Job Discussion Forums

[Joshua2006]

Very positive experience.

Handed in my documents and application 4 days late. Heard within 11 days that I was wanted for interview 2 days after that.

Administration staff / document checkers were all chatty and friendly and polite.

Interviewers, 2, were really nice, very calm in the way they asked questions. Gave feedback to answers in one or two cases. Asked normal questions about teaching philosophy and other experiences. Only question I didn't like was the age old 'what is your biggest problem when teaching'. Hopefully swung that.

About 30 minutes in all. Came out feeling good about the whole thing whether I get the job or not.

Writing involved a 20 minute short essay. 3 topics, your choice. Nothing complex at all.

So, contrary to what I have read on here about other interviews / experiences, I have nothing bad to say about mine whatsoever. It was all good.

Advice to those attending soon: make sure you have good solid answers about your own teaching philosophy and also how you overcome difficult teaching situations.

Good luck.

[outkasted_3000]

Seems like we had quite different interviews!

Like you said, the people were all very friendly and helpful. The document check went smoothly and the two interviewers were also very pleasant. You will have one interviewer that is a principal, and another that I believe is a regular teacher. Both of them spoke English quite well and for the most part there was no miscommunication, except on one occasion.

For me, they started off easy, and asked a lot about my Korean experience and the nature of my teaching duties. Following that, they asked me, in my opinion, a "gotcha" question. I mean, the question was fair game, but it really wasn't a question I thought to prep for. The principal asked me details about the curriculum which set off a brief panic...let's just say I didn't answer the question, but that they appreciated my honesty as for my ignorance to the curriculum. Next up was a question from the teacher, and she asked me what I would do for a one week English Camp.


Like Joshua, the interview lasted about 30 minutes. I then went out to do the writing portion of the interview. You get 20 minutes to write on one of three topics, and it is timed so don't waste too much trying to make it perfect.

I didn't feel good about the interview and really beat myself up over the curriculum question and thought I had bombed it...until yesterday I got an e-mail saying I passed. Go figure. =)

I'm not sure if that curriculum question was a trick question or not...as in, maybe I wasn't supposed to know it and they just wanted to see how full of it I might be.

I'll add to Joshua's list...

- be VERY familiar with what your role as NET will be
- know what the objectives of the NET program are

And this is a lot more subjective, but be positive and upbeat. I think that's what got me through. I really flubbed that question on the curriculum. I just outright told them that I wasn't familiar with it but that I felt confident in my ability to adapt my lessons to whatever the curriculum objectives might be. They didn't seem impressed and it also sparked the lone miscommunication of the interview (too long to get into).

Best of luck to you, Josh!

And good luck to the rest of you!

[RiverMystic]

The way you feel after the interview and the actual result are not always congruous!

Outkasted, I think your honesty was probably appreciated. One thing they don't like is a know-it-all foreigner who hasn't quite worked out that the colonial era is over in HK. One requirement for being a successful net is the ability to go with the flow, to bend with the wind (sometimes a gale). The system can be very rigid, and is a real test of character and patience.

I recommend preparing well (speak to or email a NET beforehand if possible!). But smile and relax. That's key.

BTW Joshua, passing the interview does not guarantee a job. It just means you are in the game! Be active after the interview. Keep on the EDB, especially if they don't get back to you. Approach schools yourself! Check www.scmp.com (classifieds) for jobs - there are usually plenty of them advertised around April-July. But there are always a few going at any time.

[Joshua2006]

[outkasted_3000]

I interviewed the last Thursday in February. After that interview, my "handler", Alex, who has been extremely helpful, gave me a CD-Rom on the NET program, and then told me I'd know by mid-March. He told me to e-mail him if I hadn't heard anything by the end of the month. After the 14th, I hadn't heard anything and assumed I messed it up. I got my congratulatory notice on the 17th. I think it really depends on when certain interview cycles end...I interviewed at the end of an interview block, and I'm guessing that's why I found out relatively soon. I feel like it's only the beginning of a long journey though! This might not amount to anything concrete by the time August rolls around and I find myself working out the remainder of my contract in Korea!

[Kornan DeKobb]

[Yorky]

Guys, you are making out the EDB interview is more important then it actually is. Passing the EDB interview will not guarantee you a job. Good schools prefer to select and interview their own NETs. Save yourself the hassle and by-pass the EDB. It certainly is different from teaching in England, but worth it if you can get into a good school.

[Kornan DeKobb]

[Joshua2006]

[outkasted_3000]

[oxi]

[Perilla]

As a newbie it's virtually impossible to guarantee you'll end up in a good school - this can only realistically happen once you're in situ. Then, if you land at a bad school, you can try to target certain 'good' schools at the end of your first contract.

But ... even then it's still very tricky, as you might not get interviewed by your chosen schools and you may run the risk of ending up empty handed. A friend of mine transferred out of a school he was unhappy with but ended up at a far worse one and spent the next two years wishing he'd stayed where he was.

Additionally, a good school can quickly become a bad school if/when the principal changes, as has just happened at my wife's school.

BTW, by 'good' I mean 'comfortable for teachers', and this doesn't necessarily have anything to do with academic standards at the school.

[Yorky]

I personally know twelve principals of primary schools here in Hong Kong. They all prefer to advertise and interview their own NETs, but they will only look at those who have Qualified Teacher Status. Some also will appoint a NET on the recommendation of the current/retiring NET. There has been some bad publicity about EDB provided NETS not being up to the mark. It is not easy to get onto the NET Scheme by applying directly to schools, and it helps considerably if you are already in Hong Kong. Many schools will not even start thinking about getting their new NET until June at the earliest. They don't like dealing with appointments of people outside of their normal expertise.
Check out the classifieds, and try and make contact with NETs already here who are thinking of leaving. One way of doing that is through the guest section of www.pnets.org

[ozman]

[Joshua2006]

And then there was the email, offering only one congratulation.

I suppose the waiting game is now on. They seem very optimistic in their email that placements will be done by May. However, I am not holding them to their word on this going by what people have been sayng on here....