Job Discussion Forums

[dackinator]

I've been teaching for 3 years now, in total working at 3 term-time language schools, plus 6 summer schools.

On my CV i've tried condensing that by removing the shorter summer camp jobs, and extending the dates of my other jobs (I figure its okay since I was doing the same job everywhere anyway).

But I'm still left with 5 different entries under my work experience heading. Not easy for an employer to eyeball and see what I've done. I was considering putting a summary at the top, just a two line statement of how long i've been teaching, and that i've done all levels and ages. Good idea do you think?


another question: To keep the work experience list as brief as possible, for the summer schools I was thinking of just putting:
"Same roles and responsibilities as in 2009 with this school". Would an employer appreciate this?

[johnslat]

Dear dackinator,

Well, one thing you might want to do is this:

change

"Same roles and responsibilities as in 2009 with this school"

to

"Same roles and responsibilities with this school as in 2009"

Otherwise many readers are going to think you were with "this school" in 2009.

Regards,
John

[Teacher in Rome]

Yes - a summary of years' experience / breadth of experience (i.e. different age groups, business ELT etc) in a profile section is a good idea.

Example:

"ELT teacher with three years' broad experience with young learners / teenagers at language schools and summer camps."

You can probably group your shorter roles too:

Example:

Summer teaching 2009, 2010, 2011
Brief details about where / companies you worked for; plus responsibilities. Try and make this as appealing as possible. How many students did you look after, what was their success rate at moving up a level etc.

Don't fudge your dates and claim you were working at one school over the summer if you weren't. It might only be a minor fudge, but you don't ever want to be in the position when you're "defending" your CV at interview.

[dackinator]

Thanks for the advice, although those comments have just made me less certain that my CV has the right information.. I dont even mention class size.

What do you think of the below? Its a printscreen direct from my CV.

I like the layout but I think there's too many entries, it makes it hard to quickly go over. I'm also not sure about the job descriptions, I wrote them like that just to save space and keep it all on one page.

http://oi48.tinypic.com/rhvgnd.jpg

I'm planning to apply for some year long contracts in Taiwan/Japan which I expect there will be lots of competition for, so I really want to get it right.

[Teacher in Rome]

I had a quick look Dackinator, and would just raise these points:

1. Normally (i.e. in the UK / USA) you'd have your work experience in reverse chronological order (so the most recent first).

One option for you would be to order like this:

Studio Cambridge (Summer 2012 / Summer 2010)
Study Italy (June 2012 / Summer 2009)
Istituto Americano (Feb 2011 - May 2012)
Wall Street Institute (Sept 2009 - June 2010)

Or you could divide into two, with the longer spells of employment in one section, and summer work in another.

2. My point about class sizes / achievements etc is that unless you show how effective you are as a teacher, your work history section just reads as a list of duties and responsibilities. Different countries are probably going to be interested in different focuses. What's important to Taiwanese or Japanese employers? What do you need to highlight to impress them? Is it your ease in class control, academic results, experience with YL? (Obviously you can use the job description to help you, but you can also ask on the relevant forums.)

3. Ditto with CV length. If you've only got three years' experience, I agree that sticking to one page is probably appropriate. But don't feel that you always have to do this. If you've got a lot of earlier career experience which is relevant (coaching kids? voluntary work with young people?) that could take you to two pages and strengthen your CV for the role you're applying for.

[nomad soul]

I concur with Teacher in Rome's comments about the organization and content; your CV comes across as unremarkable. For example, your summary should present your qualities (soft skills), qualifications, and any techie skills you possess, especially those desired by most employers. Instead of mentioning short, generic responsibilities under each position, what achievements or special skills can you add to boost your competitiveness? What makes you stand out above other applicants? Moreover, research the EL needs of the students in each country you want to teach in and tailor your CV to match your relevant experience and skills to those needs.

[dackinator]

Ok, thanks for the feedback. It was actually because of the lack of space that I removed so much info from what I did in each job. I've reorganised it based on your suggestions which has let me add a bit more detail under each job.

For soft skills, personally I'm not keen on having them on my CV. Things like teaching style, what makes me a good teacher, etc. Instead I prefer to talk about it in my covering letter.

Here is how my work history section looks now: Is it any better?

http://oi47.tinypic.com/dfw0zr.jpg

As for the comments about tailoring it to certain markets, I do this but always like to have a all round CV which I can work from.

[nomad soul]

[Teacher in Rome]

I like Nomad Soul's suggestion about a skills section as part of / under your profile. This is definitely the place for these soft skills NS mentions - along with examples of how you used them. In my experience, cover letters can get detached from CVs (or never read) so don't leave critical info off your CV.

I also think that although your CV now looks more organised and coherent, there's nothing there which makes you stand out. I understand that your experience has been general up to now, but a few more details would help. For example, mention you taught teens in summer school; drop the repetition of "additional responsibilities" - pep it up a bit.

I like the final class performance for parents detail (you could put liaison school-parent skills up there in your teaching skills btw) - can you add more detail? How many kids? How much choreographing / song teaching etc? How many people did you get involved to do scenery and costume? Show off your organisational / motivation skills. You want your reader to see you running about, clipboard in hand, motivating all these kids to sing, dance and perform in front of their proud parents (how many attended?)

Anything that shows you (and your teaching skills) in action, overcoming the usual problems to get the most out of your students is important. This is why I mentioned earlier about getting students through exams (numbers or percentages) despite the odds (few teaching hours, low initial level...) Think about your CV as a collection of linked, themed mini-stories that put you in the best professional light.

[Teacher in Rome]

Sorry - something I forgot to mention earlier.

Another way to avoid repetition in the work history section is to take out all the "assisted with level placement / testing" and put that in your profile. Even better if you can say sth like "CELTA qualified, 3 years' experience teaching broad range of levels and age groups; testing and placement of students in line with Council of Europe levels; (etc etc)

Do the same with all the other "duties" you've presently got in each role that mark you out as a trained and qualified teacher. That way you get a beefier profile / summary and you then have more space in your work history section for the achievements and examples that make you stand out.

[dackinator]

Teacher in Rome plus the others, thanks a lot, you've given me some great feedback. Im really bad at picking up on what will interest employers, I had completely overlooked all the performance work I've done - which involved a lot of what you said. One more question - When I first started teaching I had a large class of absolute beginner adults, when i knew no italian. Looking back i'm impressed that they all passed the course - is it CV worthy?

[Teacher in Rome]

Yes!