As early childhood professionals gain experience and begin to want to take on managerial roles they will want to consider just what their active role in interviewing is and what it means in the long-term for their professional path. While the potential employer is interviewing you, you should be interviewing him.
The tangled, uneven, and ever-changing growth of child care throughout the world has been consistently tightly interwoven with the role of women in society, the economy, and a new understanding of early childhood development, national interests, and human rights.
It is not surprising that child care has changed dramatically over the years as our understanding of a woman’s role in society has evolved. As societal interest and support for women’s expanding role waxes, new child care models have been developed, refined, discussed and eventually discarded or utilized for specific populations. As societal interest has waned for women’s expanding role, support for new child care models has languished.
In the summer of 1984 I read an employment ad in The New York Times Newspaper. Even though I was happily employed as a Director at a private nursery school in Manhattan, it was my custom to always read the employment ads. They always told a quiet story about what was happening in schools throughout the city. You could always tell where the problems were since the same ad for the same position would appear every month or two.
Today’s ad was very different. It advertised for a position of director at a new daycare center in Northern Manhattan that was affiliated with a major medical center. The center was just getting off the ground and the director would be heavily involved in shaping the new program. Being an eager professional chomping at the bit for my big chance to make a mark in the world, I turned to my friend and said, “Here’s my new job!”
I phoned for my appointment, readied my resume, and rehearsed the standard interview questions. Then the big day arrived. After I found the building, I walked around the block twice just so I wouldn’t arrive at my appointment too early. I met with a very nice young man from Human Resources. He quickly described their new project – the creation of the daycare center – and he added, it was something that had to be done to satisfy the demands of a new employee union contract. He was motivated, to be sure. He had a boss who needed a daycare. But he knew nothing about daycare, nothing about kids and parents and nothing about the needs of employees at the medical center. But, he did know that the union contract would end in five years. And that meant there was an excellent chance that the daycare center he was creating wouldn’t last past that date.
So he explained that the corporation had rented space in a nearby apartment building. This space would be renovated to meet the building departments code. In addition, staff would be hired at $3.50 an hour and to create an inexpensive program, the staff would receive no medical or dental benefits. Additionally it was planned that the staff would be sent home, without pay, when the daily attendance allowed for it.
He wanted to know what I thought.
I wondered who was interviewing whom? I wanted to tell him something about the history of child care so that he would understand the foundation of what he was trying to create. It was inconceivable that this man was trying to do something so positive, so on the cutting edge of science and social development, without the benefit of its historical perspective.
He needed to know why women were adamantly speaking out for child care and why their cries would not be silenced. And it was tragic that on behalf of his company, he was innocently and ignorantly abdicating a prime leadership role in modern child care simply because he did not know the “why” of the question.
When early childhood professionals attend an interview, it is really important to pay attention to the questions asked and the questions unasked. What may seem like a wonderful position may have no foundation at all for a lasting program. What may seem like a plum of a job may end up being filled with frustrations as the director tries to build an appropriate early childhood program without the board’s approval.
Many of the large corporate child care companies have competent managers. But many of those managers have training in fields other than early childhood and their goal is to adhere to a business model. That model often does not account for downturns in enrollment or special needs children. These corporate mandates are often inflexible and can be extremely frustrating for the director.
So, when interviewing at what seems like that plum of a job, be sure to ask the questions. Find out who the board is, what their training is, how committed are they to establishing an excellent program, why did the last director leave? These may give you an insight into the workings and politics of the new job.
Oh, I ended up being offered the job but only if I left my present job that day - it was first day of school - . It was an ultimatum. Since I could not commit to leaving my present job without notice I wasn’t hired. I was okay with the decision. I realized the board member did not understand the importance of the first day of school and would not received his support on important issues. Sometimes they just tell you where the problems will be.
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