Jack McKay HML

Many classes were conducted remotely through conferencing software like Zoom and file sharing programs like Google Classroom. Others were conducted through a hybrid model combining in-person instruction and cyber instruction. While still others met in-person with numerous mitigation efforts like masks, social distancing and air purifiers.

Many students were absent, struggled to learn and experienced countless traumas due to the isolation, sickness and deaths.

About 561,000 people are dead in the United States because of Covid-19.

That’s more than Americans who died in the attack on Pear Harbor (2,403), the 9/11 terrorists attacks (3,000), WWI (116,000) or WWII (405,000).

Only the Civil War (600,000 – 850,000) has a larger death toll. For now.

As of April 1, nearly 3.47 million children have tested positive for COVID-19, most with mild symptoms, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. A few hundred have died, mostly children of color. Many more kids probably contracted the virus but were asymptomatic spreaders of the disease to adults.

As a result, between 37,000 and 43,000 children in the United States have lost at least one parent to COVID-19, according to USC research.

How do you sort through all these tragedies and traumas and say THIS was caused by a lack of standardized testing?

You probably can’t.

But you can ask questions.

For example, how many teachers really missed the data the standardized tests would have shown?

How many students and parents agonized over what last year’s test scores would have been?

How many government agencies really wanted to provide resources to schools but couldn’t figure out where they should go because they didn’t have test scores to guide them?

I’m not sure exactly how we could find answers.

We could survey teachers and staff about it.

We could survey parents and students.

We could even subpoena Congresspeople and ask them under oath if a lack of test scores determined their legislative priorities.

But we’re not really doing any of that.

It’s a prime opportunity to find out something valuable about standardized tests – mainly if people really think they’re valuable.

But we’re not going to stop and do it.

Instead we’re rushing back onto the testing treadmill this year while the Coronavirus pandemic still rages.

Is that logical behavior?

Not really.

We already have almost 20 years of data showing that annual testing did not improve student learning nationally. US kids were no better off from 2001-2019 having yearly tests than students in Scandinavia who were tested much less frequently. In fact, the countries with the highest academic achievement give far fewer assessments.

The effectiveness and fairness of standardized testing have come into question since before George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind legislation enshrined them into law.

They were designed by eugenicists to justify racism and prejudice. Their partiality for wealthier whiter students and discrimination against poorer browner students has been demonstrated time and again.

But in 2001 we created an industry. Huge corporations write the tests, grade the tests and provide the remediation for the tests. Billions of dollars in taxes are funneled into this captive market which creates monetary incentives for our lawmakers to keep the system going.

Yes, some civil rights organizations have waffled back and forth over this as big donors who value the tests make or withhold contributions. Meanwhile, many other more grassroots civil rights organizations such as Journey for Justice Alliance (JJA), a group made up of 38 organizations of Black and Brown parents and students in 23 states, have continuously called for the abolition of high stakes testing.

It should be no surprise then that President Joe Biden – though as a candidate he promised to stop standardized testing if he were elected – did an immediate about face this year and insisted we reinstate the assessments.

A scientific mind would be empirical about this. It would examine the results as much as possible and determine whether moving forward made any sense.

This is especially true as the pandemic health crisis continues to make the act of giving the tests difficult at best and dangerous at worst.

There is no way a logical mind can look at the situation and not come to the conclusion that the status quo on testing is a triumph of capitalism over science and reason.

In a month or so, the year without testing will be just that – a single year.

To paraphrase Winston Churchill:

We shall go on to the end. We shall test during Covid, we shall test in the classes and on-line, we shall test with growing confidence and growing strength wearing masks, we shall defend our industry, whatever the cost may be. We shall test in the homes, we shall fill in bubbles on sanitized desks, we shall test in the fields and in the streets, we shall test in the hospitals; we shall never surrender!

The Superintendent’s Career: The Signals in the Life of the Superintendent.

Contributors: Drs. Martha Bruckner, Larry Dlugosh, John Erickson, Charles Fowler, Terry Grier, Frank Hewins, Larry Nyland, Douglas Otto, and Art Stellar. Edited by Jack McKay

Often, during the career of the superintendent, there are times when gestures and messages are sent, sometimes quietly and at other times very loud and clear. Having the intuition and skill to handle those signals is essential to one’s sanity and career.

Recently, I asked a few colleagues, all experienced and successful in their professional careers, about the things they would suggest the superintendent watch in order to make a timely decision about board-suprintendent relations or moving on to a different district. What are those signals?

Following is a “checklist” of the signals that may be telling you, it’s time to update the resume. Of course, all of these signals may not apply to you, but one may be just enough.”

Signals from the board or board chair

1. Board meetings are excessively long, unproductive, and/or politically charged.

2. Board members ask questions that border on questioning your trust and wisdom.

3. The board chair allows longer periods of public comment about your work and then not defending you.

4. The board chair reminds you that you are gone out of the district to too many meetings.

5. The board members that hired you make up less than half of the current board.

6. Board members are split between the desire for you to have you improve your technical skills or human relations skills.

7. Board members having a secret or executive session without you present.

8. Board members hanging around after board meetings in the parking lot.

9. Board members have an increase in split votes, especially if split by the same members

10. Board members ask more critical questions about your recommendations.

11. Board members don’t take actions on your recommendations.

12. Board members disagree with you publicly at meetings and on social media.

13. Board members disagree or hedge on considering your salary, benefits or contract.

14. Board members talking to other school administrators without including you.

15. Board members change the indicators of success for the district or you.

16. Board members delay or stop evaluating your performance.

17. Board members question your vacation days or travel expenses.

18. Board members violate their protocols about speaking with staff and administrators.

19. Board members change from civil to disrespect amongst themselves.

20. One board member begins to wield disproportionate sway over the others.

21. Board members start micro-managing administrative matters.

22. Board members entertaining complaints about your performance from staff and then not telling you.

23. Board members have special interest or issues that seem to be unresolved.

24. Board members recruiting board candidates who are openly opposed to your leadership.

25. Board members wanting to be involved in approving administrative appointments.

26. Board members failing to police their members for disrespectful behavior.

27. Board members rejecting your decisions, even when evidence is clear and compelling to approve them.

28. Board members calling on other staff regarding issues, rather than going through you first.

29. Board members question policy issues at the board meeting without prior notice to you.

30. Board members listening to complaints and not referring them to you

31. Board members are inconsistent about the informal and formal comments or complaints about your performance.

32. Board members rely on email, rather than phone calls or face to face meetings with you.

33. Board members elect a chair that is critical of your performance.

34. Board member(s) asks to speak with the district’s attorney-legal counsel without you present.

Signals from the Community:

1. Lots of candidates running for the school board vacancies

2. Current board members being asked to not run for re-election.

3. Narrow victories for board members or the incumbents are not re-elected.

Signals to yourself:

1. On Mondays, do you dread going to work or the board meeting?

2. Your family wonders if you ever come home to dinner anymore.

3. You are tempted to intentionally keep bad news from the board until after a school tax election.

4. You have accomplished what you set out to do in the first three or four years.

5. Your intuition tells you it is time to move on.

6. You realize you are not in sync with the local politics or culture of the community

There is an old axiom about the life of the superintendent.
The current superintendent is leading the local community parade. A bystander remarked. “I can’t tell if he is actually leading the parade or being chased out of town.”

Some words of wisdom, if you decide to move:

1. If possible, leave on a positive note about the school district, the community, and your own professional future.

2. Help your successor be successful by opening doors and helping or him or her be welcomed to the school district and community.

3. Be careful about reflecting back on your experience with the school board and community. Whatever said will certainly get back to everyone.

4. Build on your experiences and talents and carry them forward while taking on the challenges of you next superintendency.

Some additional thoughts by the contributors:

His board members hung out in the parking lot after the meeting wanting to know where they were all going – including the superintendent – to socialize after the meeting. They liked each other and even called me at a national meeting to sing Happy Birthday to him. Terry says, “That was a really good board!” Terry Grier

Of course, sometimes there is no warning, even the unanimous approval of a new long-term contract offers no protection from an unexpected buyout. A buyout is better than nothing and perhaps the board will provide a grace period to find another position without the public clamor. Some board members want the public recognition for forcing the superintendent out, even if it costs a fortune. –Art Stellar

This is a vexing problem, especially for ‘place-bound” superintendents. There are lots of challenges and considerations when a superintendent wants to move. John Erickson

One colleague asked me how to respond to a new board chair that presented a long list – more than a dozen items – that he wanted to see addressed. When you are working more and enjoying it less … it may be time to update the resume. Larry Nyland

I think when a super takes a job, he/she needs to determine what his/ her mission or goal is in that district. The goal may revolve around the district’s strategic plan or other self-set goals to accomplish. It may take a year in the district to figure out why you were placed in that district. It may take just a few years to accomplish the mission or goals or it may be longer. When you think it is accomplished that may be the signal. Or else you re-set the mission or goals and start over. – John Sweet

I was thinking about a call I received from a long-time friend. I was having a bad week with a couple of problem board members and he must have sensed it. He asked, “Do you feel like you need a friend?” I replied that I certainly did. He said, “get a dog” and hung up! It was exactly what I needed to hear! – Larry Dlugosh

About the contributors:

Dr. Martha Bruckner, most recently, Superintendent of the Council Bluffs Community Schools, Iowa.

Dr. Larry Dlugosh, most recently, Department Chair of Educational Administration at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, Nebraska.

Dr. John Erickson, most recently, Superintendent of the Vancouver School District in Vancouver, Washington.

Dr. Charles Fowler, most recently, President of School Leadership Inc. a superintendent search firm in Exeter, New Hampshire.

Dr. Terry Grier, most recently, Superintendent of the Houston Independent School District in Houston, Texas.

Dr. Frank Hewins, most recently, Superintendent of the Franklin Pierce School District near Tacoma, Washington

Dr. Larry Nyland, most recently, Superintendent of the Seattle Public School in Seattle, Washington.

Dr. Douglas Otto, most recently, Superintendent of the Plano Independent School District in Plano, Texas.

Dr. Art Stellar, Vice President of the National Education Foundation of Alexandria, Virginia.

Dr. John Sweet, most recently, Superintendent of Delano County Schools in Delano, Minnesota.

Edited by Jack McKay, Professor Emeritus, Department of Educational Administration at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Prior to higher education, 15 years as a superintendent.

Here’s What Superintendents Should Include, and Avoid, in the Dreaded Back-to-School Letter

By Stephen Sawchuk on the ED Week site.

In the annals of documents that need to be crafted carefully, you can list the superintendent’s back-to-school letter to parents alongside things like résumés, break-up texts, and condo association bylaws.

The dreaded back-to-school letter has to strike a fine balance between being pleasingly warm and being hokey; between giving parents information they need to know, and overwhelming them. So Education Week hunted down a few superintendents to share their insights into what they think should make the cut—and what the letters absolutely shouldn’t include.

Their big takeaway: The back-to-school letter typically arrives in a packet with a bunch of other stuff, like bus routes, bell schedules, and permission slips. It is not going to go up on the fridge next to the kids’ collages from summer camp. So don’t put a million things in it.

But the letter should briefly sketch out any major changes parents will be encountering somewhere along the lines in the school year. And it absolutely should convey the district’s values, they agreed.

Keep it short, focused, and practical.

“A single sheet of paper, between one to two sides,” said Jeanné Wright, who’s entering her sixth year heading up the Rutland NE school district in Vermont, a consolidated district serving a number of towns. “It’s really all you want: a brief reminder of what we do, and this is why we do it, and this is where we’re headed, and we invite you to be part of the journey.”

It’s a fine place to introduce parents to the new faces in the district, new resources, or any change that’s materially going to affect how parents get kids to and from school. It could, for instance, mention the new director of transportation, highlight the district’s new website, or point to an initiative that will alter school schedules.

“For example, in the past I introduced the idea of early-release Wednesdays for teacher learning time. That would be an example of a change in practice or schedule that we would have included,” she said. “Or a particular curriculum that we’re introducing—all of that can be spoken to in the introductory letter.”

“I cut out 75 percent of what I would normally want to put into a letter; we want them to read the whole thing,” said Larry Spring, the superintendent in Schenectady, N.Y., who has led the district for eight years. “What you’re sending them is delivery of information, but that’s fairly fleeting: The letter is gonna go in the garbage. So what you really want to make sure comes through in the letter is this notion that schools were built for your kids. And we want it to feel that way when your kid comes through the doors: We’re here for you.”

Keep it upbeat …

This can be a challenge if your district has gone through staff cuts or a bond failure or some other major problem. But rehashing what didn’t go well the prior year is generally a no-no, the superintendents all said.

“Keep it light, but positive and enthusiastic,” said Joseph Maruszczak, the superintendent of the Mendon-Upton Regional School District in Massachusetts, now in his ninth year. “You have to stay focused on what your mission is as a district and what is the thing that drives your work.” He said it helps to open with a little bit about his own family—as he did last year, when he talked about the difficulty of seeing one of his daughters off to college: “The human element of that correspondence is really, really important as well.”

Absolutely don’t use the letter to justify or bring up something from the prior year that upset parents, especially if it’s something you botched. The letter should be resolutely forward-looking. It can be especially tempting to rehash personnel changes, especially if they were sudden or unexpected, noted Spring.

“I’ve had a convo with a supe who wanted to put in this letter that these new admins were joining, but felt like it was out of place because he hadn’t had a conversation about why the former ones left. And I was explaining that he’d already dropped the ball on communications,” Spring said. “You don’t want to try to do that retrospective processing in the letter.”

Summed up Wright on Vermont: “A ‘Don’t do this, don’t do that, the sky is falling’ message is not going to be taken well in this letter.”

… But stick to your guns on the big stuff.

The 10,000-student Schenectady, N.Y., district serves many disadvantaged students and students of color. It’s doing a lot of work on trauma-informed schools and equity, and on reducing disproportionality of suspensions and explusions for students of color and students with disabilities. Though such discussions make some parents uncomfortable, Superintendent Spring uses his letter to reinforce the district’s work on equity.

“You want to give parents that comfortable, warm feeling that these schools are really accepting and welcoming places for [their children],” he said. “But inside that is this message: We are intentionally working on issues of equity, and we work hard on ensuring race, economics, and disability are no longer predictors of student achievement. This is not necessarily a message that everyone likes, because part of it [acknowledges] that schools have traditionally not always been welcoming places, and some students in particular have found them to be unwelcoming.”

Don’t reiterate every detail of the strategic plan …

Superintendents take the long view. They know the ins and outs of the the master facilities plan. They know how far they’ve gotten in the strategic plan, and where they need to press harder. But this is not the place to lay out a whole bunch of bullet-pointed initiatives.

“People on Aug 15 don’t want to be mired in the details,” said Maruszczak. “I see the letter kind of being able to highlight what the big ideas are, what the priorities are, but not doing it in an overwhelming manner, or doing it in a way that a staff member reading that is going to feel overwhelmed. Keeping it light is important, and keeping it super, super positive about the possibilities.”

… But it’s OK to highlight core themes.

Maruszczak’s district has been putting a lot of work into social-emotional learning and developing six attributes that comprise the “portrait of a learner”; he’ll play those themes up in his back-to-school letter.

In Rutland NE, one of several districts in that state that has recently consolidated, Wright said she continues to look for opportunities to reinforce the theme of co-operation and union among the schools that used to belong to different school systems. “We are finding we do need to find new ways to reiterate that we are unified and not seven different schools or eight different communities,” she said.

It’s also a good time to signal staff appreciation.

Most of the superintendents said they host a welcome-back meeting just for staff early in the school year. Still, the back-to-school letter can also be a good place to send the message to staff that they’re valued.

Wright said she likes to stress that while school’s been out, teachers haven’t been sitting idly by.

“I think it’s important to stress the ongoing learning that teachers do over the summer to change that paradigm that teachers only work nine months out of the year, which is a common perception from non-educators. It’s a different work schedule that teachers have, it’s a different intensity, and once the teacher steps in the classroom at 8 in the morning they’re really on stage until 3 or so,” she said. “Summer is their opportunity to refresh their learning and create new ideas and update their curriculum. That’s not well understood outside of the education sphere.”

To sum up…

An obscure Victorian novelist once famously described his philosophy for engaging the reading public: “Make ’em laugh, make ’em cry, make ’em wait.”

Basically, superintendents, when they’re dealing with parents, should ignore that advice completely.

Got any additional thoughts, tips, or sample letters? Go ahead and join the conversation below! Also, see District Dossier’s advice for new principals series.

Importance of Public Speaking

Importance of Public Speaking by Bishara Adam

A slide presentation on the importance of public speaking.

 Demonstrate knowledge
 Increases knowledge
 Impress others
 Develop and shows confidence
 Differentiate you in your workplace
 Opportunity to promote yourself
 Make your business (Click to view slides.)

How to Take Minutes at a Board Meeting

Written by Jeremy Barlow

Taking good meeting minutes at a board meeting is an important and fulfilling role. Board meeting minutes are more than a general accounting of board discussions; they serve as an official and legal record of the meeting of the Board of Directors. Minutes are used in a variety of ways including tracking progress, detailing future plans, and serving as a reference point. Among other things, your meeting minutes should reflect a record of motions, votes, and abstentions.
Taking Board Meeting Minutes – Step by StepIn your role as secretary, you’ll essentially have four steps involved with recording effective meeting minutes. You’ll need to spend a little time planning before the meeting, take notes during the meeting, and write a formal report after the meeting. You’ll also be responsible for filing and sharing the minutes of each meeting.
1: Preparation for the Board MeetingEvery organization records their minutes a little bit differently. Have a discussion with the board president about any current or expected formats that you are expected to use. Review past meeting minutes to use as a template. Ask the board president for a copy of the meeting agenda, including the names of all attendees, including guests or speakers.
2: Taking a Record of the Board MeetingUnless your organization requires you to type notes at the meeting, you can either type them out or write them longhand. The two most important things to know when taking the record of the meeting is what information to record and how to present it.Meeting minutes should include:

Date of the meeting
Time the meeting was called to order
Names of the meeting participants and absentees
Corrections and amendments to previous meeting minutes
Additions to the current agenda
Whether a quorum is present
Motions taken or rejected
Voting-that there was a motion and second, and the outcome of the vote
Actions taken or agreed to be taken
Next steps
Items to be held over
New business
Open discussion or public participation
Next meeting date and time
Time of adjournment

How you detail the discussions during a board meeting is as important as making sure to include all of the information in the bullets shown above. For each agenda item, write a short statement of each action taken by the board, along with a brief explanation of the rationale for their decision. If there are extensive arguments, write a succinct summary of the major arguments.
Record discussions objectively, avoiding inflammatory remarks and personal observations. A good way to do this is by avoiding adjectives and adverbs whenever possible. Check your language to be sure that it is clear, unambiguous, and complete.
As noted earlier, minutes are an official and legal record of the board meeting. In a legal arena, meeting minutes are presumed to be correct and can be used as legal evidence of the facts they report. Document board discussions to accurately reflect the actions and intentions of the board directors. Boards have legal liability, so keep information basic and language simple to avoid any legal complications that place the organization at a disadvantage in any legal proceedings. Use names only when recording motions and seconds.
After the meeting, you will want to write the formal record when everything is still fresh in your mind, so prepare the record as soon after the meeting as you possibly can.
3: Writing the Official Record of Board Meeting MinutesReview the agenda to gain the full scope of the meeting. Add notes for clarification. Review actions, motions, votes, and decisions for clarity. Edit the record so that the minutes are succinct, clear, and easy to read.It’s better to attach meeting handouts and documents that were referred to during the meeting to the final copy, rather than summarizing the contents in the minutes.
4: Signing, Filing, and Sharing MinutesOnce your meeting minutes are fully written, you are responsible for making them official by having the board secretary sign them. Your organization may also require the president’s signature.Follow your organization’s by-laws and protocols for storing minutes. It’s a good idea to have back-up copies either in print, a hard drive, or (best case) a board portal.The secretary also has the responsibility for sharing minutes. Make sure the president has approved the minutes before sharing in print or online.Helpful Tips for Taking Board Meeting Minutes

Use a template
Check off attendees as they arrive
Do introductions or circulate an attendance list
Record motions, actions, and decisions as they occur
Ask for clarification as necessary
Write clear, brief notes-not full sentences or verbatim wording
Maintain the same verb tense

Common Mistakes in Taking Board Meeting Minutes

Failure to document a quorum
Ambiguous description of board actions
Including information that could harm the board in a legal sense
Lengthy delays in providing minutes after a meeting
Delays in approving minutes from past meetings-missing mistakes
Failing to file and manage documents
Failing to get documents signed so they serve as an official and legal record

Always be mindful that the purpose of taking meeting minutes is to reflect the true intentions of the board and that they are an official and legal record. Given the breadth of detail and complexity of process associated with proper documentation of meeting minutes, many organizations find using a tool, such as board portal software, helps make this work easier and more efficient, and can ultimately elevates organizational performance. As serious as the job is, the task of taking and preparing minutes is a rewarding and edifying experience.

The Superintendent’s Priorities for a Typical Week

The Superintendent’s Priorities for a Typical Week by some Outstanding (former) Superintendents

Edited by Jack Mckay

What started out as a suggested list for a school superintendent should do during a typical week has turned into an interesting variety of good ideas.

Here is the original list:
If I am the school superintendent, here are five things I would do each week:
1. Each week, visit at least one classroom, interact with the students and teacher, and followed up with a “thank you” note and some photos taken while visiting.
2. Each week, on Facebook or Twitter, write a brief article about something good happening in the school or classroom.
3. Each week, visit a principal or supervisor and ask how things are going and how you can help them and they can help you.
4. Each week, visit with the leaders of the parent and employee groups and ask how they think things are going and how you might help to resolve those issues.
5. Each week, visit with the school board members as ask them what their concerns are from their perspective.

The last suggestion, “visiting with individual school board members.” Don Thomas, former superintendent of the Salt Lake (UT) Schools suggested that a superintendent should not be meeting with individual school board members, but rather have them respond to your weekly “notes to the board” if they have questions.

Dr. Thomas went on to write “I sent a review of district activities and future items to be discussed to each board member. Their opinions were requested. Some called, others wrote about a particular item. I received their opinions, but I never met with individual board members.”

Others have suggested meeting weekly with only the board president to get feedback on how things are going.

Dr. Bill Mathis, former superintendent in Vermont had these words of wisdom.

1. Buy a packet of gold stars and stringently pass them out for exceptional work — as if they were the Medal of Honor. Meanwhile, lavish ecumenical praise on leaders and staff for less exceptional work. Do not leave any group feeling left out.
2. Be visible. Attend funerals even if you didn’t know the honoree. Go to road races, football games, painful music concerts, etc.
3. Practice Zen and the Art of School Administration. Think macro, carefully and wisely. 4. Hire good people and give them latitude. This multiplies your effectiveness.
5. Be the learner. Be the lighthouse. Write for both the NY Times and the weekly shopper, study, read, speak and convey the most important and significant research and knowledge about education.
5. Be the leader. Be active and visible in a professional venue(association, politics, etc.).
6. Avoid in-service programs about “leadership.”
7. If the state aid formula harms the poor, don’t whine about it — Sue the bastards!

Dr. Terry Grier, former superintendent of the Houston ISD, suggested the following seven points:
1. Each week, I would reflect on what my staff and I did last week to help meet the one or two BIG goals the organization had set for the year.
2. Each week, I would make sure that I took time each day to meditate or engage in a physical workout session.
3. Each week, I would ask key questions of my associates and assistants about their work-progress and roadblocks.
4. Each week, I would visit schools and ask teachers whether the administrative staff was visiting their classroom and providing them with needed support.
5. Each week, I would review attendance data (especially for the primary grades), and dropout data from middle and high schools.
6. Each week, I would commit not to be at evening events more than two nights. I’d delegate attendance at others to staff (putting the job ahead of family and faith will cause you to lose both).
7. Each week, I would meet with the board president and hold a separate meeting with another member of the board. It would be a breakfast meeting to save time. I would always end the meeting with the question, “How do you think I’m doing?”
What do you think? Any other suggestions? Send them, Jack McKay. Your comments will be appreciated.

Some of my favorite school leadership quotes:

“Don’t tell me what you value. Instead, tell me what you do and I will tell you what you value.”

“Friends come and go, but enemies seem to accumulate.”Corollary: You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.

“From the perspective of a visitor, sometimes it may be hard to tell if you are leading the parade or being run out of town.”

The 7 Worst Job Interview Mistakes People Make

By MAUREEN MACKEY, The Fiscal Times
You landed a job interview for a position you really want – but the hiring manager never called you back after it was over. What happened?
It could be that the chemistry wasn’t right, of course, or that the salary didn’t align – but it’s very likely you made some foolish and entirely preventable mistakes that derailed your chances.“Given how competitive it is out there, I’m appalled at some of the interview mistakes people keep making,” says Dana Manciagli, a Seattle career expert who spent a decade at Microsoft and today runs her own executive coaching business.
She and other experts say that even job candidates at the highest professional levels make mistakes – not just those at lower or mid-level ranks. In a still-tight economy with plenty of people competing for positions of all kinds, here are some of the top job interview clunkers:
1. You leave your cell phone on.
When the ring of your phone cuts short a critical conversation about the job you covet, guess what it does to your chances?One hiring manager in Manhattan says she sees this often – and she’s always amazed when she does. “The job candidates will say, ‘Oh, gee, I’m sorry,’ and reach to turn their phones off. But why didn’t they think of that before they walked in the door? To me, it shows a lack of preparation. It’s also inconsiderate.” And if you actually pick up that phone or send a text during your interview, as some people do – don’t wonder why you weren’t called back.
2. You’re too focused on yourself.
If you overuse the “I” word during the interview, hiring managers may see a big ego standing in the way of a job offer. “Many candidates talk about themselves ad nauseam, with little or no relevancy to the job opening at hand,” says Manciagli. “Whether this is due to nerves, or a lack of self-awareness, or naiveté – people hurt their chances of getting the job.”If you can’t clearly articulate how you can help the company succeed or solve its problems, you’re probably not a top candidate. “It’s critical you know the specific skills and background required,” says Manciagli. “This is basic and speaks to preparation, but plenty of people don’t do it. You should say succinctly during your interview, ‘From my understanding of the job, you’re looking for these skills. Here’s how I can help.’ Then be very specific.”
3. You’re desperate – and it shows.
Some people have been out of work so long or are so desperate for the job they’ll say almost anything. That over-eagerness and anxiety, however, is a red flag. “They’ll say, ‘Sure, I can do that,’ to just about anything that comes up during the interview,” observes Michele Woodward, a career strategist in Arlington, Virginia. “The reality is they’re thinking more about paying their mortgage or affording a summer vacation than about the staffing problem the company’s trying to solve.”People also tend to ramble on and on when they’re anxious. It’s a much better plan to have short, concise answers to common questions prepared beforehand. Once you say them – smile, make good eye contact, and be quiet.
4. You can’t answer basic questions about your qualifications.
It’s one of the most common interview questions: “What are your strengths?” Yet hiring managers say far too many job candidates flub their answers.
“Even at high levels, people will give a rote list of their previous jobs, or cite clichés like ‘I’m a workaholic and like to get things done.’ Not good enough,”says Dana Manciagli of Seattle.
Use this opening to your best advantage. “Companies want to know why you’re a great fit for the job they have. They want details, skill sets, accomplishments. You might say, ‘I’ve exceeded my sales goals every quarter.’ Or, ‘My division brought in five new accounts in six months,’ or ‘We created three new ad programs and drove X amount of revenue.’”And when you hear, “What’s your biggest weakness?” that’s an opportunity to turn a negative into a positive. Rehearse it in advance. You might say, “In the past I’ve tended to take on too much, but by delegating I’ve been able to accomplish twice the amount.”
5. You’re late to the interview.
“I’ve heard every excuse in the book,” says one human resources professional. “‘I got stuck in traffic.’ ‘I couldn’t find the building.’ ‘The campus is so big I got lost.’” Whatever the case, it means you didn’t give yourself enough time. “I tell clients that if they’re not in the lobby 30 minutes before the interview, they’re late.” It bears emphasis: Allow extra time.
6. You know little or nothing about the company’s culture.Do some research. Reach out to friends and colleagues in the business. Surf for information. Ask career coaches. Is the company ultra conservative? Do staffers dress in business casual? Learn what you can – then dress for the interview accordingly. “I can always tell when a candidate hasn’t done basic homework about the culture,” says one seasoned hiring executive, “based on the way he or she looks.” When in doubt, dress up.
7. You badmouth a previous employer.Negative attitudes attract no one – that’s the bottom line. It’s also a small world. Be careful what you say about previous places of employment, especially when your guard is down. No matter why you left a job or what your experience was, there are diplomatic ways to explain an unfortunate circumstance, even if the atmosphere (or boss, or pay, or company) was rotten. You can say you’re interested in new responsibilities, a variety of challenges, more authority, a different location – or simply that the current job posting appealed to you so strongly you couldn’t resist reaching out.
Read more at http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2013/05/15/The-7-Worst-Job-Interview-Job-Mistakes-People-Make.aspx#oiTF0FmhSIdrFQSd.99