MY AP Interview

Hello lovely humans,

I hope you're all keeping well as we head towards the end of the school year! I have been meaning to write this for some time but life & school has been crazy.

I am just going to quickly run through my experience of the AP one application and interview process. 
So the job was advertised and I knew immediately I wanted to apply for it as I know I'd like to go down the leadership route. I filled out the application form and left it till very last minute as I didn't actually realise how much was involved in the application. Looking back I managed it well but I definitely should have given more time to allow others to read it just in case of any errors.

I had one final read and submitted the application on the morning of application deadline. After submitting I heard back that day that they received my application and then two days later I received word of an interview offer for the following week. I went to my principal and asked that my classes be covered and he was extremely supportive.

I immediately got in touch with Kenneth from Education Interview Hub and he organised a meeting with Jennifer. This mock interview was the biggest help to me and honestly made me so confident. Jennifer put me at ease and gave me advice on my answers and really pushed me to be the best I could be. Her advice and wealth of knowledge was absolutely priceless and I don't know how I would have managed without it. Before meeting with Jennifer I had researched AP interview questions and asked friends in leadership about the interview and what could be asked so `I had some prep done.

After meeting with Jennifer she sent me on a recording of my mock interview so I was able to sit down and analyse it and go back over and tidy up some of the answers I had given. On the morning of the interview I practiced asking myself difficult questions and answered them whilst driving to the interview to get me in the zone. Once parked outside (30 mins early) I took out my summarised notes to go over and ran over some of my examples/ scenarios that I had intended to use that showed my leadership skills.

In the interview I actually felt calm immediately - in my head I told myself to just breathe and all the work I had done would stand to me and to give it my best. To be honest I felt like I started to answer well but then at some points throughout the interview I found myself losing focus and structure in my answers and just had to ask for the question to be repeated again. I honestly was proud of how I did in my first AP interview but I know that I have work to do to be the best. 

As you would have seen I was unsuccessful. I don't mind saying this as it was my first interview and I still felt I put my best foot forward and it was an AMAZING learning experience. Personally I suffered a lot with change in the past year and would become nervous and anxious about things that never bothered me before, but for this interview I was CALM. This was a huge win for me as I know now that I am back to who I was before having Wesley (not in a bad way - more so a strong mental health way) and that the pregnancy hormones which played a huge role in making me anxious were finally gone!

I came 2nd out of 4 on the interview panel and I am thrilled for who got it as I feel it was well deserved. I have more clarity on what I can do better next time and there definitely will be a next time!

Toodles,
​Múinteoir Cole