Welcome back to Charlie’s Lessons and today we’re taking a look at how we can make the most effective CV for your next teaching job. I’ve been working as a Director of Studies of a language school since 2016 and I’ve received nearly 1000 CVs. So drawing on this experience I’m going to tell you in this video what to include in your CV, and what not to include!
It’s a job, not a holiday
I read a lot of teachers saying that they are in fact not looking to teach but looking to save money to continue traveling. This is a big red flag. It shows that you’re not going to take the job seriously and that you’re only really interested in moving on after a year or so.
Be specific about your experience
When you’re describing your teaching experience, it’s really important to put the following for each position:
- level of the groups
- the age of the students
- the type of course you were teaching
It’s vital that I can see right from the beginning what kind of experience you have. Also when you’re describing this teaching experience say whether it’s full-time or part-time. If I see that a teacher has been working full-time for many years it shows that they are potentially organized and ready to take on another full-time teaching timetable.
Teaching qualifications
It’s crucial your qualification contains some observed teaching practice. Online and asynchronous courses do have value to them but nothing beats having someone in a classroom observing you. The majority of official teacher training qualifications contain observed teaching practice.
If you already have some teaching qualifications, then I’d love to know what you think of my ideas on how to teach your first English class.
Read job requirements of teaching job
Make sure you study the job requirements carefully. Find out what are the essential things that the respective company is looking for and put those at the beginning of your CV. The company or school is looking for a certain qualification and if you have it first as a Director of Studies can see it straight away. Do not have the person responsible for recruitment read through your CV only to learn that you actually don’t meet the requirements.
Keep it professional
Use a professional email address. It just has to include your name. I personally would recommend opening a Google account so that it reads at gmail.com.
Contact details
If you’re applying for a teaching job abroad, make sure you put the international dialling code for your phone number. This is usually 0034 or 0035. This will just make it a little bit easier for me to contact you.
Sending your teaching CV
What people usually do when they arrive at a new town or city, they save time by sending their CV and cover letter to all the schools at once. Make sure that you use BCC not CC. The amount of times I’ve received CVs from teachers who’ve just put in copy every single school in the area is unbelievable. I know you’re going to send it to everyone anyway but it just looks bad when I can see it.
Proofread
Especially important for English teachers when you’re writing your CV, your cover letter and the opening email is to proofread it all. We can all make mistakes, I make a lot of them! But don’t make them when you’re applying for a job, especially as an English teacher!
Length of your CV
Your CV should be keep it to two pages. Remember that Directors of Studies or management often have little time when it comes to the hiring process. They want to find a candidate quickly and so if you send a CV with four, five or six pages, then that’s going to be too much. When I pick up a CV, like I mentioned before, I want to see immediately if the candidate has met the requirements and what experience they have.
Link it in
Include social media links but only professional ones. If you have a blog or a LinkedIn account link it into the CV. It’s great for me to get a bigger picture of what kind of person you are. Iif you do have a LinkedIn account use it to keep up to date with all the latest news in the industry you work in in this case education don’t link to your personal Facebook or Instagram account where it’s got pictures of your last holiday we all know what you did last summer
Free template
Before I forget, here’s a free CV template that I’ve made that includes all the advice given in this article. Here’s the link, use Google Drive to download it or make a copy.