When thoughtfully planned and executed, an interview day can be hugely successful – it helps schools make well-rounded, confident hiring decisions, while giving candidates a genuine feel for the school culture.
Where these don't go well this is normally due to a lack of planning and rushed communications with candidates; it is important to remember that many candidates are in jobs too, so they’ll need appropriate time to prepare for tasks.
Where to start
Firstly, it is really important to consider the type of role you are hiring for, whether this is a teaching or support role – both require very different styles of assessments.
Secondly, start by identifying the essential and desirable skills, qualities and experience you’re looking for in the role, and what you need the successful person to bring to your school – it is essential to identify these first so you can consider how best to assess for them.
Thirdly, it is key to remember when hiring, you aren’t just hiring for today, but for the future; ensure you really think about the qualities and skills needed to future proof the role you’re hiring for.
Design a full day programme
Remember, recruitment is a two-way process — a well-organised assessment day reflects the professionalism and ethos of your school. A good, well-structured assessment day typically includes:
- A welcome briefing
- Teaching observation (for teaching roles)
- A formal interview – this should follow a panel session
- A group task or discussion
- A written task (e.g. lesson planning or safeguarding scenario)
- A tour of the school with opportunities to meet staff and students.
Ensure candidates are briefed about the structure and expectations – this should be communicated well in advance, not the night before an interview. All candidates need to be able to prepare in advance, but more preparation also supports neurodiverse and disabled candidates to perform at their best.
Use a structured interview format for consistency
Structure interviews around the core school values and competencies and create a scoring system that aligns to the job specification – this allows for fair, transparent comparisons across candidates.
Criteria may include:
- Teaching effectiveness
- Communication skills
- Leadership potential
- Cultural fit
Remember that everyone involved in the day will have a slightly different opinion, and there is no one who will be perfect; everyone has strengths and weaknesses, but that is ok, we are all human. You are looking for the best fit for the team, someone who will add value and develop along the way.
Get your questioning right
When well-executed, assessment goes beyond the traditional interview to assess real-world competencies in a school setting; ask the right questions, it is all about preparation here, making sure you have 8 – 10 questions that will explore previous experiences, leadership and what the candidate brings to the table. Make sure every member of the panel has at least one question to ask.
Some example questions may include:
- Can you describe a lesson you’re particularly proud of? What made it successful?
- Tell us about a time you dealt with challenging behaviour. What was the outcome?
- Describe your leadership style in more detail.
- What are the key principles of safeguarding in a school?
- Describe a time you worked effectively as part of a team.
- How would you contribute to the wider school community?
Group tasks and observational activities
Use a group discussion or collaborative task to assess interpersonal skills, initiative, and leadership potential. Group tasks enable you to see how an individual works in a different environment, one of our favourites is chairing a senior leadership meeting with the agenda of improving the educational offering for the most disadvantaged students.
Written task or in-tray exercise
Include a short-written task to evaluate clarity of thought, professionalism, and written communication. The task should be relevant to the role and no longer than 30 minutes as part of the process. One that we have seen work well for Business Managers is to draft a communication to the head relating to health and safety issues within the school.
Get the right people in the room
Having the right people in the process is essential to ensure that they are brought into the new hire and you get a true reflection of the school community.
The panel should ideally be between three and five people, all with a slightly different lens, so you gain a number of different perspectives; a mixed panel could include trust leaders, senior leaders, and pupils. However, don’t make it too big – too many panel members can make decision making and questioning get lost.
It is important to use other members of staff for elements of the day, such as the tour or the in-tray exercise, as often these allow for more natural conversation and are a great way of understanding more about the personality of the individuals. It is as much about you getting to know the candidate as the candidate getting to know you and the school.
Consider involving the school community, pupil panels, or school tours led by pupils. This gives candidates insight into your school and allows students to give valuable feedback. They are often the most honest of all the sessions!
For academic roles
Including a teaching session and lesson observations is essential for academic roles. We would normally ask each candidate to deliver a lesson (usually 20–30 minutes) appropriate to the age and subject level. Ensure they receive the necessary context and resources ahead of time.
You should be looking for:
- Subject knowledge and clarity of instruction
- Engagement strategies
- Behaviour management
- Adaptability and responsiveness
Recruiting new members of your team is a big investment, so make sure you invest time into the process to ensure you’re getting the best out of the candidates, and ultimately, when it comes to making offers, you’re confident that the successful candidates are the right investment for the future of your school and your pupils.
- Hayley Mintern is Partner and Schools Lead at Anderson Quigley, a CST platinum partner.
We welcome perspectives from a diverse range of guest contributors. The opinions expressed in blogs are the views of the author(s), and should not be read as CST guidance or CST’s position.
