had already made the trip. The panel of school staff seemed unprofessional. During my demo lesson, they acted like young children, which might reflect the students' behavior. The questioning phase was chaotic and lengthy. Unlike other charter schools I've interviewed at, this one lacked a structured list of questions. Instead, for what felt like two hours, I was asked repetitive, improvised questions based on my resume.

I applied on their website about a month back and then was contacted by their "Selection Committee" to do a writing prompt. The prompt was: "Consider your school, teaching, and/or internship and volunteer experiences to date: Please describe, with detail, an experience that has been especially challenging (or frustrating) for you. What is your "take-away" from that experience and how might that help you, should you join the VOICE team?" I freaked out a bit after reading reviews but was given 48hrs to respond. I didn't do it, so they emailed again asking for a response within 48hrs. I submitted it late and then got contacted to set up a phone interview. They asked me to block off a two-hour window because they schedule multiple conversations and can only give a time range. The day of the interview, a young lady from the school called me. She seemed to be reading from a list of questions the whole time, and it was super awkward with paper rustling in the background. She wasn't very conversational, maybe it was too early. I was really disappointed and felt like I messed up the interview. Two days later, I got an email saying, "This email is about your phone interview with VOICE Charter School – thank you for taking the time to speak with us. "At this time, we are not able to invite you for an in-person interview at VOICE".

I sent in my application online back in mid-June. It was pretty thorough and included some short essay questions. Around 10 days after that, they asked me to send in another writing sample. This one was another essay, and I had 48 hours to get it back to them. About two weeks after that, I was contacted to set up a phone interview. I had a chat with a classroom assistant, and it seemed to go well. She asked me some things about my experience and my general approach, and I got to ask her about the job. Remember to ask questions during your interview - in my second interview, they asked me what I had learned about the school and the role from the first one! A few days after that, I was contacted again to schedule another phone interview, this time with a senior assistant. She asked me some more questions. I felt like it went really well, but then, just two days later, I got an email saying I wouldn't be moving on to an in-person interview.

Started with a few phone interviews that were mainly for giving information. The interviewer talked about the school's guiding principles and asked questions about how I'd act based on those principles. Then came a really long in-person interview, like 6 hours. A lot of that time was just waiting around. In total, I only spent about an hour with the interview team. I had to teach a practice lesson, get feedback, and then teach it again. The interviewers were pretty aggressive with their questions, seeming to want me to feel uncomfortable.