Hello! I am Tom Mitchell, Founder and Education Job Coach for Teacher Express.
The selection process to hire a great teacher is long and takes time. Administrators want to be careful to choose the strongest candidates for interviews from many applications received. Sometimes one person will take the lead in this process while at other times, districts sometimes prefer a “team approach.” Often, the search is lead by building principals or curriculum administrators or supervisors.
For the candidates, the initial screening is perhaps the most difficult step in the job application process, because time passes and you hear NOTHING. Like in the film, Apollo 13, you enter this “blackout zone” and communication stands still. You wait, and wait, and do not ever learn where the district is in the process. Too bad there is not a public “progress meter.”
Applicants wonder, "Maybe the screening is already finished. Maybe interviews are over. Maybe they have not yet begun." You’ve heard the saying, “No news is good news,” but regarding your job application, you do not know if that is true.
Although the process and the goals vary considerably from one district to the next, many districts proceed through similar stages. First, and I can not state this often enough - every district has its own priority goals. The administrators are focused on targeting specific skills and experiences that they believe will bring the best match to their district - a person who will help them achieve THEIR objectives while also satisfying the professional and personal goals of the applicant. They will be looking for specific qualities.
The first round of screening will take a very short time. Applications that are ineligible (lacking proper certifications, for example) and incomplete will be quickly placed aside. Applications with numerous and inexcusable grammatical and spelling errors may also be removed at this time, especially if many applications are available.
Next, administrators will identify those applications that appear
to bring the greatest promise to the district. This narrows the
list significantly, identifying candidates who would appear to
be good matches. In some districts, this might be the stage in
the screening process when applicants are selected for interviews.
If not, this stage will lead to a final stage when even greater
scrutiny will help administrators to prioritize the remaining
applications. 
Again, although the specific goals for each district are different, candidates chosen to attend interviews commonly share these similar traits:
* multiple certifications
* transcripts reflect an unusual range or depth of coursework directly related to the position
* high GPA (difficult to quantify, but usually between 3.2 - 3.9 and frequently higher than 3.4)
* recent academic or authentic experiences in the field
If you have not heard anything regarding applications you previously submitted, you may contact the district HR office after a reasonable period of time following the published closing date. Perhaps two weeks later. Ask a knowledgeable representative in that office about the status of the position and where they are in the process. Especially if you learn that candidates have not yet been selected for interviews, that’s great news, because time remains for you to make your best move!
For more details or to plan your strategy, call the Coach and be sure to purchase your copy of Pathway to Teaching today!
