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A – Z Teacher Resume Writing Strategies and Tips for 2023

A - Z Resume Writing Strategies and Tips for 2018

Are you looking for modern tips for writing teacher resumes to land the perfect teaching job? Look no further for the best resume-writing tips for teachers. You will find plenty of help in this post to guide you through this challenging and vital project. These top tips for writing an education resume or CV will help you every step of the way.

Writing an education resume for 2023 is different from previous years. The readers’ expectations have increased regarding resume content and design.

Many education job seekers feel overwhelmed or insecure about their resume writing ability and skills.

Rightfully so, writing a resume for a teacher who lands an interview will take knowledge, patience, and top-notch word processing expertise. It’s an art, and it takes enormous time and know-how to create the perfect resume. 

Take the time to research how to write a resume for a teaching job to ensure you get noticed and be granted an interview.

If you create your resume, you may have these usual questions when reviewing it:

  • Did I present my teaching skills effectively?
  • What if I left out the wrong information?
  • Does it look organized? Is there enough white space?
  • Are the keywords included properly?
  • Did I handle the gap in my employment in the best way?
  • Are the accomplishments listed relevant to the teaching position?
  • Is there enough information to get a teaching interview?
  • Should I include the dates of professional development?

And the list of questions goes on and on…

Your resume is your calling card – it’s your best advertisement. Getting the resume right is essential because if you do not feel confident about the resume you wrote for the dream teaching job, you will not feel 100 percent confident in the interview.

As a professional resume writer and career coach, I know what works and doesn’t work when writing teacher resumes.

These A-Z teacher resume writing tips were developed to give you the confidence to help create your own resume. Once you have followed these strategies from A to Z, you can be confident your resume reflects the current knowledge and practices of what makes a strong resume for a teaching position.

Don’t worry; if you are not a DIY (do it yourself) person, you can always hire us to put your education resume and cover letter together. We would love to help you.

The Ultimate A-Z Resume Writing Guide for 2023

A: Areas of Expertise

All effective educator resumes have an area of expertise, core competencies, or critical teaching skills section. This significant segment is guaranteed to set you apart from the competition. Focus on essential skills needed to succeed in the job you are targeting. Examples include classroom management, student motivation, parental communication, differentiated instruction, and reading strategies.

Make sure your areas of expertise are focused on the grade level or content area. If you are a primary teacher, ensure you use relevant skills for teaching primary students, not high school students. Of course, there are teaching skills that do overlap between the two levels.

B: Borders Can Attract Attention

You can decide if this addition is for you. Incorporating borders in your resume can showcase organized facts and draw positive attention. You can include a visually appealing border around your whole resume and thinner border lines to separate different sections. Remember, teaching job resumes must look professional; don’t use hearts, smiley faces, or other inappropriate icons.

Recommended Reading: 10 Ways to Format a Visually Appealing Education Resume

C: Contact Information Needs to be Correct 

It may seem obvious that a teacher’s resume needs contact information. It would surprise you how many candidates forget to include some of their contact information on their resume and cover letter. At the top of your resume’s first page, include your full name, address, phone number, and email address. Triple-check this area to ensure there are no mistakes!

D: Double Check Resume Information

It’s incredibly vital that you double-check your resume for any spelling or grammar mistakes. Nothing looks worse on a job application document than on someone who can’t spell or doesn’t know how to use spell and grammar check. By submitting mistake-free documents, you will let the potential employer know that you are detail-oriented and take the time to get the job done right. These are skills they will be looking for in their prospective candidates, regardless of the position in question.

E: Education Listed Completely and Accurately

Suppose you have recently completed your education, possess a master’s degree or higher, or recently completed your teaching certification. In that case, your education section should be placed before your work experience in your resume. If your degrees are unrelated to teaching or you have not been in school for many years, you can place your work experience before your education.

F: Facts Matter in Academic Resumes

When listing your relevant education accomplishments, it is best to provide either an exact or approximate number to emphasize the achievement’s impact. For instance, how much did you receive if you secured a grant? If you decreased absenteeism, by what percentage? I know, sometimes you don’t have numbers or percentages – that’s okay. Quantifying relevant achievements in your resume is one of the most valuable educational resume tips we can pass on.

G: Gaps in Employment History

Address any gaps in employment that you may have. If you are currently out of the workforce and have been for an extended period, you may need to explain why. Perhaps you suffered from medical issues, experienced a family crisis, welcomed a new addition to your family, traveled, or were going to school. Let the reader know that you were out of the workforce.

Communicate that you are now enthusiastically ready to commit to a position and the school district. Some of the details are best mentioned in the cover letter, while others are during an interview. Knowing what to include about the gap and what not to include is vital. Furthermore, the wording of the gap in work history is critical. Really, it is. 

H: Highlight Your Relevant Accomplishments

Under your employment history, add bullet points for your top relevant accomplishments achieved at each post after you’ve listed your job duties under each position. Achievements can include an increase in student grade point average, a reduction in absenteeism, securing a grant, and increasing the grade level of a few at-risk students. The critical point is to describe how you achieved these accomplishments.

Ask yourself these questions. What was the challenge, what action did you take, and what were the results of your efforts? We call this the C.A.R. approach to uncovering achievements.

One of the most critical writing tips for teachers is uncovering and effectively communicating related job achievements.

I: Introduction – Resume Profile or Summary

After your name, contact details, and job title are at the top of your resume; there should be an introduction, professional profile, or summary. Academic resumes should include this short paragraph or bullet points introducing your critical skills, experiences, and the value you would bring to a school district. You may wish to include your years of related experience, foreign language expertise, love for collaboration, and talent for assessing and solving problems. This section should summarize your top points – unique value.

J: Job Descriptions – Relevant and Concise Content 

You don’t need to devote an entire paragraph to each job description. Anywhere from three to six lines should be enough to explain relevant job responsibilities. The length will depend on the position’s relevance to the targeted education job. When describing past job responsibilities, prioritize the most important ones and identify those you can leave.

K: Keywords in Your Resume are Critical

Scan job ads and teaching descriptions for keywords to incorporate into your writing resume. If the job posting states they are looking for someone with particular qualities and credentials, and you have them, ensure you include them in your resume and cover letter. Evaluating job ads will also give you a good idea of whether or not you may like or be suited for the position.

L: Leave White Space

White space is the key when designing anything visual, even when it comes to job application documents. Using white space appropriately is fundamental to creating an eye-catching resume.

M: Market Your Value to the School Community

Whether you are a new teacher or a veteran with lots of experience, you have value to offer – you need to communicate the benefit you provide through marketing. Some new teachers assume that school districts are looking for someone with experience – this is not always the case. Many school communities are looking for fresh, new minds who can help bring creativity, innovative ideas, and student-focused activities into the classroom.

N: Never Use Pronouns

It is highly discouraged to use “I” or “me” in your resume or “my” or “we.” These pronouns detract from your primary attributes (e.g., empathetic, energetic, dedicated) and actions (e.g., increased, improved, motivated). Your introductory paragraph may seem choppy by excluding these words. You will probably get a grammar error stating that it is a fragmented sentence – ignore this error for more impact.

O: Outline Resume Content to Organize Important Points

Educators’ resumes that get results will need an organized outline. An education resume should include a job title, professional profile, areas of expertise, training and credentials, and work experience. Also, professional development, affiliations, community involvement, computer expertise, honors, and awards. By integrating all of these areas, you will have touched on all the relevant points that a potential employer is looking for in a new teacher.

P: Project Your Personality and Passion in 2022

Potential candidates must convey certain qualities and let their personalities and passion shine. All school districts are looking for passionate teachers, driven to succeed, think outside the box, commit to helping the school community succeed, interact well with others, and convey their ideas creatively and concisely. Writing a cover letter to show passion and personality is critical to a successful job search.

Q: Quotes or Testimonials

Integrate a few quotes from past principals, colleagues, or parents into your resume to show school districts what a great teacher you are. Quotes and testimonials in your resume allow the reader to see how you have applied your skills in the working world and read about accomplishments that other employers felt were noteworthy and can provide examples as evidence of achievement.

R: Research the Education Job and School

Research the school district’s philosophy, mission, values, and goals. Use this new information to adapt your resume accordingly. You will have multiple versions as you tailor and tweak them to postings. Understanding what they need, want, and hope to accomplish will not only help you decide whether or not you wish to work for this school district, but it will also aid in surpassing your competition.

S: Sell Yourself – Share Your Value and Benefits

Your resume and cover letter job are to sell yourself to employers. It must look and sound appealing to market yourself effectively. Foremost, you must ensure that you come across as a desirable teaching candidate. To start selling the product, you need to create a convincing advertisement that describes the benefits of purchasing. Just like a product’s packaging attracts a shopper’s attention, your resume and cover letter must catch the reader’s interest.

T: Templates – Don’t Use a Generic Boilerplate Template

Resume templates or resume builders should be avoided. If you do decide to use a template, make it your own. Don’t use the wording you found in someone else’s resume. Play with the font, borders, and spacing to make it eye-catching. Modern documents were essential in 2023, but that doesn’t mean you’re creating busy infographics. It still needs to get past the (ATS) applicant tracking systems.

U: Understand Your Audience and Their Needs

Assessing job advertisements is an excellent first step to understanding your audience and discovering what they are looking for in a new hire. You can then write a targeted document that will capture their attention. However, do not rely exclusively on a job ad. Search the Internet for the school district’s website and identify the unique attributes they are looking for in new teaching candidates.

V: Visual Appeal – Getting the Reader’s Attention is Vital

As I said above, an educator’s resume needs to be eye-catching. The appearance of your resume and cover letter speaks volumes about the person writing it. Use a crisp format and attractive design that looks like its rightful place should be in an employer’s or hiring manager’s hand. Read about ten ways to format a visually appealing education resume to land interviews.

W: Work Experience Needs to Communicate Your Skills

This section will be the meat of your resume. You can title it ‘work experience,’ ‘teaching experience,’ or ‘related experience.’ This is where you will list the places you worked, location, dates employed, and job title. Next, lay out your job responsibilities concisely, followed by your accomplishments in each role. Don’t elaborate on the employment if the work experience isn’t relevant.

X: Xeroxed

WOW! What an old word. Of course, don’t use photocopies of your documents. Each one should be printed out on top-quality resume bond paper.

Y: Yesterday – Always Be Prepared 

Ensure your resume for a teaching job is ready to go. There are many reasons to keep your resume updated at all times! If someone asks you for your resume and needs it by, “Oh, yesterday” – meaning RIGHT now – you need to be prepared. Ensure you have a completed resume ready to send via email or in person in the form of a stellar, visually appealing document.

Z: Zealous or Zest

Lastly, among all the education resume writing tips, ensure your resume is filled with intense enthusiasm and zest for your career. School principals hire teachers who show passion for teaching. Stating you have passion is not enough. Share evidence of your achievements motivated by your love for teaching. This proof would demonstrate to prospective employers that you could do it for them if you did it for another school district or organization.

Most job seekers spend a lot of time researching how to write a resume that gets results. A top-notch resume will save you countless hours and frustration during your job search. It is worth the energy and effort to get it just perfect.

Need help?

What if I told you that you could hire me instead of spending countless hours trying to figure out what keywords to include, what design is correct, how to uncover and write accomplishments, and create passionate cover letters?

That’s right; I can take away all your stress, frustration, and work hours trying to figure out the 2023 job search maze.

Candace is just a click away or a phone call – toll-free: 1 877 738-8052 or International: 780 513-0010. Or, of course, you can review our packages and pricing to get the resume help you need.