1. What would be your top priorities as Headmistress?

The school want to know that you have an action plan in place. Understand the needs, demands, culture and values of this particular school or district. Show you are willing to confront and remediate inadequacies in the school, to modify school structures where necessary and to identify and capitalize on current strengths.

2. Tell me what are your major strengths as a principal?

Focus on these competencies when formulating your interview answers to these principal interview questions.

3. Outline role that parents should play in the school?

Discuss your vision of positive parental contribution and how you have facilitated and promoted this through the implementation of school initiatives.

4. Tell me what professional development activities have you undertaken recently?

Research has shown that effective principals derive much of their professional development from community partnerships and colleagues. Demonstrate how your professional development activities have addressed the personal areas you identified as needing improvement or strengthening. How have these activities allowed you to perform your job more effectively?

5. What has been your greatest contribution to the schools you have worked?

Make your answer relevant to the needs of this principal job when answering these type of principal interview questions. How did you contribute to the overall effectiveness of the school, to student achievement, to staff development, to strengthening the school culture?

6. Explain what professional goals have you set yourself for the next 5 years?

Focus on broad goals that contribute to the overall improvement of the school. Consider student results and achievement, staff performance and development, instructional quality, the school culture and reputation, community involvement.

13. How do you set about building a good relationships with staff and parents?

The ability to build constructive and effective relationship is key to success in this role. How do you establish trust and confidence? Sharing relevant information, setting a clear direction, objectives and measures and providing and encouraging constructive feedback all contribute to successful relationships.

15. How do you motivate and encourage your staff?

Highlight the steps you take to create a climate in which people want to perform to the best of their ability. How do you assess an individual's strengths and develop them? Highlight the mechanisms you put in place to support staff through collaboration and inclusion.

17. Why do you want to be principal of this school?

Your research and preparation is critical to answering this.
Clearly detail why you are interested and give specific facts and details. Consider aspects such as the student body, the staff, the curriculum, the school reputation, educational objectives, initiatives, extracurricular activities. Effective research will help make your answers both current and relevant.

34. Why Are Manholes And Their Covers Are Round?

According to Joel Spolsky, one of Microsoft's early program managers, questions like these distinguish between people who are smart and get things done, people who are smart but don't get things done, and people who get things done but are not smart.

This question was made famous when Microsoft began using it as a job interview question. It is an example of a creative problem-solving question that is used to assess how a person approaches a problem with more than one possible answer, and to test their logic, common sense and ability to think through an unusual question.

Microsoft must have been onto something, because this type of question has been adopted by many other companies as an alternative to more traditional interview questions.

A number of possible explanations for why manhole covers are round include:

► It's easier to dig a circular hole
► Human beings have a roughly circular cross-section.
► Circular covers don't need to be rotated or precisely aligned when placing them on the opening.
► A round manhole cover is easily moved and rolled.
► Round tubes are the strongest shape against the compression of the earth around them, so the cover of the tube would naturally be round as well.
► A round manhole cover cannot fall through its circular opening, whereas a square manhole cover could fall in if it were inserted diagonally in the hole.
► Round castings are much easier to manufacture using a lathe.