Tricky interview question AIBU

[Pombearsandnaiceham]

Hi everyone.

I've got an interview coming up soon for a role in an educational organisation. The position involves advising people about schools (trying to keep it fairly vague here, as I don't want to be too outing).

My background is sort of education-related: I spent two years (gap year and year abroad) working as an English language assistant in France, and then spent time after university working as a private tutor.

I then tried teacher training, but it worked out really, really badly and I ended up resigning. I haven't actually put the teacher training on my CV, as I was worried that putting the the starting and leaving dates would just raise more questions from the employer, as they would want to know why I'd left. I was also doing tutoring alongside the teacher training, so the tutoring work also covered the teacher training period, so I haven't got any gaps on my CV.

Since leaving the teacher training, I've continued with the tutoring and have been volunteering for a story-writing project at a children's charity, and will also start volunteering as a school governor from this autumn.

I'm worried that they'll ask me in the interview whether I've considered training as a teacher OR why I haven't gone into teacher training.

AIBU to ask you for your help to prepare an answer for this please?

Thanks :)

"I have considered it but eventually decided that it's not a career I wish to pursue."?

I think if you didn't like it, then I would phrase your answer along the lines of "it's something I've considered, but I prefer the blah blah blah/other aspects of an educational role" (aspects which are linked to the role you're going for). This is completely true and will emphasise why you're going for this particular role.

I also thought it would be the perfect career choice, given I have such a strong affinity for education. I did try teacher training but discovered quite quickly that I was not a good fit for a class room role. I did continue to apply some of the techniques I learnt in my tutoring roles.

I think it was experience, you learned from it and moved on. Don't assume that future employers won't see that as a positive. When I interview I like hearing that people have move on from negative experiences - it shows resilience and self-awareness.

I think you should just be honest; I like what GuestWW says above.