I came in to the district as an alternative certification teacher through Texas Teachers. I was hired after passing the 4-8 Generalist certification test. I was fortunate enough to land at a wonderful campus with an exceptionally competent leader. When I interviewed, he asked key questions about my commitment to the children, and was pleased to hear that I was planning on tutoring my students as well as providing in class interventions, and that I was a big proponent of parent communication, strong classroom management and high expectations. The HR is terrible. They took an inordinately long time to process the paperwork, kept neglecting to update me if anything was missing. I had to contact them and be on top of it, and even then it took weeks, and I ended up starting the school year as a substitue because they had not finished processing me as a new hire in time to start the school year (I interviewed the first week of August, was told the same day they wanted to hire me, but didn't become an official full time employee until September).