Teach for America Placement Process

So, you're hired. You've made the decision to become a corps member. You're working on your training. Now what?

Teach for America is responsible to find you a job at one of the schools in the region. You will have been assigned a grade and content level long before your hire, so you should know what to expect in terms of where Teach for America will place you.

In about April is when schools begin their hiring process. You can expect to be hired anytime from April through August, although typically everyone is hired before you head down for Institute come June. TFA will hold a Placement webinar in February, so you'll have plenty of information about the process.

One mistake that many people make about TFA is that you simply are just placed in a school and you don't have to interview. That is NOT true! In addition to a placement webinar, my TFA region held several interview webinars, where we were given tips and tricks and able to practice interviewing. In each TFA region there should be a staff member that is in charge of working with various schools, sending your resume out, and getting you placed.

In April, I received word that my resume had been sent out to an elementary school. I got a phone call and set up an interview. Well, I went through this school's interview process for about a month and in the end, didn't get the job. The TFA staff member is notified by the school the entire way through the process, so TFA knew right when I didn't get the job either, and the staff started looking for a new school for me to interview with. 

If you have read all of the posts before this, you'll know that I had put a heavy emphasis on teaching high school in my placement survey and got assigned elementary. Well, TFA called and asked if I would be willing to interview with a middle school. I said yes, knowing that I would need to take different NES exams than the elementary. I interviewed with a middle school and was blessed enough to receive an offer!

Each school's interview process is totally different. Some schools may require you to send videos of you teaching. Most require three letters of recommendation. Most school's should have the typical first interview with questions such as:

Tell us more about yourself.
What is one time that you have faced a significant challenge and how did you overcome it?
What are some of your strengths?
How do you work in a team?
What is your most significant accomplishment?

I was able to do my interviews over the phone, but if you are close to your region, you could interview in person. 

So, the moral of the TFA Placement story (for me) is that TFA was super on top of things, really easy to work with, and that you shouldn't count on your original placement being exactly what happens because things change all the time in the placement process.

Questions? Leave a comment below or click on the e-mail link in the upper right corner--I'd love to talk!