World’s Most Ridiculous Interview

Whenever I have a bad day at school, I come home and search the internet to find another job, determined that something better is out there just waiting for me.  On Sunday, I found a job as a “Curriculum Coordinator” at a private daycare in town.  I emailed the director my resume and letter of interest.  The only thing I knew about the job is what the website told me…training and mentoring teachers on NAEYC standards to ensure that this daycare gets accredited.  The director called me on Monday and we had an interview yesterday (Tuesday).  Now, keep in mind that this week is testing at school which means I can wear t-shirt and jeans everyday.  We need to be comfortable.  Well, because I knew I had an interview right after school, I wore nice clothes that were not comfortable.  I even left school a little early to make sure I got there on time.  At 3:20, I walked into the daycare with complete confidence.  I introduced myself to the people at the front desk and they handed me an application to fill out until the director was ready for me.  At 3:30, he welcomed me into his office.  In the span of one whole hour, a complete waste of my time, this is what happened…

The first and only question he asked me was, “What do you think this job is? ”  I explained to him that all I knew about the job was the explanation on the website.   Then he proceeds to tell me, in a round about way, that I am not qualified to have this position.  Because I have a degree in Elementary Education and not Early Education, I do not know how to educate infant-4 year olds.  This position takes intricate knowledge of the developmental years and, according to him, I do not have this knowledge.  He already had his mind made up when I came in the office that I was not qualified.  However, he never asked me any questions pertaining to the job, so I’m not sure how he came to that conclusion.  Because I was so tired of him telling me how unqualifed I was and how qualified all the other applicants were, I finally interrupted him to let him know that I worked in a daycare all through college.  If he had taken a look at the resume and application, he would know that.  It didn’t seem to change his mind.  At this point, I realize that I don’t want to work for him, in any position, but he continues blabbing on and on about how unqualified I am.  He even went so far as to say that he would hope and encourage me to go back to school for Early Ed. if I got the job.  Yeah right!  Let me go spend thousands of more dollars so I can work in your daycare.  He mentioned ever so slightly that he was hiring for an assistant director and that caught my attention.  However, he wouldn’t shut his yapper and I didn’t have the chance to voice my interest.  Instead, he starting talking about putting me into the classroom to learn how to teach…HELLO I have a F-O-U-R Y-E-A-R D-E G-R-E-E in education and I have a highly qualified certification in AL.  I said to him, “If I have a four year degree and you put me in the classroom to learn how to teach, I would be bored out of my mind.”  And he said, “Yeah, you don’t want to seem to the other teachers that you think you know more than they do.”  I DO know more than they do, most of them do not have a 4 year degree in education…of course I know more. I was so tired of him talking about putting me into the classroom that I finally said to him, “If my decision is between teaching 2 year olds here and teaching 5th graders in a public school, I would much rather be in the public schools.”  Then I brought up the assistant director position and that’s when he said to me, “I’ll just keep your application at the bottom of the stack and if we haven’t hired anyone by the end of May, I’ll give you a call.”  Just throw the applicaton away, rip it to shreds.  You aren’t going to call me back and I certainly wouldn’t answer the call if you did.  THEN, he said to me, “You can always tell a good candidate if he/she does all the talking during the interview.  In your case, I’ve done all the talking.”  I wanted to scream…he gave me no room to breath in that room!  I couldn’t get a word in with him.  So, I finally think the interview has come to an end and he proceeds to ask me personal questions, “Are you married?  For how long?  Children?  Where does your husband work?”  ILLEGAL!  You can’t ask those questions in an interview.  He finally wraps it up and I head for the door and he asks, “Would you like to take a tour of the school?”  Are you crazy?  I will never step foot in here again, why do I care to see your school?  But, I’m not that bold, so I said yes.  After a quick tour of the perfect cookie-cutter facility, I left irritated and frustrated…not because he didn’t want to hire me as Curriculum Coordinator, but because it was just SO dumb and unbelievable…that a person with a 4 year degree in education isn’t qualified for a position at a daycare.  An interview at Walmart would have been more successful. Thanks for letting me vent.