The Interview

The room you’re led to is already occupied by a younger woman, probably early fifties. She has long red hair with hints of grey at the base. Her large breasts are confined in a grey blouse. Her wide hips are covered in a long black skirt. There’s a sense of authority in her, added by her austere face and the fact she is over ten centimetres taller than you. She looks like a woman that only now age is adding bulk.

“This is Dr Structure, our headmistress,” your guide tells you. Her grip as you shake her hand tells you there is still muscle beneath the accumulating fat.

“Thank you for coming,” Dr Stricture tells you. She has a deep voice, one used to cutting through screaming teens, one used to command and respect.

Mrs Oversight gesture to a chair on one side of the desk, while the two women take chairs on the other side. Only when everyone is seated does Mrs Oversight start talking again.

“Just for the record this is an interview for the job of junior history teacher here at St Perpetua’s Sixth Form College. St Perpetua’s is a private all-girl sixth form college. I gather you’re local, so you know all about the school.” You nod. “Good, then I don’t have to explain how important this school is to the area, and its reputation. Its reputation is very important. Anybody threatening it will be punished appropriately.”

“Unfortunately, for reasons we won’t discuss we have an opening for a junior history teacher, which we must fill in the next few weeks before the new academic year starts. I won’t lie to you, you wouldn’t normally be considered for even this junior role. We try to avoid employing male teachers, especially ones as young as you. We’ve found they can have a disrupting effect on some of the girls. And we tend to employ teachers who have taught these age groups, which I gather you have not. Experience matters. Teaching at a university is not the same as teaching at a Sixth Form college. But we are ****, and you have come highly recommended. Don’t worry, we’ll give you a fair hearing.”

You swallow, nod, and then tell her “I understand.”

Her smile is probably meant to be encouraging but doesn’t feel that way. The doubts you felt back at the reception area are filling your brain.

“Why don’t you tell us about yourself.”

So, you do. You know well enough to embellish your achievements, while not lying, bigging up your lecturing and tutoring, downplaying your research, which had been your primary interest back at the university. Dr Stricture asks penetrating questions, that if you’d lied, would have left you stumbling and looking a fool. Mrs Oversight steers you into the actual history. She seems primarily interested in your knowledge of the Anglo-Saxon period. When you look confused, she explains.

“Our history curriculum is eclectic but gives the girls a good coverage of all of history. Mrs Sorgood deals with modern history, primarily World War 1 and 2 and the build up to those. I deal with the Civil War, the Commonwealth and the Restoration. We’re looking for someone to cover the fall of the Roman Empire and the Anglo-Saxon period up to 1066. We believe offering a range of periods gives the girls the opportunity to find the periods of history they’re most interested in.”

Your interest was in the Celtic, pre-Roman period, but for your undergraduate course you’d had to cover the Anglo-Saxon period as well, so your answers to her questions are succinct and appear to impress her.

Once you start talking all your fears disappear. You’re too busy answering the questions to worry about the situation. It’s the same as when you started lecturing. You panicked before you began, but once you were out there you had too much else on your mind for worries. The time goes quickly. The interview was meant to last an hour, but it’s almost 2 when the two women stand up, thank you, shake your hands and tell you they’ll have an answer by the end of the week.

As you’re leaving you catch another glare from the very attractive receptionist.