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I came up with a simple but very effective strategy for surviving my first telephone interview yesterday, with the British Council in Malaysia. Yes, this interview was a well-kept secret! While waiting 20 minutes for the scheduled call (they had been given the wrong number internally) I doodled some figures along the top of my notepad. These were to be revealed as my interview panel. Jill seemed to be in charge and Emily and David were Senior Teachers in the Penang Centre. There are a number of odd things about a telephone interview. Firstly, and obviously, you can't see their faces. This means that there's no way to read whether they're even listening, never mind whether they're frowning because you've misinterpreted a question or such like. I found myself rewording and checking questions more carefully than in the past, in order to check I had the right end of the stick. What's more, the words seem more 'weighty' as they fall in the silence. The interviewers must keep quiet or there is too much interference on the line. There's no "mmm", "uhuh", "I see" from the other end. At one point I thought we might have been cut off! The interview lasted 45 minutes and I was quite happy to put the phone down at the end. I'm very glad I had this experience and I know I will do a million times better next time.

The job? Full-time English Teacher. The outcome? They will let me know in a week's time. My feelings? I've just sent an email to Singapore, withdrawing my application. I love teaching but I don't want to give up training. 'Pure' ELT is not for me at the moment and in this job there wouldn't be scope for anything else. I still very much want to work for the British Council, or another teaching and training organisation, but I would like to maintain a training role, even a small one. That's what I am doing these days and I love it.

Paul
15/4/2010 04:55:36 pm

Well done on getting through the ordeal, and then having the "guts" to reject any job offer anyway!! I'm sure you'll find somehting just right in due course.

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