If landing a job is your goal, then a good resume is the first step toward that journey. A resume summarises a candidate’s skills, qualifications and professional history. It helps employers in selecting suitable applications for a job.

Teaching is a noble profession with a lot of challenges. But for freshers, the first roadblock to becoming a teacher is developing a good teacher resume. A recruiter usually spends not more than 6 seconds looking at a resume. Ms Sumitra, Principal of a prestigious group of schools in Delhi receives hundreds of applications from teachers at the end of the year. Finding the perfect applicant for her begins with selecting the best resumes. Applicants thus need the perfect resumes to leave a mark. So how can fresher teachers stand out with their resumes in such a short span?

Mentioning all the right things in a teacher’s resume can increase the chances of landing a job. Similarly, drafting a resume with irrelevant details can get your resume in the rejected pile. upEducators has trained and worked closely with thousands of educators. Our team has studied extensively various teacher resumes and figured out the right and the wrong approach to creating a resume. Dive into this detailed guide with samples to write an ideal resume that lands you your dream job as a fresher teacher.

1. Professional Objectives

A fresher teacher is either fresh out of college or someone making a switch to teaching. A fresher in any field does not have professional experience. So there’s no question of putting the Professional Summary section in the resume. 

But fresher teachers can replace this crucial section with the Professional Objectives section. Teaching involves playing different roles for a group of students. To write this section, one needs to answer questions regarding the reasons to choose to teach or where you see yourself in the next five years. Here is a sample of how to write a professional objective section for a fresher teacher’s resume.

Sample:

“To obtain a teaching position in a renowned institute as an entry-level teacher and build a long-term career in teaching using my dynamic and extroverted approach to learning. I want to leverage my administrative and coordination skills to manage and develop a positive learning environment in the classroom.”

2. Educational Qualification

The Educational Qualification section is the most crucial for a fresher teacher. After all, your education and degree can help you get past the recruiters and land your dream job. Make your educational qualification section stand out by sticking to an ideal format. Here are some things to remember while writing the educational qualification section for a new teacher’s resume.

• Mention the latest degrees first and then proceed to the earlier educational details.
• List educational degrees in a standard format. Write the degree name followed by the year and the institution name. 
• Mention the milestones achieved during a degree as sub-points. For instance, always mention any awards, merit scores or outstanding projects. 
• Do not forget to mention any diploma that you have completed.

Pro Tip: If you think your educational qualifications outshine your work experience as a fresher, then mention your degrees before the work experience section.

3. Work Experience

A fresher teacher might not have professional work experience. But adding any relevant projects or work can help make your resume stand out. For instance, tutoring experience or internship or training experience during B.Ed is a good start for building a Work Experience section in a fresher teacher’s resume. Even if you are making a switch to teaching, do not leave mentioning your past work experience in this section. Here are some tips for creating the work experience section in your resume:

• Start with your latest work experience or projects, followed by the older ones.
• Mention details like job title/role, duration and institute name. 
• Start with an action verb to grab attention.
• Alter the skills and experience mentioned in this section to match the job description of the new job.

4. Skills

The Skills section is an indispensable part of any resume. Nailing two simple steps can help a candidate create a skill section that stands out. 

• List all the skills that you possess. Classify these skills into hard skills, soft skills and technical skills.
• Read the job description of the job you are applying for and make a list of the skills that you find necessary for the job.

After making these lists, you can easily create the skills section for your resume. Here are some of the most common skills required for a fresher teacher.

• Soft Skills: Communication skills, leadership skills, problem-solving skills, patience, empathy and teamwork.
• Hard Skills: Management, organisational, critical thinking and conflict-resolution skills.
• Technical Skills: Tech-savvy and familiar with educational technology.

Pro Tip: Teaching in the 21st century involves dealing with educational technology and tools. Thus, fresher teachers can learn digital skills with various digital certifications like the Google Certified Educators course or Microsoft Certified educators course by upEducators.

5. Other Relevant Sections

• Additional Certificates

Make a separate brief section that discusses the additional certifications, training and courses that you have completed. Mention any special certificate or program you have completed and mention the details in sub-points:

• Name of the Diploma
• Duration/Year
• Name of the Institute
• Any other relevant detail like achievements or awards.

• Related Projects/Publications

Mentioning details about published papers or such projects can help elevate the resume. A lot of Bachelors’s and Masters’s degree programs provide exposure to publishing scholarly articles to students. Adding these to your resume can make your application stand out.

• Language Skills

Mention all the languages that you know. Make a list of the languages and write your level against it. For instance, if you are a beginner in French, then write it in this manner: French-Beginner.

6. Other Things to Keep in Mind

• Contact Information- What Should be Included

Mention the contact information right below your name. These are the crucial sections to not miss out on while writing contact information in your resume:

• Phone Number
• Email Address
• LinkedIn Profile
• Format

Check for the indentation, formatting, fonts and other elements that make a resume more organised. Formatting begins after the selection of a template for a resume. Use resume builder templates from Canva and edit them according to your requirements.

• Format of the resume

Check indentation, formatting, fonts and other aspects of your resume that make it more organised and presentable to employers. But before formatting, one needs the perfect template to start creating a resume. Canva is the perfect tool and has a lot of free templates for resume building. Pick a professional format and customise the sections with different fonts, colours and indentations as per your choice.

• Language of the Resume

Check Language: Choose a uniform voice and avoid using personal pronouns on your resume. Keep the language formal. Keep the content professional and avoid using negative and bad words. For instance, while mentioning even your weaknesses, show them in a positive light. 

Proofread and get rid of typos: Typos and grammatical errors can create a bad impression. Run grammar check and proofread your resume before hitting the send button.

• Use of Keywords

Application Tracking Systems are used by many employers to scan the relevant keywords and phrases from the pool of job applications they receive. These systems provide many functionalities to the employees like:

• Looking for relevant resumes with specific keywords
• Rank resumes on the basis of keyword frequencies
• Figure out keyword spamming

Teachers must keep these things in mind before drafting a resume. Go through the job application form, read the job details and do detailed research about the institute. This will enable you to pick up and use the relevant keywords and phrases related to the required skill sets in your resume. 

Even if you are applying offline, these keywords will help the employer find the relevant skills and details in your resume. Either way, it will increase your chances of getting a call for an interview.

• Cover Letter- Here’s What Should be Included

Over letters are only required in specific situations. For instance, when you apply with the help of a reference or you know the employer by his name. But it is always advisable to include a cover letter in offline applications. Here’s what is to be included in a cover letter:

• Write a short letter with a maximum of three paragraphs
• Include how you can add value to the institute.

Resumes can increase your chances of getting hired. A candidate looking forward to pursuing a career in teaching has to start with building a good profile and resume. Resumes are like little summaries that help employers understand your educational background, work experience and the relevance of your skills for a job. If you are passionate about teaching, then you need to start somewhere. Building a perfect teaching resume can help you kickstart your career as an educator.