Can you imagine applying for a job, sending in all of your paperwork and resumé, and then having to prove your worthiness through what is essentially and eight hour “interview”?

Over the next few weeks Out-of-Door is hosting many visitors who are looking for a teaching position. Along with the application process, some candidates are lucky enough to be selected for interviews. However, how lucky are they really?

The candidates spend an entire school day on campus meeting with department members of the subject they will be teaching, Mr. Mahler, the Head of School, Mrs. Dougherty and Mr. Seldis, Head and Assistant Head of Upper School, and Academic Dean, Ms. Evans. On top of representing himself or herself in front of several faculty members, often times the candidate(s) have the opportunity to teach a class of the subject he or she is planning on teaching.

Faculty aren’t the only ones who the candidates meet with. The candidates also have interview sessions with select students chosen by the department head of the subject in which the teacher is applying for. The students are chosen because of their academic seriousness and responsibility. These small interviews are an opportunity for the candidates to get good insight directly from students, about Out-of-Door.

Mrs. Giraud, who applied to Out-of-Door in 2004, talked with students as a part of her day long interview, says, “It was my favorite part of the whole day. I felt like I was on performance while talking to the faculty but when I was sitting with the kids it was just sitting with students…the unknown was what kind of quesitons the teachers would ask…but with the students I was in my element.”

When the junior class was taught by  a physics teacher, as a part of his “eight hour interview,” Jeremy Luna said, “I didn’t even know that we were going to have him teach our class, but it was kind of interesting to see a different approach to what we are learning in physics.”

The student body has seen new faces walking around campus and some students have even given tours to some of the candidates.

Junior, Katie Lang, gave a tour to one of the candidates and said, “It was nice to get tot know them on more of personal level other than just as a teacher.”

If you see any new faces walking the halls, be sure to give them a warm welcome, you never know, they could end up being your teacher next year!