Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
EDUL 639
Talent Selection Process
Interviewee: Steve Michaels
I had the opportunity to interview Mr. Steve Michaels, principal at
Hamilton Elementary, regarding the talent selection process. Typically the
first step is determining the staffing needs for the upcoming year. There as
aspects of this that are more known, such as teacher retirements or
resignations and the number of students moving from one grade to the next
within the same building, but there are other aspects that are more difficult
to nail down, such as the number of incoming students and any traveling or
shared staff. Other factors to consider include whether or not the school has
SAGE and student:teacher ratios to adhere to, and if any staff will not be
employed 1.0 FTE. Mr. Michaels noted that a common formula to determine
the amount of a specialist needed is to multiply the number of classrooms by
0.05 FTE.
Next steps typically include putting together an interview team and
questions. Mr. Michaels noted that he typically invites any staff that want to
be a part of the interview team, as long as there is not a conflict of interest,
as well as parents and, if appropriate, students. Common interview
questions include ones related to building relationships with students, staff,
and parents, classroom management, current initiatives such as PLCs,
middle or high school level, with the exception maybe of music teachers
because of the nature of those extra-curriculars.
Throughout this process I think you have to be sure to follow procedure
carefully and be mindful of the questions you are asking so as to avoid
potential discrimination. If we keep the focus on the job though, we should
be ok. I really liked the idea of observing the candidates actually work with
students. After all, isnt this what we are hiring them to do!? There is only
so much we can learn about an individual, or put another way, there is only
so much an individual can demonstrate about their competence/qualification
as it relates to a job vacancy, through answering interview questions. Still, I
think that if your questions are well aligned with your buildings mission and
vision, you can gain plenty of valuable insight.