Interviews Are Made Up of Lies: Your Principal Just Needs Another Body for Her Cemetery
I was caught off guard by a panel-styled interview with a host of women.
You can get hired when you look good on paper. You have the degrees. You have the certifications. And, as icing on the cake, you have the experiences. Adding some ice cream while in-person, they find out you know the languages, you know the cultures, and you fit the presentation [because you are an articulate, easy-on-the-eyes DEI hire Negro]. You are a god-send (A supervisor actually told me something similar to this. More on this later).
I cannot even remember what I said. I was caught off guard by a panel-styled interview with a host of women. The interview questions were typical, and they seemed eager. My answers were typical, and I felt suspicious. What were they not saying? Since this position was new to the school, I tried to drill down on whether this was a 911-type Behavior Specialist job (more on this later), or whether they wanted something more "professional" since I was a trained Behavior Analyst. They said they wanted the professional stuff. However, reflecting on my previous experience in Hillsborough County Public Schools merely three years ago, I know that a Principal's wants can change before the end of the second nine weeks.
A few weeks in, I started questioning the job--I was wondering what the fuck they really wanted me to do. From week one, I could see that the students were running the school and the teachers were disillusioned which meant that Administration was weak. I requested a meeting with Administration--all three of them--to define/clarify my role. Only the Black Assistant Principal responded stating that it was a good idea. And I never got my meeting. But the Principal did request a meeting with me quite some time after that to discuss another topic which eludes me in this moment. During that 1:1 meeting she informed me,
I don't even know what a Behavior Specialist does. The District gave me [funding for] the position and I wasn't going to not accept another staff member on this campus.
Damn.
Have you ever discovered that you were lied to in an interview?
