Professional Social Studies Teacher Interview Questions & Answers:

1. What kind of work interests you the least As Social Studies Teacher?

What bores you? What fails to challenge you? What fails to excite you?

2. Do you know anyone that works with our company?

Sometimes companies have policies relating to the hiring of individuals related to current company employees. If you are related to anyone working for the company make sure you're aware of company policies before you enter the interview. If you have a friend or acquaintance working for the company make sure have good relationship with this individual before mentioning them.

3. Your client is upset with you for a mistake you made, how do you react?

Acknowledge their pain - empathize with them. Then apologize and offer a solution to fix the mistake.

4. Do you ever take work home with you?

Here are two great sample answers that might help get you started:

☛ I am an extremely organized person, so I tend to be able to get my work done at work. However, if the need arose I would not be against taking work home. I try not to make it a habit, since I do value my free time. I do realize though that the work we do is important, and sometimes you have to do what needs to be done.
☛ I do not shy away from taking work home with me. I know that meeting deadlines and doing outstanding work sometimes means taking a bit of it home. I do not have a problem doing that when the need arises.
☛ Make sure to give an honest answer. Lying about taking work home may turn out badly for you if it is required and you do not do it.

5. Do you know anyone working with this organization?

It would be great if you did - then you could potentially use them as a referral if they thought highly of you.

6. Tell us something about yourself?

Bad Answer: Candidates who ramble on about themselves without regard for information that will actually help the interviewer make a decision, or candidates who actually provide information showing they are unfit for the job.

Good answer: An answer that gives the interviewer a glimpse of the candidate's personality, without veering away from providing information that relates to the job. Answers should be positive, and not generic.

7. Can you describe your ideal boss/supervisor?

During the interview As Social Studies Teacher process employers will want to find out how you respond to supervision. They want to know whether you have any problems with authority, If you can work well as part of a group (see previous question) and if you take instructions well etc.
Never ever ever, criticize a past supervisor or boss. This is a red flag for airlines and your prospective employer will likely assume you are a difficult employee, unable to work in a team or take intruction and side with your former employer.

8. Are you willing to work overtime or odd hours?

Be completely honest. You don't want to lie to get the job if you're not going to work the hours required.

9. How long do you want to work for us if we hire you?

Here being specific is probably not the best approach. You may consider responding, “I hope a very long time.” Or “As long as we're both happy with my performance.”

10. What are your greatest professional strengths As Social Studies Teacher?

When answering this question, we recommends being accurate (share your true strengths, not those you think the interviewer wants to hear); relevant (choose your strengths that are most targeted to this particular position As Social Studies Teacher); and specific (for example, instead of “people skills,” choose “persuasive communication” or “relationship building”). Then, follow up with an example of how you've demonstrated these traits in a professional setting.

11. Can you explain why you changed career paths As Social Studies Teacher?

Don't be thrown off by this question-just take a deep breath and explain to the hiring manager why you've made the career decisions As Social Studies Teacher you have. More importantly, give a few examples of how your past experience is transferable to the new role. This doesn't have to be a direct connection; in fact, it's often more impressive when a candidate can make seemingly irrelevant experience seem very relevant to the role.

12. You notice there are too many non productive internal meetings being held, what do you do?

Reach out to your boss and let him know that first you value his leadership and organization but that you are being overwhelmed with the amount of non productive internal meetings.

13. What are your weaknesses for Social Studies Teacher position?

Try not to be too critical when answering this question. Instead, pick one of your weaknesses and try to turn it into a positive.
For example, you could be a perfectionist, which means that you sometimes take longer on tasks, but you make sure that they are completed to a high quality. It is important to make a negative into a positive as it doesn't make you appear overly critical and shows you can reflect on your own performance.

14. Give me a specific example of a time when you had to conform to a policy with which you did not agree?

You want to first understand why the policy was put into effect. From there, if you truly disagree with it, explain your position to your management. If they don't change it, then you must accept their decision and continue to work or the alternative decision would be to find a new job.

15. Describe a time when you anticipated potential problems and developed preventive measures?

The key here is to show that you were proactive. How did you find out about the potential problems? How did you address it quickly?

16. If you felt like you were hitting the proverbial "wall" and getting burned out, what would you do to re-energize yourself?

Take a break to rest. Work in smaller increments of time to increase focus with breaks in between. Delegate tasks to those that are willing to help.

17. What do you consider to be your greatest achievement so far and why?

Be proud of your achievement, discuss the results, and explain why you feel most proud of this one. Was it the extra work? Was it the leadership you exhibited? Was it the impact it had?

18. Explain what are your weaknesses As Social Studies Teacher?

Red flags: This is the peanut butter to the previous question's jelly. Again, everyone should expect it, so it's a bad sign if someone seems totally unprepared, or gives a stock answer like, "I'm a perfectionist." Also, of course, candidates crazy enough to blurt out some horrible personality trait should go in the red flagged pile.

Good answer: Candidates should talk about a real weakness they've been working on improving. For instance, they're not good at public speaking, but they've been taking a course to help them improve. Or maybe they feel that they're easily distracted when working online, but have installed software that helps them stay on task. Answers like these show a desire for improvement, self awareness and discipline.

19. Who has been an inspiration for you?

Cite your role models (possible examples could be your parents, people successful in the industry, world leaders, etc)

20. Do you have any blind spots?

This question is often meant to trick candidates since acknowledgment of blind spots would indicate they were aware of them. Also, do not disclose bad habits or other personal concerns. Let the interviewer find out about your personal flaws through the course of the interview without directly stating these flaws.

21. What types of books or magazines do you typically read?

Describe both your personal and professional favorites. If you happen to like professional books / magazines that relate to the industry of the company you're applying for - that's definitely worth highlighting.

22. What do you know about this company?

Research the company on Google by searching recent news (to remain current on them) and their website. Make sure you understand their products / services, vision, competitive differentiators, and work culture.

23. Give me a few examples of how you're results oriented?

Make you give an example where you discuss details and metrics. For example, I was a tutor in my last job and mentored 5 students on their SAT test taking skills and raised their scores by 15% on average after a 3 month teaching stint.

24. What types of situations do you consider "unfixable"?

Most situations are "fixable" - the ones that are not are typically related to business ethics (someone is cheating the company, someone is stealing, etc)

25. What's a time you disagreed with a decision that was made at work?

Everyone disagrees with the boss from time to time, but in asking this interview question As Social Studies Teacher, hiring managers want to know that you can do so in a productive, professional way. “You don't want to tell the story about the time when you disagreed but your boss was being a jerk and you just gave in to keep the peace. And you don't want to tell the one where you realized you were wrong,”. Tell the one where your actions made a positive difference on the outcome of the situation, whether it was a work-related outcome or a more effective and productive working relationship.

26. What are some of the things that you and your supervisor disagree upon and how do you resolve them? What do you do when you are pressed for a decision?

The key is that you openly communicate your thoughts to your supervisor to explain your position and try to come to a mutual decision together. Also be sure to listen to his/her thoughts so that you can potentially compromise. When you're pressed for a decision, make sure you've put thought into the reasons as to how you arrived at it and then decisively make it.

27. What are your thoughts on failure?

Failure happens. It's a part of life. The key is understanding that you can't be perfect at everything and more importantly you're going to learn from failures to come out stronger.

28. How open are you to relocation?

If you're not, then say you're not. Don't lie about it just to get the job. There's no point if you won't move for the job anyway and lying is unethical. If you are open to relocation As Social Studies Teacher, let them know which areas you'd be willing to relocate to.

29. How do you define arrogance? Are you arrogant?

Arrogance is having an attitude of superiority beyond reason. Confidence is believing in yourself without being cocky. You should not be arrogant.

30. What skills do you bring to the table?

Think of your skill sets with regards to: analytical skills, interpersonal skills, communication skills, computer skills, presentation skills, management skills, sales skills and so forth.