English Teacher Resume Guide and Examples
If you want to apply for a job as a teacher — whether at a university, school or private training center — you will need a good resume and a convincing cover letter to go with it to land the best position.
In this article, we are looking into how to write a powerful teacher resume.
Sample teacher resume
Let’s start by looking at a sample teacher resume to give you an idea of what information you may want to include. Next, we will go over each of the sections of the resume one by one with more tips on how to compose each one.
Teacher job description
What a specific teaching job involves depends on a number of factors: from where you work to what subject you are teaching.
But here’s a very general overview.
A teacher is responsible for designing lesson plans and educating students, at various levels. Your most likely duties will include preparing and teaching lessons, assigning and checking homework, grading tests, evaluating and documenting your students’ progress — and more.
The rest varies a lot depending on what subject you teach, where and at what level.
The same goes for the education, credentials and experience that you need to become a teacher. In some cases, it will be enough to have a Bachelor’s degree in teaching or the subject that you plan to teach. In others, you will be required to obtain a Master’s or a PhD and publish research before you can apply for a teaching position.
You may also need specific certification. For instance, if you want to teach English as a foreign language, you will need a TEFL certificate.
Salaries in the teaching field also vary greatly. For example, university teachers will generally make substantially more compared to high-school teachers. Tutors and those working in private centers may also earn higher income compared to state school teachers.
But here are some salary estimates for the position of a teacher.
According to Salary.com, the average salary for a teacher in the United States is $55,890. But salaries range widely depending on factors such as education, certifications, additional skills, work experience and more.
How to write a teacher resume: what sections to include
Now, let’s take a look at what sections you should include in your teacher resume.
Name and contact details
This is the most basic section of your resume — but also the one that’s absolutely necessary. Make sure you have your name clearly written at the top of the page so that the hiring manager can instantly see whose resume they are going over.
This section is also a chance to add some extra information about yourself that can get the HR manager interested in the rest of your resume.
Consider adding the following information:
- Your full name + educational or professional credentials (PhD, ECE, etc.). Adding relevant credentials will add extras points to your application before the employer has even gone over your resume.
- Contact details. These can be just your phone number and email. Or, you may also add your address — typically, just city or area so that the hiring manager can evaluate if relocation may be required in your case.
- Links to your professional social media. This is a relatively new thing to include in resumes — but a highly effective one. You can include a link to your LinkedIn profile, your professional website, online portfolio, etc. Make sure that if you do add a link to any of your media, these pages are updated and fully reflect your professional potential.
- Personal information. Now, the policy on what personal information to include in your resume differs depending on the country you reside in and the company you are applying for a job in. In some cases, the employer may want to see your photo or know your gender — for instance, if you are applying for a job in early education. However, in most of the United States, adding information about your gender or appearance (attaching a photo) may go against the anti-discriminatory laws. Make sure to adjust your application to the country you are in and check if the information you add is actually required for the position you are applying for.
Resume summary
It’s generally a good idea to start off your resume with a resume summary. This is your professional introduction and an overview of your most valued skills. This is the first section of your resume (after name and contacts) that your employer will read through. This is why it makes sense to put some thought into this section and make it as powerful as it can be.
Your resume summary shouldn’t repeat the same information that’s detailed in your resume. It should be a concentrated presentation of your best qualities. Be specific, include numbers, mention important achievements and more. Try to keep your resume summary down to three to five sentences.
Professional experience
Next, talk about your work experience. What you include in this section depends entirely on how much work experience you have and — most importantly — how much of it is relevant to the position you are applying for.
Our post on how far back your resume should go in 2022 can be helpful here.
When listing your work experience, it’s customary to start with the most recently held positions first. However, you can also start with the position that’s the closest to what you are applying for.
When describing your experience, mention your position, the company you worked for, the amount of time you spent there and go into a bit more detail about your responsibilities. You can also mention your professional accomplishments, most challenging projects, awards and acclaims and more.
Good to know:
These days, a lot of companies use applicant tracking systems — or ATS — to sort through the many job applications they receive. An applicant tracking system is software that is set up to screen resumes based on specific criteria. These criteria are usually set by hiring managers and include keywords from the job description. The more “hits” for the same keywords your resume gets, the more chances it has for passing the screening and be seen by an actual hiring manager. Unfortunately, more than 70% of applications may not even make it to the HR manager’s desk these days as they fail the ATS test.
To make sure your resume is ATS-friendly, go through the job description you are replying to one more time. Pick out the most important keywords: qualifications, skills, etc. and try to use the same wording in your work experience section.
It’s also best to use standard names for resume sections: work experience, education, etc. getting creative here can definitely be fun — but it can also make it much more difficult for the applicant tracking software to “approve” your resume.
Education
The Education section of your resume should include information about your highest degree as well as other qualifications and relevant courses. What you include here depends on the education you have and the type of job you are trying to get.
In most cases, simply mentioning your degree and major should be enough. However, if you are applying for a position that demands specific expertise, you will need to include additional qualifications.
How far back you go in your degrees also depends on where you are in your career path. If this is your first job out of college, then mentioning your high school credentials (such as a high GPA) may come in handy. If you’ve been in the workplace for a while, stick to college degrees and other job-specific credentials you may have received later on.
Additional information
This is an extra section you can include in your resume. It makes sense to include it if you have anything left “unsaid”. You can list any research you’ve published, foreign languages you speak, commendations or awards you have received (like “Teacher of the Year” and so on.
A few extra tips for writing your teacher resume
Here are a few handy extras you may want to take into account when writing your resume.
- Do your best to keep your resume to one page. According to Monster.com, unless you are a highly experienced professional, it’s best to keep your resume concise.
- Take the time to structure and format your resume for maximum readability. Hiring managers are typically very busy people and they will appreciate a concise one-page document that is well-structured, with important details highlighted.
- An ideal resume is a combination of easily readable content and ATS-friendly keywording. Try to make your resume an easy read for both computers and humans.
- Add a cover letter. A resume is focused on your work experience and process tonal credentials. A cover letter, on the other hand, is a chance for your personality to come through. It’s a great opportunity to talk about your motivation and passion for the job and make your application stand out.
What is the Purpose of a Cover Letter?
English teacher cover letter
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