
45 Best Resume Tips & Tricks: Amazing Writing Advice
Use our 2, 5, and 30-minute resume writing tips to quickly improve your resume. Actionable examples included. Read more!
From planning engaging lessons to fostering educational environments to guiding the next generation as they grow right before your eyes, you’re a hero.
You know you’ve got the teaching skills, the state certification, and the perfect temperament to be a great educator.
Just one thing in your way—
The school principal doesn’t yet realize just how awesome an instructor you’d be.
Show them your educational talent with the best teacher resume they’ve ever seen.
Read on and you’ll see a professional sample teacher resume template you can adjust and make your own. Plus, you’ll learn an easy formula for writing a resume for teaching jobs that will land you 10x more school interviews than any other teaching resume you’ve written in the past.
Want to save time and have your resume ready in 5 minutes? Try our resume builder. It’s fast and easy to use. Plus, you’ll get ready-made content to add with one click. See 20+ resume templates and create your resume here.
Sample resume made with our builder—See more templates and create your resume here.
Here are a few more specific teaching resume examples:
Also, we’ve created an awesome roadmap to follow for new teachers and continuing educators: How to Become a Teacher: A Step-by-Step Guide on Teaching Careers
Edwin L. Fleming
AZ State-Certified Elementary Teacher
602-352-3223
edwin.fleming@me.com
linkedin.com/in/edwinfleming
Summary
Compassionate and results-oriented elementary school teacher with more than 4 years of experience managing medium- and large-sized classrooms. Arizona State Educator License. Increased student pass-rate by 32% in 2018–2019 school year in classrooms with 30+ students. Seeking to leverage effective lesson planning and empathetic attitude to become the next 4th grade teacher at Joaquim T. Phillips Middle School.
Experience
Elementary School Teacher (3rd Grade)
Desert Trails Elementary School, Phoenix, AZ
September 2016–October 2019
Key Qualifications & Responsibilities
Key Achievements
Kindergarten Teacher
Kyrene de la Sierra School, Phoenix, AZ
July 2015–August 2016
Key Qualifications & Responsibilities
Education
Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education
University of Louisiana at Monroe, Monroe, LA
Completion: 2014
Relevant Coursework: Foundations of Education, Instruction for Elementary Students, Early Childhood Development, Language & Communication, Physical Sciences, Computer Literacy, Social Sciences, Classroom Engagement & Development, Special Education Theories.
Skills
Courses and Certificates
So without further ado, here’s the formula for a perfect teacher resume:
1
The goal of any teacher resume is to conduct an effective knowledge transfer, letting the school principal understand how fit you are for the job.
But—
Before you can educate them on your teaching abilities, you’ll have to organize the document with a layout that won’t get expelled.
Here’s how to format a teacher resume template:
What to include on a teaching resume:
Read more about resume formatting: How to Format a Resume Correctly
One more thing—
Writer’s block isn’t just a phenomenon for your creative writing students. Rather than starting with the heading statement, save it for last. This way, you’ll come up with plenty of ideas for this introduction paragraph as you write the rest of your resume for teaching jobs.
Having said that, let’s start with resume experience section.
2
Kindergarten teachers and elementary school teachers will add 53,100 positions to their rosters between 2018 and 2028.
High school teachers will add another 38,200, special education teachers go up by 13,600, preschool teachers by 36,900, and middle school by 21,400 in the same timeframe.
So—
Given how much competition there is for teaching jobs, you’ll need to give an A+ performance in your resume’s work history section.
Let’s start by looking at the qualities of a top-notch teacher job experience resume section.
Here’s our guidelines:
Let’s see how these rules look on paper.
To start, here are two experienced teaching resume examples of work history sections:
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High School Teacher – Geography Key Qualifications & Responsibilities
Key Achievements
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Wrong |
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High School Teacher – Geography Key Responsibilities
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The second example is worthy of detention, at the very least.
But the first one is detailed, relevant, tailored, and includes numbered accomplishments to put a smile on the assistant principal’s face.
Now—
What if you’re writing a resume with no experience?
On an entry-level teaching resume, you can still give them a gold star-winning work history. Just make sure you list the job duties and wins most relevant to the teaching job.
Check out these two teaching resume samples of work experience sections:
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Substitute Middle School TeacherFebruary 2017–June 2019 Key Qualifications & Responsibilities
Key Achievements
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Wrong |
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Substitute Middle School TeacherFebruary 2017–June 2019 Key Responsibilities
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As you can see, the first teaching resume example is just what the principal wants: it’s detailed, tailored to the teaching job, and includes numbers to quantify teaching wins.
When making a resume in our builder, drag & drop bullet points, skills, and auto-fill the boring stuff. Spell check? Check. Start building your resume here.
When you’re done, Zety’s resume builder will score your resume and tell you exactly how to make it better.
Read more about describing your work experience: How to Describe Work Experience on a Resume
3
Almost all teaching jobs, from pre-Kindergarten to high school, require at least a bachelor’s degree, if not a master’s.
No matter what your current education level is, you need to document your own education history right if you want to score a job in education.
How, you ask?
Let’s take a look at some examples.
First, let’s look at a simple teaching resume example for an experienced applicant:
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Bachelor of Science in General Education University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE Completion: 2016 |
It’s elementary, right?
When you have an experienced teacher resume, you can go light on the details and save space for other important sections.
But—
What if you are new to teacher jobs?
When you’re writing an entry-level resume for a teacher, delve deeper into your academic record. To make up for the lack of teaching work history, show extras such as:
Here’s an example:
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Online Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education (Nevada Elementary Licensure) National University, La Jolla, CA Completion: 2016 Relevant Coursework: Child Development, Literacy K-6, Social Studies and the Arts, Science K-6, Mathematics K-6, Classroom Planning, Instruction, and Assessment, Diverse and Exceptional Learners in the Elementary Classroom, Lesson Planning. Minor: United States History |
Skip placing high school on your teaching resume when you’ve completed a university degree.
For some teaching positions, such as a substitute teacher, many schools only require a high school diploma. If you haven’t yet completed your college degree, add a high school listing beneath as a secondary listing.
Read more: How to List High School & College Education on a Resume
4
You’ve got the child juggling skills of a daycare worker, the leadership abilities of a corporate executive, and the compassion of Pope Francis.
But—
A teaching resume can’t just list any random skill.
Rather, it needs to be tailored to this particular school and teaching job if you want to hold the principal’s attention.
Here’s how to include teaching skills on a resume for education jobs:
Let’s look at some common teacher resume skills:
Now—
Let’s look at two teacher skills resume example sections:
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Easy as an open-book test, right?
Whether you are writing an experienced teacher resume or a new teacher resume, choose the skills this particular school and staff want to see.
Read more about adding skills on resumes: List of Best Skills to Include on a Resume
5
Imagine teaching students how to outline a sentence in language arts class.
Well, your resume now has the basics, like a simple subject and verb.
But, to really make it creative and stand out, it’s time to add some adjectives, adverbs, and maybe a prepositional phrase.
I’m talking additional sections on a teaching resume.
Extra sections give your teachers resume a chance to shine brighter than the other educators and job applicants.
Here are a few examples of the best options:
Certifications in other industries, say IT or food service, provide a little oomph to help you land that job interview.
On just about any resume for teacher jobs, it’s a must. List your state teacher’s licence first, followed by any supplementary private teaching certificates you may hold.
Any teaching job is a public service, even in a private school. Adding volunteer experience to your resume for teachers will truly impress the school principal, particularly if that unpaid work was mentoring students or tutoring lessons.
Do you have knowledge of a second language? Add the language and your proficiency level to teaching resumes, especially in school districts which are more culturally diverse (it may come in handy for bilingual students).
School faculty members aren’t searching for mindless robots. Show a bit of your human side while still adding value to your teacher resume by adding relevant passions and pastimes.
Are you affiliated with any teaching organizations or academic associations? Listing these towards the end of your teaching resume shows the principal you mean business. Here are some examples:
Whether writing a resume for a student teacher, teacher’s assistant, or kindergarten, extra sections are like bonus points to help you pass this all-important exam.
For more possibilities when it comes to additional parts of a teacher’s resume, see this guide: Best Things to Include on a Resume
6
Now we’ve come full circle—
As with the opening of any written essay you’ll assign your students, the introduction on a resume sets the tone for the rest of the document.
This heading statement, as it’s known, can be either a resume summary or resume objective.
Intrigue them and the assistant principal is interested in reading more. Fail to stir up interest, and it’s off to another school for you.
So first, review what’s been written in the teacher or teaching assistant resume so far.
Second, find the most impressive and salient points sure to wow any member of the school faculty.
Finally, choose 2–3 of your proudest achievements and instructional skills and use those as the foundation for a solid opening paragraph.
Do you have years supervising classrooms and grading papers?
Use the career resume summary.
The summary statement is a brief paragraph showcasing your past teaching experience, classroom skills, and educational achievements. It proves your competence by adding a numbered win or two.
Check out these two teacher resume summary examples:
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Student-minded high school teacher with over 3 years of classroom experience instructing teenagers at the 11th and 12th grade levels. New York State certification and New York City Board of Education license. Improved college admission success rate by 35% over the past 2 years. Seeking to become the next high school trigonometry teacher at John Jacob Dempsey Memorial High School. |
Wrong |
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Having been a high school math teacher for more than 3 years now, I’m looking for a similar role somewhere in my school district. However, I’d be happy to drive further to adjacent neighborhoods and counties for the right price. |
The wrong example would have that teacher resume suspended from the running quickly.
However—
The good example is just right, with plenty of juicy details, a personalized approach, and a numbered accomplishment to show off your success.
But what if you’ve never held a full-time teaching job before?
Use the career resume objective.
An objective statement is perfect for writing a first-year teacher resume.
Instead of your impressive teaching history, it proves you’re committed with a statement about your teacher career goals. It, too, includes a quantifiable achievement from related work to document how talented you are, and it works on teacher or assistant teachers resume.
Here are two sample resume objectives for teacher positions:
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Compassionate and caring middle school substitute teacher with experience managing classrooms at the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade levels. Newly-minted Oklahoma State teaching certification. Supervised classes at Mayfield Middle School 150 days in a 180-day period. Seeing to leverage educator skills and results-oriented instructional approach to become the new English teacher at Clairemont Middle School. |
Wrong |
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Having just completed a bachelor’s degree in education and receiving a license to teach in the State of Oklahoma, I’m now interested in finding a suitable teacher position somewhere around OKC. I have some substitute teaching experience, and I am very good with children. |
See the differences?
Sure, we may have exaggerated the wrong example a bit, but a good teaching resume objective is always concise, to-the-point, tailored to the school, and includes a numbered win.
Learn more on how to start a resume effectively: How to Start a Resume the Right Way
7
Cover letters are important, especially for teaching jobs.
Why?
A teaching resume is great, but it can’t showcase your personality, describe how effective your teaching style is, or explain away an employment gap.
So—
Whether writing a resume for special education teachers, English teachers, or preschool teacher assistants, attach a teaching cover letter.
How to write a teacher cover letter:
That’s just the basics, of course.
We’ve got the full guide on how to write a cover letter, as well as what to say in a cover letter, to make sure you knock it out of the park.
Cover letters are multipurpose, if you allow them to be.
Use a cover letter for teaching jobs to show your enthusiasm for their school colors or explain why you have a gap in your employment history.
Plus, a great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:
Read on: Teacher Cover Letter: Example and Guide
Let’s make like math class and sum it all up—
Here’s how to write a solid teacher resume:
That’s all we have, but we’d love to hear from you:
Let’s chat below, and thanks for reading!
Use our 2, 5, and 30-minute resume writing tips to quickly improve your resume. Actionable examples included. Read more!
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