Education keywords add magic to any academic resume or CV curriculum vitae. Adding relevant keywords to your school teacher, administrator, or higher education job search documents should be a priority.
How do keywords do this, you might ask?
Well, it all has to do with technology.
Learn more about how school districts often screen academic resumes through an ATS system. ATS stands for Applicant Tracking System.
When you submit an educational application online, you may think it is delivered to a hiring manager.
Frequently, this is not the case.
Resume screening software often scans the resume and application letter first to determine if your application moves on to the hiring authority.
Many academic applications never even get seen by an actual person!
How Education Keywords Work
School districts are posting more education jobs online and then using software to scan applicants’ resumes and CVs for specific education keywords that apply to the position. The keyword screening process is used to weed out academic candidates who don’t meet their needs. This process makes it supposedly more accessible to find the best possible candidate to fill the open positions.
You may be the best candidate for the post, but if your resume targeting a teacher position doesn’t have the necessary keywords, your resume won’t be viewed by the human eye.
I am sure you know that the Internet has changed the way job searching and recruiting work!
Keywords are an integral part of 21st-century job and resume placement. The system is designed to match resumes with job postings with the right education keywords.
Keywords are determined by the title of the position you wish to secure. For example, the keywords you include in a resume for an education literacy coach would differ from writing a resume for a teaching assistant.
Academic Job Search Dynamics
Most people are not aware of this, but the application procedure is much more complex and goes far beyond the application page the candidate sees. After filling out the form and uploading your resume, special software takes over, designed to filter out irrelevant or unqualified resumes.
Education keywords are the primary determining factor in whether your academic resume passes the ATS software. Incorrect formatting and heavy use of graphics will prevent the ATS from continuing to analyze your resume.
Infographic Resumes
Using a heavy graphic resume could eliminate you from getting your resume to the human eye.
Knowing where and how to use these education keywords on your resume will determine if your resume is selected for further consideration.
This is done automatically, even before a human sees any resumes. To reach a human, applicants must be vigilant in making sure that the language in their resumes and job applications contains the kind of words that will trigger a positive response from the initial scan.
Applicant Tracking System (ATS) Software Programming
As an education professional seeking a school administrator position, the competition will be intense, and you will be expected to be at your best to secure the job. The Applicant Tracking System (ATS) software will scrutinize your educational leadership resume or CV curriculum vitae and determine if it is good enough to earn you further review by the hiring committee.
For this reason, many potential school principals hire the services of professional resume writers. An academic resume writer has in-depth experience in using keywords appropriately and can produce a resume that will pass an internet screening and impress a potential hiring manager.
Writing a teacher’s resume will differ from a school administrator’s. Incorporating keywords relevant to teaching, not those specific to educational leadership.
Examples of Teacher Resume Keywords
Balanced Literacy
Response to Intervention RTI
Literacy Circles
Growth Mindset
Blended Learning
Common Core Standards
Read an in-depth article on how to use teaching resume keywords to get an advantage.
The best place to find specific keywords a school is looking for in an applicant is the job posting. A job posting is a great tool to discover what a school wants in a potential teacher or administrator.
Use the Applicant Tracking Software to Your Advantage
Note that this software does not recommend you to only one academic institution. It will also put your resume in front of different hiring professionals simultaneously, giving you leverage in your job search.
This screening process is excellent because you only need to put in your effort once, and the rest is taken care of.
All you need to do is write a compelling educational resume with the right keywords and place the paper strategically like your social networking sites, blogs, websites, and job search boards. The idea is to get your resume into the right avenues so that when institutions use their software to seek candidates for your desired education position, the ATS software will pick out your name, even in your absence.
Placing Education Keywords in a Resume
- Include relevant academic associations or professional groups you belong to in your resume.
- Highlight keywords when possible and include many near the beginning to make your resume readily available to search engines.
- When describing an organization, procedure, program, or policy where acronyms are used, give the full name of the topic and list its acronym. If a software program scanning for applicants is only calibrated to look for one of the two, it will still pick it up.
- Incorporate relevant keywords in your cover letter/application letter.
- Always make sure education keywords are not too scattered and flow well, making for exciting reading.
- Please don’t make it obvious you have included keywords. Your language should look natural, as both computers and people will review it.
- Use keywords in the job responsibility section and your resume or application profile summary.
- Don’t overuse education keywords; the software could tag your resume as spam.
- Research industry keywords and use only those relevant to securing your desired teaching job. Having different resumes for multiple career targets might be worthwhile if you seek jobs in other subject areas or age groups.
- Tailor all areas of your resume keywords to each career focus.
As the academic job search evolves to incorporate new, high-tech recruiting tools, it becomes critical that your resume for the academic position you seek stand out to the reader and any scanning software.
Never underestimate the power of incorporating education keywords in your job search documents.
If you’d like to ensure that your administrator or teacher resume hits all the right keywords and helps you stand out from the crowd, we invite you to check out the resume writing services we offer. We’ll ensure that your academic resume stands out for all the right reasons to hiring managers and applicant tracking software.
Contact Candace Alstad-Davies directly at candoco@telus.net or toll-free: 1-877-738-8052.
