When putting together your resume for work in the education sector it is important to consider what will be the most relevant and useful information for your prospective employer. Here are some tips to help you put together your most exceptional resume.
- Keep it relevant – staying focused on what is most relevant to the role you are applying for, and the goal of your application will help you put together a well-structured and engaging resume. Consider what the person reading will want/need to know about you and start there. Once you have established the key information (education and industry experience) you can add additional information about you.
- Clear qualifications – to eliminate any confusion, make sure your qualifications are outlined clearly. When listing education, write it in reverse chronological order (the most recent things go at the top of the list), clearly identify the course you undertook, the institution, and when you completed it. Additional details might be required to give additional clarification such as what subjects you are qualified to teach as a secondary teacher or what year levels you can teach as an early childhood teacher. You only need to list higher education unless you have a particular reason for doing otherwise.
- Industry experience – this is the central part of your resume. As a teaching graduate, you will have limited experience; fortunately, you will be completing placements, so even as a graduate you will have valuable experience to write about. When writing about your experiences try to provide just enough context that the reader can understand them without overexplaining. You can provide structure using subheadings such as, ‘responsibilities’, ‘achievements’, ‘extracurricular involvement’, etc. You should also write this section in reverse chronological order.
- Alignment – your resume should be adjusted for the various roles you are applying for. Think about any ways you can demonstrate that you are already aligned to the setting and/or the role and draw attention to any work experience or education that relates. You might highlight different skills, experience or even add additional information about your studies. You can also show why you will be a good fit with the culture and community of the organisation.
- Don’t be generic – rather than padding your resume with information that could apply to anyone, get specific about YOUR experience and what YOUR skills are and the things that are unique to YOU. This might relate to your placement experience, industry experience, skills, interests or even your education philosophy.
These tips should give you a great place to start, if you need more guidance check out our other CV tips blogs such as my CV writing top tip or the E’s of CV’s.
Happy writing!