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5 Important Things a Teacher Resume Needs to Include

5 important things a teacher resume needs to include

If you want your teacher resume and cover letter to pass the ultimate test and gain the principal, hiring manager, or recruiter’s attention, it needs to be an exciting read. Your goal is to compel the reader to find out more about you.  You want them to pick up the phone, give you a call, and invite you for an interview.

The recipient of your resume and cover letter makes up their mind within seconds of the initial glance. Therefore, your cover letter should be reader-friendly, visually-appealing, demonstrate passion, and include keywords.

These powerful tips will dramatically improve your teacher resume and get results. They will explain “what you have done” and “how you have done it successfully” in your teaching profession.

1. Value Proposition:

Your value proposition is a statement of the unique things that you bring to the table as a teacher.  It establishes your capability to excel in the role and demonstrates that the hiring manager should care about hiring a person with qualities like yours. A great place to start is in your professional profile, which will demonstrate your unique selling point by highlighting your top teaching strength.

2. Support Evidence for Your Value Proposition:

Explain what you’ve done while teaching that added value to the school community. Tell your story in such a way that shows that you have accomplished a great deal and are ready for the new challenges that this position would bring, and are capable of continuing your record of accomplishment in your new position. Make sure that you back up your value proposition with facts, figures, and concrete examples. A value proposition without concrete evidence of how you have established value in the past and how you can bring value to your new role is just bragging.  Don’t brag.  Demonstrate your value.  This is the content that will help to get you hired by a school.

3. Establish Your Personal Brand:

Tell the school who you are and how you do what you do. Your brand will be echoed throughout your resume and cover letter. Your brand explains how you teach and how your teaching style affects your outcomes in the classroom.  The evidence that you present to support your value proposition should also contribute to establishing your personal brand.  You want to be known as a professional with specific strengths, and personal branding is where you bring your strengths forward.

4. Differentiate Yourself from the Competition:

Differentiate yourself from the competition by telling the principal why he/she should hire you over everyone else. Remember that you can’t be all things to all people, nor should you want to be. Your resume needs to be targeted and showcase your unique talents. Show your strengths in the classroom by highlighting the areas where you excel and backing them up with examples.  Demonstrate that your experience lends itself to the specific needs of the position, the campus, and the community that the campus serves, and you’ll go a long way towards standing out from the crowd.

5. Communicate Your Passion:

Tell the school what you think and how you feel about teaching your cover letter to convey your passion. The most effective area to display your passion will be in the cover letter before the principal even gets to your resume. Cover letters are often called “letters of interest,” so it’s a great place to explicitly state why you are interested in this particular position at this particular school and how your previous experience ties into your future growth as an educator in this specific role.

Your cover letter allows you to introduce yourself to a school and highlight your personality and teaching style. You can discuss things that are peculiar to the job posting in the cover letter, which was not showcased in your resume. Highlighting your passion for teaching and the joy you get out of successfully reaching students is vital in a letter of application. Showcase your personality and have a zest for learning in your resume’s professional profile section.

A branded value proposition resume and cover letter are both built around these five concepts. When writing your resume and cover letter, every word should count and no word should be wasted. Click To Tweet

Avoid describing particulars about you that are not unique to you or not relevant to the type of position you wish to secure. If you have put generic descriptions in your resume or cover letter that sound like something any teacher could say, take this out. Space is limited, and every word used should be spent explaining what makes you different and unique as an educator. It’s your time to shine, so only highlight those things that you set you apart from the rest of the competition.

Don’t stop here. Check out our resume and cover letter samples.