Before you can win the job, you have to get the interview. And before you can get the interview, you must have an application that speaks to the search committee and reflects self-awareness. For instance, I was recently leading two searches—one for a large K-12 and one for a tiny K-6—and had one candidate who had applied for both. No self-awareness.

Every application should respond to a specific school and its outlined needs and challenges. That’s why we publish position statements—to let candidates know the opportunities and challenges at a given school. So, once you’ve considered what you have to offer to a school and decide to be a candidate, consider your application to be your first communication with a school’s search committee.

The old saw remains true: effective communication requires that you know your audience. If you’re applying to be a head of school, it’s likely that the search committee will be led by trustees who are volunteers—busy professionals who care about the school and have a singular view of the Head of school’s responsibilities and work. As a general rule, they do not have the time nor the inclination to read pages of materials they are often unfamiliar with, and even put-off by educational jargon.

In a cover letter’s opening sentence, give the particulars of your current school: the composition of students and the enrollment. Aim for a succinct resume, one that outlines, in chronological order, where you have worked, the positions you have held, what you have accomplished and include the responsibilities, activities and actions that correspond to the requirements as well as the challenges outlined in the position statement.

Your cover letter should enhance your resume by explaining why you want to be the head of the particular school. What will they want to know about you that is not in your resume and is of consequence for this job? It is critically important that a cover letter be one of a kind; something generic won’t work. You need to convey a sincere interest in the opportunity at hand and demonstrate that you’ve done your homework about the school. (A.I. is not your friend at this moment; we’ve seen a number of cover letters generated by A.I. and they lack the warmth and personality of a letter you compose from scratch.)

If you’ve negotiated the cover letter and the resume successfully, you may now be called for an interview. Congratulations! So now that you have the interview— take a breath and get to work. Time after time, candidates who are ultimately hired, have communicated to the search committee that they are all in. They prepared for the interview. They knew the neighborhood, the community, the city. One of the most effective candidates in a previous search I led, traveled to the city a day ahead to visit the town, to understand the vibe, and to experience the landscape. The search committee was impressed by his initiative.

Prepare with attention to the cultural norms, ask the search committee and/or the search chair for background information on the committee members. What is the standard dress? Modes of address? Familiarize yourself with the school’s social media accounts. What of significance has happened? Can you congratulate the committee on a recent victory or achievement? And then, during the interview, be succinct. But that’s for another blog…