Ten-Minute Screening Interviews (an “Oldie but Goodie”)

“Have you ever interviewed a teacher for a job opening and, after 10 minutes, knew you would not hire the candidate?” asks veteran school administrator Paul Ash (currently superintendent in Lexington, Massachusetts) in this helpful 1992 article in The Executive Educator. The problem is that, out of professional courtesy, most administrators feel they must go through with the full 30-40-minute interview, which is not a good use of anyone’s time. Over the years, Ash came to believe that the normal interview process was triply inefficient: it reduces the number of candidates who can be interviewed, it misses some high-quality candidates, and it wastes valuable time interviewing candidates who aren’t a good match for the position in question.

Ash proposes a better process: screening resumes, inviting a larger number of plausible candidates for 10-minute screening interviews, and then getting the most impressive candidates back for full-length interviews. This allows administrators to broaden their pool, discover high-quality candidates whose resumes aren’t stellar, and eliminate candidates who look good on paper but aren’t a good match when interviewed in person. This is especially good for finding inexperienced teachers with real talent and promising candidates with non-traditional backgrounds – two groups that might never get an interview under normal circumstances. 

When Ash launched this process in Wellesley, Massachusetts, the district was getting 50-250 applicants for each teaching vacancy. The central office asked principals and department heads to select 15-25 candidates for 10-minute screening interviews. When candidates arrived, the two-person team reminded the candidate that the interview would be brief and then asked six or seven questions, which might include:

• A question clarifying something on the resume;
• A question to tap the candidate’s sense of mission and enthusiasm;
• A question about curriculum knowledge;
• What the candidate thinks students should learn by June;
• What instructional strategies a visitor might see in his or her classroom in November.

Ash and his colleagues found that with questions like these, ten minutes was enough to get a sense of communication skills, knowledge of pedagogy, attitude toward children, ability to establish objectives and priorities, and beliefs about teaching. The candidates invited back for full-length interviews were higher-caliber, and interview committees rarely felt they were wasting their time. Then the finalists went through additional checks and reference calls. 

Although this two-part interview process takes extra time, Ash believes strongly that it improves the quality of teachers ultimately hired.

“The 10-Minute Interview” by Paul Ash in The Executive Educator, March 1992 (p. 40), no e-link available

From the Marshall Memo #348