Pearl Esau ’03

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Recruitment Director, Teach for America

1. Describe the current state of our education system from your perspective.
Our country is facing a crisis in education where the ZIP code in which a child is born determines his or her educational and life prospects. By the time children in low-income communities are 9 years old, they are already, on average, three grade levels behind in reading and math. This statistic became real to me in my first week as a Teach For America corps member teaching fifth grade in East Los Angeles. I had a student who couldn’t write a one-syllable word and other students who couldn’t add single digit numbers at the age of 9.

2. Why do we believe Teach for America is a good solution?
Teach for America exists to build a movement of outstanding recent college graduates, the best and the brightest in our nation, who will lead the effort to end educational inequity. In the short term, we do this by calling upon students of all academic backgrounds and career interests to commit two years to teaching in some of the most challenging urban and rural schools in our country. During our two years, corps members go far beyond the traditional expectations of a teacher, working relentlessly to ensure their students make significant academic progress, which usually means at least one-and-a-half grade levels of progress in nine months.

3. How has your Teach For America experiences helped you to define and achieve your career goals?
When I graduated from UCLA, I was really convinced that I was going to go straight into a Ph.D. program. After teaching and recruiting, I’ve found that while I still love research, my strength is in directly leading and interacting with people. I am now considering getting an M.B.A. with an emphasis in nonprofit management. Working on staff with Teach for America has allowed me to develop organizational, critical thinking and management skills that few people my age possess. I know that I will be able to take those skills into any career or educational program that I choose.

4. Why did you decide to work in administration for Teach for America?
As a corps member, I saw the impact that corps members were able to have on their students. In my own classroom, I made a life-changing impact on my students. On average, my fifth grade students were two to three years behind in reading and math. I was determined to help them reach grade level progress because I knew that they absolutely had the potential to excel. I worked relentlessly, spent hours developing tailored lesson plans, sought out extra teaching resources, visited my students’ homes and devoted long hours to tutoring them after school. At the end of the year, most of my class was reading on the fifth grade level and some were even reading at the sixth grade level. They also mastered 84% of their fifth grade math standards; some students improved up to three grade levels of progress in just nine months.

After two years of battling to catch up my students to grade level and experiencing first-hand all the reasons why they weren’t on grade level to begin with, I couldn’t just walk away. I had to do something at an even larger level. Joining the staff as a recruitment director was a perfect opportunity for me to continue contributing to Teach for America’s mission to eliminate educational inequality. I was thrilled to share my experience with college students and encourage them to use their leadership and talents to work as corps members.

I also joined staff for my students. When I left the classroom, I promised them that I was going to find the most amazing college students at UCLA and USC to become their teachers. Every day when I work, I think about my students and how they still need talented teachers to help them get through. I think about Joyce, one of my favorite students. Her dream is to go to UCLA (because I did) and be the first child in her family to ever go to college. Joyce needs teachers who have faith in her potential and unwavering devotion to help her succeed. I work every day in search of those future teachers.

5. What skills do you look for in your applicants?
The work, challenges and obstacles are intense. One of the most important competencies we look for is a proven track record of achievement. This can be demonstrated through leadership in extracurricular activities, success in a rigorous academic program or outstanding accomplishments in any area. We also look for qualities like perseverance in the face of challenges and the ability to influence and motivate others towards a desired goal. Respect for others and humility are also indicators of a strong candidate. We look for applicants who assume the best about children and families in low-income communities and believe that all students can excel when given the opportunities to do so.

An exceptional candidate possesses those attributes of achievement, perseverance, critical thinking, organization, motivational skills, a desire to work in low-income communities and respect for others.

6. From your experience with interviewing candidates, what tips do you have for people with similar responsibilities?
I think I’ve formally interviewed about 100 people this year, so I have a lot to say about what I’ve learned about interviewing. Make it as much like a conversation as possible. Put the person you are interviewing at ease, so that she or he is fully capable of demonstrating strengths. Since interviews are not that long, it’s also important that you’ve reviewed this person’s files and résumé carefully so that you have an idea of where you’d like the interview to go. Know what you are looking for in a candidate and how to ask the probing questions that will allow you to spot those qualities. Be familiar enough with the interview questions and script to move things around and change direction based on the responses while keeping the interview on track.

7. What are some red flags that indicate an unqualified candidate?
When candidates blame past failures on others or do not take responsibility for accomplishing results. As a corps member, you are responsible for the success of all your students, no matter what. We believe in the “internal locus of control,” meaning that one can control the outcome of most circumstances if one puts in the effort. Another red flag is when a candidate does not demonstrate respect for people in low-income communities or has negative assumptions about parents or school staff in low-income schools.

8. What advice would you give to a new job recruiter?
Be yourself. It goes so much deeper than recruitment. It’s not about selling anything; it’s about being genuine and sincere in sharing your experiences so that candidates can trust you. Candidates need to sense that you are trustworthy and that you are being straight before they will open up to you and ask questions. Always listen. If you want to gain a candidate’s interest, you need to pursue that person from the angle of individual interests and passions. Address concerns. I always like to ask candidates, “What might be holding you back from applying to Teach for America?” Stay connected. After you end your conversation, the candidate should know where to go with additional questions.

9. Do you see yourself leaving the nonprofit sector for the corporate world?
I’ve learned in the last three years that I really can’t eliminate anything as a possibility. I was one of those college students who always had a 10 -year plan tracked out on an Excel spreadsheet by year. At this point in my life, I was supposed to have been in a Ph.D. program on my way to starting a community development center in a foreign country. I’m open to using my skills and knowledge in the way that best serves others. If that ends up being in the corporate world, so be it. Teach for America has a lot of great partnerships in the corporate world and some staff members do move in and out.

10. How does Teach for America prepare people for other leadership positions?
Our corps members take their firsthand experiences and become more effective and credible leaders who will make systemic changes that will close the achievement gap for tomorrow’s students.

We have more than 200 alumni in their 20s and 30s who are already leading public schools and top charter schools. Some are elected school board members across the country, including in LA and D.C. This year, President Bush awarded the highest national teaching honor, the National Teacher of the Year Award, to Teach for America alumnus Jason Kamras. Corps alumni are doctors who are more effective in their practices today because they have seen how health care and education intersect in low-income communities. They are lawyers, advocating for children and family in low-income communities, business people creating jobs and journalists writing about injustice. We want them there, closing the achievement gap from every conceivable angle.

For information on the day-to-day activities of the corps member and alumni experience, information on teaching and living in each region, research studies on Teach for America's effectiveness and the application process.