Interviews can be daunting and hard to prepare for but we’re here to help. We’ve compiled a list of common questions that you might be asked in yours and how you might go about answering them, as well as some questions you could ask your interviewer to help show your interest in the position!
Interviewers will want to hear about your motivations for getting into education, it’s good to be honest about your why you want the job and to show your potential employer that you genuinely care. Even though you won’t be in a teaching position, you’ll be potentially having a big impact on the lives of the children and young people you work with.
Again, this is a personal question so have a think about what it is that you actually enjoy about the role and be honest about it, interviewers are going to value people who show some passion. You might want to mention the positive impact that you’re hoping to have through your work.
Think about the role of a school attendance officer and how you’ll be impacting the children and young people, as well as the families, you’ll be working with. Try and centre your response around how you’ll be benefiting the school and its students.
Schools will want to know that you’re going to handle situations like this in an appropriate manner. Make sure that you understand the proper regulations and guidelines for handling these issues and demonstrate your knowledge of the correct procedures you have to go through. Try to read up on school policy before your interview so you can give the most relevant answer that you can. Your interviewer could also ask you about specific scenarios like reporting an absence, etc. so it’s even more important you understand proper policy.
If you have experience working as a school attendance officer or a similar role giving examples from your previous work would be ideal. If you are having trouble structuring your answers use the STAR method to keep things concise and focused.
As a school attendance officer, you’re going to be handling sensitive information about the children and young people that you’ll be working with so it’s important you have a good understanding of data protection and your responsibilities regarding it. It’s a good idea to read up on data protection law and how you should treat private data in a position like this, if you don’t already know. Employers will want to know you’ll handle responsibilities like disposing of people’s private data correctly.
As a school attendance officer you’re going to need to work with a school’s attendance monitoring system, most commonly SIMS, on a routine basis. It’s important to employers that you know how to operate these systems, so you should emphasise any experience you have with them. If the school uses a different system than you’re used to, or if you don’t have much experience, talk about your willingness and ability to learn the new system instead.
If you’re searching for your first position as a qualified school attendance officer, make note of any prior experience you have in a related position or what your studies have taught you that would be useful as a school attendance officer. If instead you’re coming to the interview with some experience in the role then talk about any particular achievements or challenges that you’ve overcome while working. Try and highlight anything that will help you to stand out amongst other interviewees.
In your work as a school attendance officer you’ll be working with both the staff in other parts of the school as well as with external agencies. Interviewers will want to know you’ll be comfortable working with both. In your work you might be required to work collaboratively depending on the issues that come up with students, from working with teachers to dealing with legal proceedings. Talk about any past experience you have in similar situations, as long as it’s relevant to the job. Detail what exactly you’ve worked on and the positive impact that you had on the process.
Reading through some of our common questions should help get you in the right headspace for your interview, but don’t stop here–have a think about what kind of questions you could be facing, as well as how you might answer them on your own!
If you’re looking for that next job interview, take a look at our jobs board! You might find your dream school support job.
Make sure you have everything else you’ll need to land that dream job by returning to our school attendance officer career advice, or find out how to revamp your school attendance officer cv or cover letter. Have you got a job in mind but don’t have the right qualifications? If so, check out our courses page and take a look at some of our valuable qualifications.
