Job Discussion Forums

[slothosaurus]

Hello,

after a year and a half of teaching english in the czech republic I'm looking to move on. Mainly I'm looking at Thailand or Taiwan as my next destination.

So I've been dusting off my CV, but I've seen a lot of conflicting advice. My instinct is to go for the traditional, chronological order CV as I have done for my entire life. However I've seen a lot of people saying that for tefl, you should emphasise tefl (so put a header with "tefl qualifications" and talk about your course there, then one with "tefl experience" and talk about your teaching experience there). Then put your other work experience.

Which one do you think would be the best bet?

Thanks :)

[adventious]

Go with the trend (as much as it pains me to say it.)

I majored in writing and an irritant to me upon graduation was after having expended so much effort on clarity and conciseness, the character of resumes included a surfeit of aggrandizing malarkey.

But you've asked a great question about how to organize your CV/resume to increase its utility, which is its own best answer (and the best answer to most questions about writing):Consider your audience.

Call it tailoring, customizing, or simply adapting, it has been around since a single employer for most of one's life became a rarity. TEFL qualifications are somewhat narrow and an employer might, at a glance, first vet yours as having what's necessary to later compare and contrast collateral experiences among the other applicants. And this is as true for a single, overworked relative of a single-business owner as a committee of underworked academics failing to increase the diversity of a department.

Hey, double-blind studies say there's a long way to go.

[nomad soul]

Use a traditional, choronologiical CV since that's what most employers are used to and likely expect. Omit "OBJECTIVE"; however, you should have "SUMMARY" or even "TEFL PROFILE" as your first section to include either a short paragraph or 3-4 short, bullet points highlighting something like the following:

• nationality, English proficiency, and gender (e.g., "British nationality, native English speaker; male")
• TEFL experience (e.g., "X years of international TEFL experience with adults")
• specialty areas within EAP
• skills using X teaching strategies, technology, yada yada...

Incorporating this section on your CV gives potential employers a quick snapshot of your teaching experience, skills, and knowledge.

Follow that with "EDUCATION AND TESOL TRAINING" to state your academic degree and TEFL cert training, where completed, and when. Also indicate that your generic TEFL course included X hours of supervised teaching practice, if that was the case. No need to go into detail about what your TEFL course covered unless if focused on business English, teaching children...

For "WORK EXPERIENCE," list your most recent work experience first. For those jobs unrelated to TEFL, just give a very brief description of your role or accomplishments in each position. Be sure to start your descriptions with action verbs rather than use complete sentences.

Keep it simple. This is TEFL; those reviewing cover letters and CVs aren't likely to be native speakers.

Also see the related thread, How good is your CV.
.

[MsHoffman]

I'm revising my CV for the international market now and this advice is extremely helpful, especially the SUMMARY section.

I also like the bit about "action verbs" as the first word in the job descriptions.

All the best,
Heather

[suphanburi]