How to Write a Stand-Out Teaching CV
Ever wondered how to write a stand-out teaching CV? Ensure your CV gets to the top of the pile and secure that dream teaching job you’ve been waiting for. Even the best teacher with a wealth of experience can be looked over if their CV is sub-par. You could of had an amazing teaching career and are keen to show off all your achievements and experience, but if your CV is like an essay, your potential employer will lose interest. Alternatively you might think adding bold fonts and italic fonts could differentiate the main points in your CV. Think about how messy this could look to an employer. You wouldn’t want a potential employer to think you would be dis-organised and all over the place in the classroom, would you? Here are a few tips on how to write a stand-out teaching CV. Make sure your CV is a must read by considering the following pointers.
1. Structure
When thinking about how to write a stand-out teaching CV, it is important to make sure your CV is clear and in an understandable order. A potential employer won’t have time to go through pages and pages about your life achievements. Try and keep it to two A4 pages max. Don’t include the word “CV” or “Resume” in the title, everyone knows what it is. Just go with your full name and contact details instead. Always include your full name, postal address, email address and telephone number. Follow on from this with a fairly brief personal statement. Then move onto your career history and education and qualifications. Then round it off nicely with your personal interests outside of teaching. Try to stick to bullet points and avoid writing too much like an essay. Potential employers will switch off and your hard work sadly won’t pay off and your CV may be brushed over.
2. Design
When it comes to the look and feel of your CV, standard font such as “Arial” or “Times New Roman” will be ideal. Keep it at an industry standard, size 12. It is simply the easiest to read on screen or on paper. Only use bold fonts for headings. If you think bolding keywords might help you stand out, it will most likely do the opposite. By going over the top with bolding, it will make your CV look way too busy and untidy. Above all make sure your style is consistent and clean throughout. It may sound silly, but the way you present your CV can reflect on how you may present yourself in the classroom. A lot of people choose to put a photo of themselves at the top of their CV.
This is not necessary and can make your CV look too busy. It’s better to go with a plainer, sleeker-looking CV.
3. Vocabulary
Especially if you are hoping for an English teaching role, vocabulary on a CV is very important. For any teaching job, vocabulary can turn a standard CV into an outstanding CV. Always use positive adjectives, such as: productive and innovative. Positive actions are good to include too, such as: achieved and celebrated. Don’tforget to spell check and do a final grammar check before sending your CV off. A very vital stage that some can forget to do, in their haste to send their CV off.
4. The Contents
When writing the contents of your CV make sure your contact details are 100% correct. How gutted would you be if you hadn’t heard back from any teaching jobs you’ve been applying for, only to look at your CV and see a “0” missing from your mobile number. Make sure you have your contact details front and centre, at the top of your CV. This will make them easily visible to your potential employer or interviewer. Next, the personal statement. You should try to avoid cliches in your personal statement and just summarise your personality, your strengths and key points about your career. Moving on to the career history section. Especially when you’ve had a long, lustrous career, summaries can be hard to break down. Just try and bullet point the key points from your previous roles as best as you can. Always include employment dates, name of employer and your job title at each place of work. When moving on to education and qualifications, it’s a great idea to show off any CPD you have undertaken. Employers will love to see you are achievement- focused. Under education make sure you include all professional qualifications, the dates you achieved them and the place of study. Be prepared to bring your original certificates to your interview.
I hope these tips on how to write a stand-out teaching CV have helped you when prepping for applying for jobs. Now get out there and secure that perfect teaching role. Let your career flourish!