Teachers are the backbone of society. You spend more time with the children you educate than their parents do! And effective teachers like you are compassionate, intelligent, and organized, among hundreds of other things.
It can be difficult to highlight all your experience and skills on your teacher resume, and you’ll want to save some for your teacher cover letter.
These 24 teacher resume examples are helping teachers with varying levels and types of expertise land jobs in 2024. They’re a great place for you to get started building or updating your resume.
Please note that this guide is geared toward educators in the K-12 space. If you’re applying to teach at the college level, you’ll likely need to write a CV.
Formatting ensures your teacher resume is readable, logical, and complete. Imagine understanding a book without chapter headings or margins and no discernable organization. It would be a nightmare to parse out any information when nothing follows a clear structure and doesn’t lend itself to being read correctly. It’s an extreme example, but it proves the necessity of formatting.
Just as you create lesson plans to help your class learn best, format your resume so your qualifications are conveyed and understood. We’ll cover three important formatting elements in the following sections: resume formats, your contact header, and resume readability for ATS.
The most popular resume formats for 2024 are reverse-chronological, functional, and combination/hybrid. Here are some of the pros and cons of each:
We advise the reverse-chronological format for your teacher resume because it proves you have practical knowledge and a steady career. This format tells the story of your teaching career in under six seconds, which is how long recruiters will take to read your resume.
Your contact header should be easy to locate and read. Some suggest not adding contact information in the header, but that’s why formatting your contact header properly is so important. With good formatting, none of your information gets buried, and it can distinguish you from other applicants. You should include:
Per industry standards, place the header in either the top left-hand corner or centered beneath your name. Not enough space? Remove the optional elements or go down a font size. Choose a sans-serif font that’s no smaller than your resume’s body text.
Like the example below, you can put your header in a color block to grab attention quickly and add personality. It’s best not to use obnoxious colors (neon green would be a hard no), and always double-check that the color works well with black body text or white font.
Sometimes, the ATS won’t read your resume properly despite having a beautiful header. That’s why we recommend submitting it as a .docx (friendly for ATS) and as a PDF (friendly for employers).
We have plenty of excellent resume samples you can check out for inspiration on your header, and if you’re rushed, choose one of our free resume templates to start and finish your teacher resume in record time.
To ensure your resume reaches principals and department heads, you’ll need to pass muster with the ATS. The good news is formatting for the ATS also results in a resume easy to read by employers.
Writing an effective resume may feel daunting, but it’s far more manageable if you take it section by section. You may even want to use one of our fresh Word resume templates designed just for teachers. Let’s dive into each resume section you’ll want to consider:
Principals and their hiring teams may see hundreds of resumes across a wide array of teaching roles, so it’s crucial to showcase your talents and personality quickly. Objectives and summaries can work as excellent introductory tools, but many end up being generic, boring, or vague.
First, consider whether you’ll use an objective or summary statement (or neither). An objective highlights your interest and qualifications for the role, while a resume career summary distills your specialized skills and experience in a few lines. Use an objective if you’re seeking your first teaching position or switching from teaching one subject to another. On the other hand, veteran teachers may opt for a summary (or no statement at all).
Regardless of your circumstances, if you use either of these introductory statements, you should always tailor your message to the position. Let’s look at specific examples to contrast a D+ resume objective with one worthy of an A.
A generic, vague objective tells recruiters nothing about you beyond the bare minimum:
New high school teacher seeking employment at a local high school closer to family. Talented at communicating with teenagers and teaching. Received many compliments and letters at last place of employment.
The above objective lacks personality and neglects to mention anything specific. This next objective, however, is focused and tells the principal about the applicant’s skills:
Compassionate algebra tutor with 4+ years of experience. Excellent at coaching students in formulas and helping them develop analytical thinking skills and mathematical competency at all levels of ability. Seeking to use my communication and interpersonal skills to build meaningful student relationships and improve their mathematical abilities at Joaquin High School.
Like the visual example below, the above objective works because it details the applicant’s experience and how it’s relevant to their new goals within the classroom.
With summaries, it’s difficult to narrow down years of experience into one paragraph, so they often end up looking like this:
Skilled and experienced teacher who loves working with littles. Adept at communication and care. Excited to use my skills for Sunnyside Elementary.
For starters, repeating “skilled” and “experienced” won’t tell employers anything. A good summary should sell your experience and qualifications, making principals wish they’d had the chance to hire you years ago:
Elementary education teacher with 12+ years of experience managing 25-30 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders’ classrooms. I am a patient, personable, and compassionate professional eager to bring my expertise to Sunnyside Elementary. Awarded Teacher of the Year in 2020 and 2021 for creating online individualized lesson plans for over 65 students during the height of the pandemic.
This summary works because it tells the recruiter their specific qualifications, namely personalized lesson plans and classroom management, and their skills (in this case, two awards).
It’s tempting to list every job you’ve ever had to prove you’re qualified, but this becomes either overwhelming or redundant. It also means you can’t include much about each position, which won’t inspire principals to hire you.
Instead, pick two to four of your most relevant teaching positions. Quantify your responsibilities and incorporate skill keywords to improve your ATS score with each.
No teaching experience yet? Add internships, student teaching, volunteering, or other special projects like the example below that can highlight your soft skills like leadership. Certifications and awards are helpful additions, too.
Whether you’re describing a past job, an internship, or a college project, you’ll need to craft your bullet points with care. Every word counts, so use active verbs, definitive language, third-person pronouns, and consistent verb tenses. Pay careful attention to consistency with punctuation—using periods at the end of some bullets while none for others is sloppy.
Based on these resume writing tips, here are some examples of well-crafted bullet points suited for a teacher resume:
These bullet points work because they’re descriptive and results-oriented. Strive for conciseness and specificity with your job description bullet points.
From an employer’s mindset, metrics cement your abilities by proving that your actions resulted in a desirable outcome. If possible, include metrics on 50 percent of your job description bullet points to showcase the results of your effective teaching.
When talking about past teaching roles, it’s a good idea to discuss the following metrics:
The following examples use the metric types listed above to describe a teacher’s impact further:
The skills section of your resume is a quick guide to what you bring to the table as a teacher. That means choosing the right skills for each job is crucial. You might be organized and great at time management, but if employers want to see that you’re compassionate and great at lesson planning instead, your resume may be set aside.
Since teachers fulfill many roles, employers will want to see a host of varied skills, including soft, hard, and technical capabilities, such as these:
These skills demonstrate aptitude and support the responsibilities a teacher must complete on the job. Remember that while the above list outlines common and popular teacher skills for your resume, defer to what the job description is explicitly seeking.
You’ll need to include different elements on your resume depending on your education level, years in the workforce, and any specializations or concentrations you possess. All teaching positions require a bachelor’s degree, and an increasing number of teachers hold a master’s. Also, ensure you’re up-to-date on your state certifications, like the California candidate below.
If you hold many certifications, you don’t necessarily need to include them all if you’re applying for one specific role. For example, suppose you’re an ESL-certified teacher with a graduate ESL certificate seeking an ESL role. In that case, you’ll need to include that certification either in a summary/objective, in your work experience, or in your education.
This candidate’s education speaks volumes with a classic bold font and color.
While including education and certifications is required, a projects section is optional. If you’re a drama teacher, for example, new to directing but experienced with leading drama camps, including a projects section to describe the drama camps you’ve led or assisted with can add a relevant impact. List and discuss projects on your resume, just like a paid position.
Additionally, consider adding interests and hobbies to your resume. Most teacher resumes should save room for other information, but it’s a good idea to add these sections when the job you’re applying for stresses the importance of school spirit and culture.
Choose your interests that reflect the school’s values. However, be picky about what you include. Finding every Easter Egg in the entire timeline of Zelda games might be your favorite pastime, but that doesn’t mean you should list it on a resume (unless you’re applying for Nintendo, in which case this might be appropriate, and you’re reading the wrong resume guide).
It’s up to you whether you include any optional sections on your resume, but always be sure to be as specific as possible. Your interests should also be specific. “Reading” doesn’t say much about you, but “leading classic book clubs” is far more likely to get you a job as an English instructor.
Generic resumes are easy to spot and will likely get tossed. To avoid the trash, tailor your resume to every position you apply for. This tells principals you’ve researched the school and the role, and you genuinely care about the position.
To customize your resume, scan the job ad to know what responsibilities, accomplishments, and keywords to include in your skills section and your bullet points. You should also tailor your objective/summary (if used) to have the school’s name and speak to anything unique about the school that particularly interests you. Check your resume against the job description to ensure you’re addressing their concerns.
As a teacher, you already know the pitfalls of submitting drafts before they’re revised, so don’t let minor mistakes slip through the cracks. Instead, take a break and hand your resume off for peer review. You can also use our free resume checker to get tips from our AI software.
After a day, return to your resume and consider the constructive criticism you received. Edit and check for errors, inconsistencies, or gaps. Read through your resume at least twice more, one for content and one for proofreading. Once you’re sure it’s error-free, you can submit it proudly.
Go ahead and celebrate because if you’ve made it this far, you’re well on your way to that A+ resume! By spending more time throughout each phase of the writing process, you’re vaulting yourself closer to your next teaching job. It’ll be time to turn in a simple resignation letter at your current job and start setting up your new classroom before you know it!
If you’re not quite satisfied with your current resume, upload it to our resume checker for our AI-powered tips. If it’s time to start from scratch, use our free resume maker to work with our AI from the ground up. We can’t wait to see you land your next teaching role!
