PGCE trainee job offer etiquette question

[Allshallbewell2021]

A friend's ds is doing his PGCE training year finishing this summer and has been applying for jobs. He had an interview and job offer from a school (very much his first choice) this week which he has accepted pending refs & DBS etc.

He has another interview on Tuesday for another very good school but which he wants less. Should he cancel that interview as he definitely wants to accept the first offer?

One teacher told him he should keep going to interviews. Wheras online advice seems to be that once you accept an offer you should cancel all future interviews.

He is uncertain of the correct etiquette.

He can withdraw at any point during the interview process and its his prerogative. If he has his heart set on the other school why waste time and do the interview though?
The only etiquette is: NEVER accept a job at a school and then try to get out of it later, try to avoid this. Be 100 sure thats what you want

Thank you Orange, I think that's his instinct but he has also been told that he should do it for interview practice and to see how different schools work. Also just in case the other school doesn't go well for whatever reason; but my instinct as you say - is to cancel so school time isn't wasted

He can do the interview for practice and then not accept the job, just make sure he let's the school know on the day

If he has verbally accepted the offer from school A then he has entered a gentleman’s agreement and it is considered very poor form to renege on this. He needs to cancel Tuesday.

Teaching works quite differently to other jobs.

He has accepted a job offer. It is very bad form to go back on it and since he seemingly wanted this school, he should go ahead.

If he were to go to interview on Tuesday and the school that have offered him a job find out, they will not be happy and will question his commitment. He can't accept a job at school 2 'in case things don't end up going well at school 1' as school 2 will want someone who can start when needed.

Basically, he has a job and he needs to go ahead with it.

He also should politely cancel the interview at school 2. I am a HoD and interviewing is often a long day and a lot of work goes into arranging everything for it. I would not be best pleased at someone who had no intention of accepting the position coming along. It's a waste of everyone's time.

The question is, who is this teacher who is giving him such terrible advice?!

If he accepted the first job he needs to withdraw from the second interview. It is very common that we see candidates shortlisted withdrawing as already accepted a post elsewhere.

This really should have been made clear by his PGCE course tutors.

I wondered this! I despair.

Agree, he should with withdraw from the second. It is vanishingly unlikely that the job offer will be withdrawn if he knows there won't be anything worrying on his DBS or references.

The second school may be a bit disappointed but there is always the question at the end of the interview 'are you still a firm candidate?' and it is poor form to get all the way to that point and then say no. I have withdraw during an interview day once in my career but I went at break time after the chat and the tour- there was no way I could work for the headteacher and they couldn't find any suitable kids to conduct the tours, massive red flags so I politely withdrew guilt-free!

I’m really surprised he doesn’t know the answer to this. His PGCE tutor should have made it very clear.

If he’s accepted another job, he definitely shouldn’t be applying/interviewing for others. He should withdraw from the upcoming interview.

He’s lucky that it’s the ‘preferred’ school that offered first. Sod’s Law means you usually get an offer from less desired school first, then need to make a tough decision about whether to accept before your interview at preferred school.

I honestly find it quite hard to believe that a qualified practising teacher has given him such bad advice. The etiquette around teacher recruitment is largely unwritten but (IME) universally understood.

If he has verbally accepted the job offer then his job hunt stops. You do not keep looking for something better. Re-advertising and re-interviewing is expensive, disruptive and labour-intensive, and the hard deadlines of resignation deadlines mean that it is also time-sensitive. It is incredibly bad form to back out of a job after verbally accepting unless you have a genuinely exceptional reason. Attending an interview ’for the experience’ when you already have a job is awful behaviour in teaching, where interviewing means taking staff off timetable, disrupting children’s usual learning for an interview lesson, etc etc.

Teaching is a small world and headteachers and leaders across schools talk to each other. I’ve only been messed around by a very small number of candidates but I would recognise their names on a future interview list and their previous lack of professionalism would count against them.

I see OP posted yesterday lunchtime so I hope he sent his apologies on Friday as reasonable notice for Tuesday.

I honestly find it quite hard to believe that a qualified practising teacher has given him such bad advice.

Sadly I don't find it hard to believe. Very many of my colleagues don't understand their contracts, or the Burgundy Book, and give terrible advice.

On reflection you may be right. I’ve noticed an increase on this board of posts from apparently qualified teachers which make it very obvious that they haven’t read their contract or the national terms of service.

There was a humdinger on the pregnancy board the other day from a pregnant teacher who was due at the beginning of the summer and couldn’t understand why her headteacher had declined to top up her maternity pay to full pay over the holidays as she would have been off anyway 🤯

More than once I've been asked to 'have a word' with colleagues who have put the head down as a referee without asking/letting them know about it before the reference request pops up. I know they have to do it anyway but I thought everyone knew they should ask school referees in advance?

Thank you for all this feedback. I understand that it was one teacher who said go to all the interviews and decide which one you prefer afterwards - this was the advice that was confusing. All the other advice was clear that once a job offer is accepted then you withdraw from all other interviews.
That makes total sense.

As everyone else has said, he needs to withdraw. He's been offered a job at a school he really likes and has accepted. The only thing stopping him being employed by them now is a bad reference or failing DBS, both of which would affect his chance of employment elsewhere anyway. I'm sure that won't be the case for him but hopefully you understand the point I'm trying to make.

If he goes to another interview he is wasting that school's time and he risks making a very bad impression if the other school find out.

He doesn't need more interview practise, he's been offered a job (which is a fantastic achievement, so congratulations to him!).

If he has accepted, then he needs to withdraw.

My example is from 26 years ago. I was interviewed for a job which was a promotion but required relocation (DH was already in the area but I wasn't sure about moving). I had an interview the next day at my local grammar school. Because of the travelling, I had already set off for home from the distant interview when they rang to offer me the job. I asked for 24 hours to think about it - I was completely honest about why and they reluctantly agreed. I went to the 2nd job and it was utterly awful. All the way through lunch I was thinking "I have this amazing promotion 250 miles away. Do I really want to work for another bossy HoD?" I walked into the interview with the Head and told her immediately about my situation and asked to withdraw. She was absolutely lovely about it and said that if the other job didn't work out, to get back in touch as they really couldn't decide on paper between me and the other candidate. I took the 1st job, moved and am still in that area, albeit in a different position.

I was upfront with both schools. Yes, the first one could have pushed me but realised that I needed to be confident with the decision. As it was, they didn't need to wait the full 24 hours. The chap in question has done well. He needs to follow through with the job he has accepted.

Heads and leaders in different MATs should not be discussing this sort of thing with each other- I agree that they will likely remember the person and not interview them again, but I would argue that pulling out of a job offer is employment history, which is covered by GDPR and should not be shared without the person's consent.

Obviously within a MAT, it's all one employer and records can be shared, so you are effectively burning a bridge with that MAT. But otherwise this sort of thing shouldn't be discussed.

I wonder if the teacher who said this to him is quite young- although there is strong etiquette around teacher interviews, job offers, none of it is legally binding and you will find some young teachers in shortage subjects who don't really stick to it. If you teach e.g. Physics, you can get away with a lot more, as there will always be schools desperate to have you (especially if you are a good teacher).

In the past, heads did definitely talk about candidates, as well, but most heads now are more cautious- being given a job offer is personal data, and so shouldn't be disclosed without a candidate's consent, in general. Obviously it's different within a Multi Academy Trust.

I definitely wouldn't suggest going to lots of interviews and deciding which one he prefers afterwards, as that would burn bridges with multiple employers at the start of his career. I also think going to another interview for practice is "poor form".

But I do think the etiquette is starting to change, particularly in subjects where the school needs the teacher more than the teacher needs that specific job.

I knew a case where the entire initial shortlist withdrew before the interviews as they had got posts elsewhere. Annoying as that was, it would have been far more annoying for the school if they'd all turned up for interview with no intention of taking the job. Instead of inviting the next best candidates, they'd have been left high and dry, and by the time they could arrange more interviews, they might have lost them too.

Theoretically this would also apply within a whole LEA as they are also one employer!

I don’t mean to suggest that headteachers sit around comparing lists of candidates or even describing them by name, but informal conversations about the nightmare they are having recruiting for their computer science vacancy are commonplace and if a candidate has messed multiple schools around it will become apparent even if they aren’t named. It’s important for early career teachers also to understand that there’s a lot of movement between schools and MATs at middle and senior leadership level, so burning your bridges with one MAT might not stop with only that group of schools.