So I’ve had some pretty mixed feelings about the whole England thing. After last week’s non-interview I started to wonder about whether or not this would really be a worthwhile endeavor. I think that was part of the reason I didn’t feel as crazy nervous about the interview for this morning.
I foolishly scheduled the interview for 8 AM. I say “foolishly” because they were giving me the option of choosing the time and considering the hours I keep, 8 AM is wicked early for me. I also made the mistake of getting interested in a book last night and I wasn’t keen on getting to sleep at a reasonable hour.
I set Mal’s alarm for 7:15, figuring that would give me time to set up my interview stuff. Heck, I even had time to eat some cereal. I was grumbly about the fact that mine eyes were all itchy and mad at me, you know how eyes can get when they’re awake before they want to be. But overall, I think my decision to get up earlier than I wanted to was in my better interest ‘cuz Terry called like 20 minutes before the interview was supposed to take place asking me if I would be available like, right that second.
I readily agreed. It wasn’t like I had anything else going on right then, and in my head, the sooner I got the interview over with, the sooner I could go back to sleep. Terry didn’t go through the whole explanation of the process since I’d had a phone interview before and instead told me he would put me through to John.
Much like the last interview, John asked me about my experiences in Japan and in an actual classroom. I had one or two blank moments where I couldn’t remember all four weak point courses and forgot the word for “standards”; I even think I repeated the word “try” in one form or another in a single sentence. ( “I would try to get the students to try by trying” — it wasn’t that atrocious, but it certainly felt like it!)
It turns out the interview dealy was just a formality. John said he really liked my CV and my experience and that I was the kind of teacher they were looking for. I’m not exactly sure what that means ‘cuz I don’t think my CV alone is all that impressive.
Regardless of mine own thoughts, he offered me the position like after a ten minute interview; which was quite the opposite of the Grey Coat interview.
John told me a little bit about how the process would work hereafter; he’d be in touch with me mostly with the agency to start out with, mostly to iron out paperwork and the like, and then we’d be in pretty regular e-mail contact or some such. There would be a two week training period for all teachers since the school has undergone reconstruction and is under a whole new name.
After I hung up with John, Terry called me back like two minutes later. He gave me the general payscale and explained that they would walk me through the process. I was still reeling from the fact that I had secured the job and the fact that they wanted to know my answer as soon as possible. I stuttered as much to Terry and he said that the school has actually had my CV for a while and that for me it’s all happening incredibly fast, but for them it’s been a few weeks consideration or something.
He said that he would be in touch with John again later this afternoon and if I wanted, he could set up another phone call so I could ask any questions I had about the whole sitch.
But basically, I have a job offer. I did the money conversion and checked out different district websites to find out how it would compare and even told my parents about it.
THAT was amusing. The first person I told was Chris O, mostly ‘cuz I went to her like every five seconds with a teaching-type question. But then I called my mom at work. I prefaced it all with “Okay, now pretend to be happy for me…”
She didn’t play the game all that well, but even still that didn’t deter me from my overall elation.
I did the same thing with my dad when he came home from the gym. He also failed in playing the game, but again, didn’t deter me.
At this particular moment in time, I’m feelin’ pretty good about it all. I know the school is not anything like what I’m used to, but some part of me is really intrigued by that. It’s a formerly underprivileged school but the impression I’ve gotten from the website and from John is that while it’s not the best school, they’re taking great strides to make it an outstanding school.
So yeah. I have a job offer.
Shiny.