resumeThe first step to landing your dream education job is to create an outstanding resume and cover letter. With the job market being as tough as it is nowadays, it is of the utmost importance that you are able to develop top-notch documents and stand out above the crowd. Here are 6 tips to help you create an effective resume and cover letter and avoid some common mistakes that many people tend to make:

1. Make it look professional. The first step to creating an outstanding and effective job application document is ensuring that it looks visually appealing. You want to make sure that the reader knows you are a mature and respectable individual, who will be an asset to their school district. The appearance of your resume and cover letter speak greatly about the person writing it. Use a crisp, appealing design that looks like its rightful place should be in an employer or hiring manager’s hand. Ask, “Just by looking at these documents, would I hire myself?” 2. Content needs to be professional

interviewHere are two example questions and sample answers to two interview questions for administrative interviews. How would you answer each of these questions? Are you prepared to answer interview questions such as these?

Why should we hire you over all the other applicants who have similar educational backgrounds and experience?

This is a difficult question as you cannot rely on your education and experience to sell yourself.  What hiring panels are looking for when they ask this question is whatever you feel is most important to share with them.  They’re looking for candidates who avoid canned responses.  They are looking to learn how you see yourself and what you value about yourself. You should focus on …

hireYou work hard on developing an impressive resume and cover letter, as well as a top notch teaching portfolio that displays your talents as an educator. You’ve also worked hard to develop your credentials, gain a background in teaching related positions and work on your professional development. So is this enough to ensure that a school will hire you?

Many people believe that candidates get hired based on their resume, which includes their education, skills, and experience. This isn’t true, however, because if it was true, then the school wouldn’t ask the candidate for an interview. Your resume and cover letter, along with the content contained in both these documents, help you to get to the next stage of the job search process…which is the interview. That is all your resume and cover letter are tasked with doing – getting you an interview. The thing that makes a school want to hire you specifically is your performance during the interview. During the interview…

principalWhen interviewing for any position in education, you may be asked to describe the roles of both the principal and the vice principal in the school community. If you are applying to become one of these positions, then the interviewers will want to make sure you understand the ins and outs of the position. If you are applying to become a teacher, the interviewers will be interested in knowing what you expect from your principal and vice principal as a teacher. The answer you give to this question can also help interviewers to determine whether or not you would fit in well with their school community and vision. Consider the following

resume When applying to a teaching position, what you need to do is attach the requested documents and send a polite and concise email to the hiring organization explaining the position you are applying for and which documents you have enclosed. Before you send that email though, make sure that your attached documents are universally compatible. Most people use Microsoft Word, so the .doc format is the most preferential. However, there are some versions of Word that are not compatible with all operating systems. Therefore, it is advisable that you save your documents in Rich Text Format(.rtf) as well. Most, if not all systems are able to recognize and read an .rtf.

However, you may also be asked to submit your resume via a separate website. If you are asked to directly upload your documents to the page, adhere to the same caution as mentioned above, particularly if you are using a Mac computer – some versions of Mac programs are not PC-friendly.

Another option you may be given when uploading to a webpage is that of copying and pasting in your resume, and possibly cover letter. If this is the case, remove formatting such as bold, italics, underline, borders, frames, etc. They do not translate well in many of the online programs. One method for overcoming this and shortening up the time it takes to erase your formatting is saving your original documents in Text Format (.txt) and pasting that version into the online program. Text Format can also be used instead of Rich Text when emailing or uploading resumes.

If you are required to cut and paste your resume online, and you are asked to reformat it, then do it! Some companies do not want straight Text Format, but want to see what your actual resume really looks like. If you choose not to reformat your document online, and it looks messy or wonky, you will be judged on this by the potential employer. They may view you as lazy and uninterested in the job. If there is a large amount of applicants, your resume could…

behavioral interviewBehavioral interviews have grown increasingly popular among schools and school districts when hiring their teaching staff. The reason for its popularity lies in the fact that the types of questions asked are more specific and often force the interviewee to describe past experiences when giving their answer.

Past performance dictates future performance is the thought process utilized when implementing behavioral interview questions. Schools want to know how you dealt with certain types of situations during your teaching in the past, so they can determine how you would deal with these situations in this position. Behavioral interview questions are asked to determine if the candidate has relevant competencies and qualifications to match the teaching job function requirements. interviewing for. This shows…

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