Competition for teaching jobs is fierce and many teachers don’t realise that an effective CV can be the difference between being shortlisted for the job of your dreams or not making the cut. Often NQTs and graduating teachers struggle the most because they may have not written a CV before and they feel they do not have enough experience to make their CV stand out – but this certainly is not the case. Schools and agencies always need new recruits, by following these guidelines you will ensure you are giving yourself the best chance.
An application form is simply not enough to be certain you will get noticed, having a teaching CV will enable you to not only sell yourself but to actively market yourself to schools, agencies and employers. Having a CV will also enable you to market out your skills to schools and agencies with minimal effort from yourself – great when you are still completing your studies, or already busy working in a full time role.
You need a dedicated teaching CV because:
- It will draw out your experience to date, what your achievements have been, what you have accomplished and where you have developed/improved
- You can market yourselves to prospect schools and agencies quickly
- You can set yourself apart from other applications, it’s your chance to shine
- As a graduating teacher you can actively seek employment before you graduate by sending your CV to agencies like justteachers who will proactively search for suitable teaching placements
- A dedicated teaching CV can increase your chances of securing the position you want
- It will enable you to attend justteachers recruitment events throughout the year – allowing you to meet with several hiring schools in one evening
Teaching CV top tips
So let’s look at the basics…
Font – you may love Comic Sans 16 and think you’ll stand out but your future employers won’t. Use Times New Roman for hard copies and Arial for electronic copies, use the same font throughout your CV and only use black.
Go easy on bold and italics – use bold for section headings and italics for job titles. Make sure your formatting is consistent and above all easy to read.
Length – it should be no more than two pages. Don’t try and pad out a CV by using double spaces or by waffling in your personal statement, always be truthful and honest.
Punctuation and Grammar – Simple yet easy to slip up on. Do not be complacent and make sure you and a friend proof read your CV before sending it to a school or teaching agency.
When writing a CV you should put yourself in the hirer’s shoes; does your CV confirm you are qualified to fulfil the job? Does your experience meet the job specification? Most importantly, will the person reading it want to find out more by inviting you to interview?
When writing your CV it is important to include a personal statement, this will allow you to personalise your message to any prospect schools or Agencies. It should be no more than one short paragraph, do not try and fit in everything that you have studied in to your statement.
Personal Statement
- Have your personal statement proofread to ensure there are no spelling mistakes
- Tell the school what skills and extracurricular opportunities you can you bring
- Show you have a passion for teaching
- Briefly evidence your teaching successes, where you bring added value and if applicable where you have helped raise attainment
Qualifications - PGCE – state your start and finish dates, the name of where you are studying and if relevant a brief overview of the course.
Degree – as above. Where possible link the overview to your PGCE or focus on areas that have benefitted you. - Additional qualifications – only include relevant and recent qualifications to the role.
Career Summary
State the role (s), school (s) and dates; provide a brief summary of specific teaching responsibilities and highlight achievements and any extra responsibility you were given and/or extra curricula activities you undertook. If relevant include any techniques and methods you use to effectively teach and control your class.
References
In line with the DfE ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ you will need to supply two referees one of which is your most recent teaching post or placement. Make sure you inform your referees that they will be contacted, aside from being polite it will ensure that they are returned in a timely manner.
Make sure you also include:
- Any other teaching experience e.g. sports coaching, summer camps or youth groups
- Relevant voluntary experience
- Any interests you may have relevant to teaching
- Skills that will be useful in the role e.g. leadership, IT and languages
To get your free CV template download please click here and scroll down to the bottom.
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