Becoming a Teacher: What Your Resume Says About You

Now Starring. . .

Your degree(s) and certification(s) are the stars of your resume. Make sure they are easy to find (that is, located near the beginning of the resume) and clearly written.

The first things that a personnel director, supervisor, or principal hiring a new employee looks for on a resume are the degree(s) and certification(s) of the applicant. How the applicant's information matches the hiring needs determines whether the remaining information on the resume will be read.

Educational Background and Certification

When listing your educational background, start with your most recent school and work backward. List your degree or certificate, the name and location of the school, and the date you graduated. Also include special programs or teacher-related continuing education courses you have completed.

Work/Employment History

List all your experience working with children, even if it isn't specifically as a teacher, such as summers spent as a mother's helper. For career changers, also list all managerial experience you have; every job requires skills interacting with people. Summer employment or part-time work should be labeled as such, and you will need to specify the months in the dates of employment for positions you held for less than a year.

If you just finished your teacher education program, you might feel like you don't have much experience to list in a resume. This is not true! Think back to those grueling college projects. Getting a grade on a project was only half the project's value. You can use it now in place of experience you have not yet gained in the workplace. List special projects with their title, a description, and lessons learned.

Military Service (if applicable)

Professional Organizations

Hobbies and Special Interests

References

References are an increasingly important part of a resume. Individuals who are responsible for and directly in contact with students must be carefully screened, so your references will be contacted. Give some thought to the three to five individuals who you list as references. These individuals must be able to attest to your character and to your ability to teach, so select them with care. In some cases, school districts do not expect references to be listed on the resume; at the end of your resume, add "References are available upon request."

Because of the risk of possible repercussions, already employed applicants might not want their current employer contacted until the school district expresses interest in offering employment. If the district requires you to list references and you do not want them contacted early in the interview process, note that fact on the resume or in the cover letter. If there is no reason why your references cannot be contacted at any time, then including them with your resume may expedite your consideration as a prospective applicant. Some personnel directors or administrators may want to call your references before the interview, whereas others may wait until after they have met you.

Personal/Professional Ambitions

Take some time to reflect on the questions in this section; your answers to many of these questions can help you not only in the preparation of your resume but also in your broader career planning activities.

For your personal and professional goals, what are five smaller, short-term goals you can begin working toward achieving right now that will help you ultimately achieve each of your long-term goals?

Using the information in the previous questionnaire, you should be able to begin piecing together content for your resume. Whatever you do, however, never simply copy your resume right out of a book. Use the sample resumes provided in this book and in other resume books as a guide, but be sure the content is 100% accurate and customized to you.

Power Words

The following short list contains examples of skill-related words and phrases you could incorporate into your resume (assuming they are skills you actually have):

analyzing	designing	record keeping
coaching	innovating	researching
communicating	motivating	scheduling
consulting	negotiating	supervising
coordinating	organizing	teaching
counseling	performing	training
creating	planning	writing
data entry	public speaking