The reason it is often like this, is that there is a very tight window, and often the majority of jobs are being interviewed for, in what can be a 4-5 week period.
If you don’t offer a job on day of interview, there’s a high chance the candidate will have an interview elsewhere next day and might take that. It’s highly common that you call 5 for interview and by the time of the interview 2 or 3 pull out as already have got a job elsewhere.
With regard to accepting on the day, it is wise to accept subject to contract. Especially now there are academies with different contracts, you can find iffy terms you do not like, but don’t know about until you see them. If I accepted verbally, I would say, subject to seeing the contract. And I would never hand my notice in at current place until contract was received, signed and returned. If I accepted verbally, I might also email and say I looked forward to receiving the contract and being able to formally accept the offer.
With regard to having an interview next day, well you have to gauge this one. Sometimes you can tell there is a strong field and the school cannot and won’t wait and you might have to decide to sacrifce the other interview. Sometimes, when people have 2, they ring the one happening second beforehand and say they have an interview the day before and ask for advice about what to do...sometimes a school will say they can make a decision by lunchtime....and then if the person gets offered the first interview job, they can tell that Head, that they would like until lunchtime next day to decide and guarantee to call by a certain time. It’s all very stressful. If a Head really wants you, and particularly if they want you, you’re a shortage subject and/or the rest of the field isn’t strong, they might give you 24 hours to decide. If your other interview is a couple of days or longer away though, it doesn’t really work.
For NQTs, do be prepared to ask about the terms of the contract....notice periods, sick pay periods etc. For independent schools, check they are still in the teacher pension...not all are and this is a big deal. Check the salary and also ask to see the salary scales so you can see the likely pay progression. You can do ask all of this either in person after accepting subject to contract or by email afterwards. Email the questions as soon as you get home.
Schools cannot wait because you might get another job and their pool of candidates is reducing all the time, but equally they must provide you with the info to make an informed decision. If the terms of employment turn out to be unfavourable and you don’t want the job on that basis, it’s important that you have left scope to negotiate or pull out on knowing these. This is especially the case these days where terms vary more than in the past.
Things you d want to know are:
- starting pay
- salary scales and progression policy
- check notice periods and sick pay policy
Given schools want speedy decisions, they should be able to provide all that info with your offer.
I think less these days ask you to sit there and wait to be told, but might phone that evening and send over any documentation you’d need to see.
Be ready with your questions....have them written down as it’s easy to forget what you wanted to ask and find you’ve accepted without a crucial bit if info.
I still remember my first job interview. It was about 3 hours away and I travelled home to find my housemate saying the school had called to offer me the job. It was a Friday night and I had to wait until the Monday to speak to them to get details. It was before mobiles and before email was widespread. I worried my housemate had misheard.
Often you don’t hear for several days (or sometimes ever...how rude) if you’re unsuccessful. They are keeping a 2nd person in reserve in case the first doesn’t actually formally accept. If you get offered it after a while, you might be 2nd choice (no problem in itself) and sometimes if it’s a job for a non Sept start or it’s advertised really really early for Sept, they might be considering re-advertising.
It’s a horrible process. And actually I think more jobs fall through after being verbally offered than you’d think. It’s often that some aspect of the offer requires a bit of negotiation, and an agreement can’t be reached.