Job Discussion Forums

Imdramayu · Joined: 09 Feb 2007 Posts: 394 Location: South Korea

Could other English teachers who include a section in their CV entitled "Skills" show some examples of what skills or competencies they list?

Im

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

Languages other than English, with level (eg: Dutch B1, Czech B2+)
Computer skills related to language teaching/learning
Experience with Moodle/Smartboard/other learning technologies

What else, everybody?

I wouldn't include anything totally unrelated to the job. They don't care that I'm a decent horse-rider, for example, though it's a 'skill.'

Sashadroogie · Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2012 9:52 am Post subject:

Proofing.

Sashadroogie · Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2012 9:53 am Post subject:

Teacher-training.

Sashadroogie · Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2012 9:54 am Post subject:

Management.

Sashadroogie · Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2012 9:54 am Post subject:

All above are large areas, which break down into further sub-skills, naturally.

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

I'd think that teacher training (and probably management) would probably come under 'related education/quals' and 'experience,' wouldn't they?
They're pretty big, important items on a CV, and it seems to me that 'skills and competencies' are sort of smaller, though still valuable....

Proofing, yes. Translations and editing?

Sashadroogie · Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2012 10:01 am Post subject:

True. Depends how you want to organise your CV. But I'd probably go with your format.

Imdramayu · Joined: 09 Feb 2007 Posts: 394 Location: South Korea

I've read in Resume books that the big four sections of a resume should be:

Education
Work Experience
Skills
Competencies

Note: Skills are good things you can do like produce a blended & multimedia lesson plan using Powerpoint and Blackboard. But competencies are how you can perform this skill (e.g., troubleshoots technological problems, maintains student satisfaction & motivation).

I've tried to break-down my classroom & prep into skills. Prioritizes and plans a semester-long curriculum. Maintains accessible & accurate student records (performance, classroom behaviour, attendance).

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

I would guess that most employers would want to know if you qualify for a visa first and foremost, which means they want to see your education info. Plus, depending on the type of job (conversation school vs. uni, for example), the actual degree itself would matter.

Next would be any teaching-related work experience. If possible, separate that from unrelated work.

Beyond that it's a toss-up what you have and want to include. Just don't try passing off lifeguard training as "teaching-related" work, or saying your competencies are being cheerful and punctual and a team player. You have to save some things for the cover letter, too; far too many people, I suspect, make form letters, and employers can easily spot them. So, they know right off whether an applicant has taken the application process seriously. You wouldn't believe some of the cover letters I've read.

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

The problem with listing work experience separately and before skills & competencies is that after several years of teaching, especially if you change jobs/countries, your CV might begin to get a bit repetitive. I completely reorganized mine last year, when I was job searching. The "work experience" part is very brief--just listing names of universities & countries. After that, it's all skills-based: classroom skills; materials development; program administration-type stuff, etc (you can add technological skills here). I think my "extra skills" section has stuff like Spanish, public speaking, and maybe another one. That section is brief, too. I researched a bit online to make sure that such a format was acceptable/normal-ish, and turns out it is. At least, it was good enough to get me my current job!

If you want to highlight the stuff that you do beyond just the basic "taught elementary/intermediate/advanced listening/speaking/reading/writing", (which in theory EVERY teacher is able to do) then give it a special place & special emphasis. Explain each skill, rather than just throwing them in together at the end.

d

tttompatz · Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 1:33 am Post subject: Re: The big four

Imdramayu · Joined: 09 Feb 2007 Posts: 394 Location: South Korea

Hey Denis...I like your idea of keeping the "Work experience" section short (only workplace name, job title, location, and dates) AND putting all the info about skills & competencies in a separate section b/c many EFL teaching jobs are the same old thing. Could you share the links of the places where you saw CV samples or other advice that listed skills & competencies separately (preferably in the ESL or education sector)?

In my case, in one job, I did A LOT of curriculum & material development (online & offline) b/c there was no textbook nor a curriculum nor tests/quizzes while in most other jobs there has been all of that stuff so I did mostly just classroom teaching.

I can think of two ways to possibly handle this.

Scenario 1: List a few duties under each job. List most skills & competencies used (and learned) from those jobs in a separate categories.

Scenario 2: Since Scenario 1 may confuse some recruiters (who are used to a traditional CV with "EDUCATION-WORK-INTERESTS" format, list all skills & competencies that were used on that job under that particular job.

Scenario 3: Your suggestion? (or you do prefer 1 or 2?)

BadBeagleBad · Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 5:51 pm Post subject:

Isla Guapa · Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 6:17 pm Post subject: