
50+ Best CV Tips, Writing Advice, Dos & Don'ts, and More
Writing a CV is hard work, but with our best CV tips and advice, it's a piece of cake. Here are over 50 of our professional CV dos and don'ts, along with CV mistakes to avoid.
A teacher CV can be a daunting writing assignment. But with our study guide, writing a teacher CV is almost as easy as a fill-in-the-blanks exercise.
O Captain! my Captain...
You’re about to learn how to seize your dream job by making your teacher CV just as extraordinary as you. This works for a new teacher CV as well as experienced teacher CV.
It all comes down to what you show and how.
This guide will show you:
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Check out our selection of guides dedicated to teaching jobs:
Haven't found what you're looking for? Check all our professional CV examples.
William R. Johnson
ESL Teacher
070 0347 5530
will.johnson@email.com
linkedin.com/in/willjohnson
twitter.com/willjohnson
A passionate ESL Teacher with 10+ years of experience. Specialised in preparing teenage and adult students for ETS examinations. Eager to join Kings's School to help students build the necessary skills to gain intellectual independence. Achieved student exam scores of 80% and upwards on average.
In-house ESL Teacher
Languages R UK
August 2012–October 2017
Key Achievements:
Freelance ESL work (Europe & Asia)
November 2008–July 2012
Key Achievements:
BA in Education, University of Brighton
2006–2008
Grade 2.1
Relevant coursework: A Comparative and Cultural Approach to International Education, Equality and Inclusion in Education, Comparative Education
2010—DELTA
2009—CELTA
2008—QTC
The role of a teacher involves creating educational plans and imparting knowledge to students across all levels. They are responsible for evaluating assessments and keeping track of academic progress. Teachers can specialize in specific subjects or deliver general knowledge across a wide spectrum.
First off—
You must cope with the recruiter’s low attention span. They’ll only spend about 7 seconds looking at your CV.
So, make sure your teacher’s CV is easily scannable and reader-friendly.
Expert Hint: Save your teacher CV as a PDF file. It will be readable to ATSs (Applicant Tracking Systems) and its formatting will stay intact.
This section of your teacher CV is as important as the first impression with your students.
It sets the tone for everything that follows. You need to come across as a personable expert from the start. The question is—
How to do that in a summary for a teacher CV?
This simple formula will help you nail the CV summary every time:
Here’s what it looks like in practise:
What if you’ve got no experience?
If you can’t put much experience on your CV, go for a teacher CV objective. Those focus on your achievements and explain why you’re a great fit.
Expert Hint: Your objective or summary should come first on your teacher CV. BUT you can write it at the very end—when the rest of your professional CV template is ready. Just pick the juiciest bits and write a snappy intro.
Your teaching skills and experience are the single most important reason why you will (or won’t) get hired.
So—
Make sure you give the recruiter everything they need by scattering the relevant skills throughout your entire CV.
Here’s how to do it right:
In-house ESL Teacher
Languages R UK
August 2012–October 2017
Key Achievements:
Expert Hint: Double check your teacher job description for action words. Use strong verbs, avoid repeating the hackneyed responsible for formula.
The ResumeLab builder is more than looks. Get specific content to boost your chances of getting the job. Add job descriptions, bullet points, and skills. Easy. Improve your CV in our CV builder now.
Nail it all with a splash of colour, choose a clean font, highlight your skills in just a few clicks. You’re the perfect candidate and we’ll prove it. Use the ResumeLab builder now.
One important thing—
Your teacher CV job description must be more than a laundry list of responsibilities.
It should list your achievements. In other words, it must show how good you are at performing your duties.
And remember—
In the 21st century, a number is worth a thousand words.
So, quantify your experience and achievements. Use percentages, hours, or numbers of students taught.
Now, take another look at the highlights in the teacher CV bullets above. Find your skills there.
Prune them, and leave the essence. What you’re left with should look something like this:
The list is long and impressive, so it’s easy to go overboard. To avoid this, limit yourself to 5–7 key skills relevant to the position.
Put them in a separate teaching CV skills section.
In an interview, you’ll be able to go through each item on your teacher CV skills and back it up with examples from your experience section.
As a teacher, you know the value of education. So, don’t take this section for granted. List your coursework and relevant activities.
Make the education section on your CV work for you.
BA in Education, University of Brighton
2006–2008
Grade 2.1
Relevant coursework: A Comparative and Cultural Approach to International Education, Equality and Inclusion in Education, Comparative Education
Expert Hint: Take full advantage of your educational background. Especially if you’re a new teacher or preparing a trainee teacher CV and your experience is limited.
Learning is a lifelong journey.
So is teaching.
Prove you’re keen on self-improvement with teacher certifications on your CV.
Create a separate certifications section, like so:
2010—DELTA
2009—CELTA
2008—QTC
Expert Hint: Your teacher CV will be twice as effective if you write a cover letter. More than 50% of recruiters expect you to submit one, but less than half of applicants do. Outsmart the lazy ones.
Double your impact with a matching CV and cover letter combo. Use our cover letter builder and this teacher cover letter example to make your application documents pop out.
Want to try a different look? There’s 18 more. A single click will give your document a total makeover. Pick a cover letter template here.
Writing a good teacher CV is pretty easy once you know how to do it right.
Write a teacher cover letter. Or if you are looking for something more specific, check out the substitute teacher cover letter example and the elementary teacher cover letter example.
Any questions on how to write a great educator CV? Do you have useful advice on writing different teacher CVs (math teacher CV or middle school teacher CV)? We’d love to hear from you. Leave your comment below.
Writing a CV is hard work, but with our best CV tips and advice, it's a piece of cake. Here are over 50 of our professional CV dos and don'ts, along with CV mistakes to avoid.
CV gaps are embarrassing and they can keep you from getting hired. How can you show you’re not a slacker? See this sample CV with gaps in employment and get hired fast.
What are the best CV templates? Easy. The ones that will get you past the ATS scanning stage, dazzle the recruiter, and get you the job. Well, you’ve just found them.