How to prepare before an opening exists
Waiting for a posting is the most common mistake. Preparation done in advance is what makes the interview feel like a conversation instead of an audition.
What's inside
- Do the role's work in your current job
- Collect evidence as you go
- Practice the uncomfortable moments
Do the role's work in your current job
Volunteer for the thing that resembles the role: facilitate the PD, write the unit, run the data meeting. It builds the skill and gives you something concrete to talk about.
Collect evidence as you go
Keep a running file of plans, agendas, feedback you gave, and what changed afterward. Nearly nine in ten educators in our early research had already taken on responsibilities to prepare for a future role, most just never documented them.
Practice the uncomfortable moments
Rehearse the pushback conversation, the data conversation, the moment someone agrees with you and then changes nothing. Interviewers ask about those because the job is those.