Teacher Resume Examples and Tips for a Top-notch Resume

The love of learning is contagious and you want to do what you love, so you’ve decided to help educate others. Regardless of whether you want to become a high school, middle school or elementary school teacher, your resume will go a long way towards impressing hiring managers with your professional experience. Requirements may change depending on the state or format of how you want to teach and whether it’s public school, private school, special education, online or you’re applying to your first teaching position the talent you have will shine through with the right resume. 

School hiring managers sift through endless amounts of job applications, so making sure your teaching resume stands out and catches their attention in today’s competitive job market is vital. We’ll walk you through the guidelines for what employers, administrators and principals are looking for in a great teacher, along with these key steps to help you filter your job search, apply to teaching jobs and write the perfect teacher resume: 

• Expert teacher resume examples you can use as a foundation for your own resume
• The top hard skills, soft skills and action verbs to highlight so you can craft the perfect professional resume
• Step-by-step advice for resume writing to make your teacher resume perfect
• Tips on formatting and writing a cover letter to accompany your resume

Teachers are required to possess a variety of skills to carry out their jobs effectively. Below are the top seven teacher skills to highlight that schools and principles value.

Effective communication

Being able to communicate effectively both written and verbally is arguably one of the most essential skills for teachers at any grade level. Verbally communicating effectively means presenting lessons and concepts to students in relatable and easy-to-understand ways. This is especially true in early childhood and elementary education. 

Teachers also require excellent written communication skills to effectively communicate lessons visually or when providing feedback on tests and assignments. A great way to display your written communication skills is to be concise and use punchy bullet points whenever possible in your resume. 

Effective nonverbal communication is equally important for classroom management. Teachers need to display positive body language, making eye contact and speaking in a tone that displays confidence yet makes them appear approachable. This is particularly important for teachers as crafting specialized teaching methods for different classrooms or student needs is a key part of the job. 

Critical thinking

Possessing strong critical thinking skills is imperative for teachers, as they are often teaching students how to be able to think independently and break down problems. Teachers who think critically are routinely analyzing and evaluating daily activities and long-term teaching goals for their students.

Organizational skills

Today’s public school teachers often teach in large classrooms. Therefore, to be effective, they need to manage teaching materials and assignments in an organized manner. 

Teachers who excel in organization maintain an orderly classroom free of distractions, with all the required materials needed for students in an easily accessible place. By being organized, teachers become better at time management and can efficiently teach all the subject areas of their lesson plans. 

Leadership

Teachers are often naturally perceived as leaders by their students and therefore need to display strong leadership skills in the classroom. Demonstrating strong leadership skills serves as a model for the type of behavior students need to develop, as well as a dedication to learning. 

Teamwork

Teamwork helps teachers effectively and positively collaborate with other teachers and school personnel. Teachers often collaborate with colleagues when developing the school’s curriculum and classroom practices for students. Therefore, working as a united team with a common goal is crucial, especially in the childhood education field.

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Technological skills

Schools are incorporating technology into the classroom, so teachers need to be highly skilled with various forms of technology. Teachers often incorporate digital media in the classroom to make their lesson material more relatable and engaging to students. Teachers often present presentations to their students, so they should be skilled in Microsoft Office and other teaching software. 

Conflict resolution

Conflicts and disagreements in the classroom often happen, so teachers need to know how to effectively and positively resolve them. A teacher with strong conflict resolution skills has patience and works to lessen conflict while also getting students to cooperate.

If you’re writing your resume for the first time or it’s been a while since you last updated it, get all the information you’ll need in one place, often a digital or physical file. A little preparation will make the process so much easier:

Understand your audience

Your first goal with your resume is to understand who your reader is. In most cases, your reader is initially an applicant tracking system (ATS), but eventually, the hiring manager. You need to craft your resume for both readers.

Let’s start with the human: the hiring manager in your field. That hiring manager is busy. They’re juggling multiple responsibilities. They have to review many resumes for a single job opening. They may spend only seconds viewing your resume. You’ve got to grab attention quickly, in a way that the hiring manager can quickly digest, in the right industry language. You’re showing respect and helping yourself by presenting a resume that’s clean, free from errors and easy to quickly scan in an expected format.

Teaching resumes should give a sense of the technologies and frameworks you’ve used and a lot of details about the span and depth of your responsibilities. But your resume should also give a sense of your mission and softer skills in working with children or teens. Your hiring managers are usually people who’ve been there. They understand the stress and satisfaction of being a teacher. They want to get a sense of your human qualities, your grit and your passion for teaching. It may even be appropriate to devote a little space at the end for your personal interests, which usually isn’t a good approach for a traditional resume.

Get past an applicant tracking system (ATS)

A hiring manager never even gets to see your resume if it doesn’t make it past the ATS. An ATS is an automated resume-scanning software. The vast majority of large and medium-sized employers currently use an ATS in their application process. With hundreds or even thousands of applicants for a select few spots, an ATS is almost a necessity for employers to manage their workload.

For K-12 teachers, application tracking systems aren’t as widespread in school systems but some school districts do use them. It’s smart to be prepared. The right format and keywords are essential to getting your resume seen by an actual human. The ATS is programmed by employers to search for specific keywords in resumes and reduce the huge pool of potential applicants.

To get your resume past an ATS, two things matter most: how you format your resume and what keywords you use.

Use keywords in your teaching resume

An ATS tracks specific keywords. These keywords are programmed in, then each candidate’s resume is scanned. The resumes with the right keywords, in the right amount, get to move on to the next level. So you can see why it’s so important to include the keywords employers are seeking. If a teaching position wants experience with “classroom management techniques,” and you lack experience in that, you can’t put those keywords on your resume. Never lie about, or exaggerate your experience, or skills to match keywords. Do use the keywords that match up with your relevant experience.

Many candidates have relevant experience but haven’t listed that experience in the same words as the job listing. A candidate, for example, may list experience with “methods to manage children’s behavior” and the ATS may not recognize this as a match for “classroom management techniques.” Make the terms match exactly whenever possible.

Job title keywords

Job title keywords are the most basic scan that ATS and recruiters use to determine if a resume is a good fit. If your job title doesn’t quite match exactly what the job opening is but they are similar roles, it is legitimate to list both job titles in your resume.

As a basic example, the listing could be for an “English Teacher.” You may have your most recent position listed as a “Language Arts Teacher.” If the ATS is programmed well, it should recognize the match. But just in case it’s poorly programmed, you might want to list your job title as “English/Language Arts Teacher.

Spell terms out as well, in case the long version is what’s programmed into the ATS. “Mathematics Teacher” rather than “Math Teacher” or “Special Education Teacher” instead of “Special Ed Teacher.” You’re just aiming for the maximum match rate if they’re using an ATS.

Job description keywords

Be sure to include keywords for the job position, as well. Use teaching keywords and phrases like teaching certificate, assessment methods, classroom management, technology, curriculum development, time management, emotional intelligence, etc. It really depends on the job listing. Look it over carefully and highlight potential keywords. Then use all the words you can legitimately put on your resume when describing your work experience or listing your skills.

And here’s the tricky part: your resume needs to be ATS-friendly but it also needs to read naturally. You don’t want to create a random assembly of keywords and abbreviations. Try reading your resume out loud to identify any issues with readability.

Deciding how to layout your teacher resume to showcase your best skills is an ongoing process in your career journey as your experience level and skills grow. Generally, there are three main types of resume formats you can choose from: chronological, combination and functional, and deciding which one works ‘best’ depends on the skills you need to highlight for the role, your education, work experiences and any shifts you may have had in your career.

The best format for your resume depends on your skills and experience, with all three formats being suited to user preference. ResumeHelp’s Resume Builder can help you format a professional resume in just minutes. There are three strategies when it comes to formatting:

Chronological resume format

The most common format, it focuses on work history and is the one recruiters and hiring managers are most used to seeing. On a reverse chronological resume, list your work experience based on how recently you worked at an employer. Your latest or current job comes first, and any other positions follow, from most recent to oldest.

Pros:

• It’s the most common resume format in the U.S., so most hiring managers and recruiters will be expecting to see a reverse chronological format. This is the format they trust.
• Most applicant tracking systems are configured to expect this organization of content. Without this format, an ATS is more likely to reject your resume.
• This format enables you to show your career progression easily, with your most recent positions getting the most attention.
• You can show your job commitment and years of experience in the field, as well as how you’ve broadened your expertise or taken on special roles.

Functional resume format

Emphasizes skills and training, and can be helpful when you don’t have a lot of work history, have been out of the workforce for a long period of time or are mainly academically focused. Functional resumes are organized by skills or pieces of experience, rather than dates and a linear progression.

Pros:

• Functional resumes were designed to deal with special circumstances–career changes, lack of experience, gaps of unemployment, short-tenured job hopping. They’re more flexible.
• Functional resumes are organized by skill so a hiring manager can easily see a job candidate possesses the right skills to get the job done.
• This is a great option if you recently graduated college and want to highlight your knowledge and not your work experience.

Combination resume format

Also known as a hybrid resume format, the combination resume format is a good choice if you are applying to jobs in areas outside of your field of study or relevant experience, as it highlights both transferable skills and work experiences. Hybrid resume is a catch-all term for some combination of a functional and a chronological resume. Some use this term to describe a format that an ATS can scan, basically a reverse chronological resume with an opening section focused on skills; some use this term to describe a format that an ATS doesn’t scan well such as a functional resume with some chronological component. Our advice is to create a resume with an opening section that highlights key skills or a professional summary that can be very effective and the ATS and hiring managers accept them. If that’s what a “hybrid format” means in this sense, hybrids are worth considering. More on that opening section to follow.

Overall, no matter what position you are applying for, you need to format your resume to make it professional yet easy to read. Writing a concise, brief resume that accurately reflects your skills, work experience and best qualities will give hiring managers a good idea of what you can do for the company. 

ResumeHelp has a range of easily formattable templates that can fit your needs. Regardless of whether you use a template or build a resume from scratch, most potential employers will look at your resume design as a sneak peek of your design skills so it’s important to keep in mind whether you’re showing off your work history with a chronological resume, your balance of experience and skills with a combination format or your transferable skills and unique experiences with a functional resume. 

Header and contact information

Your resume header should contain crucial information such as your full name, your phone number, LinkedIn and additional contact information like portfolio links. Make sure to select a header that is easy to read and isn’t too boxy or distracting.

Resume summary or resume objective

Your resume summary or resume objective statement may only be a few sentences long but it’s key to grabbing employers’ attention. A summary which is preferred by most job seekers with experience is an overview of your best skills, work achievements and qualifications that is specifically tailored to the company. While an objective is used to tell a recruiter what your career goals are and your reasoning for applying to the role, its focus is on your career path. 

Whether you choose to write a resume summary or resume objective, be sure to customize the opening statement, tweaking it when needed for specific positions. This is particularly important for mid- to late-career professional summary statements. 

• Review the job listing and look for keywords, specific responsibilities, highlighted skills or other clues that tell you what’s most important for that particular job. 
• Use some of the words you pulled from the job listing in your summary statement, as appropriate. Keep the roles and skills that are most relevant for the job; cut the roles or skills that aren’t. Add in adjectives, nouns or phrases that match the job listing exactly, if needed. 
• Review your summary statement one last time and look for ways to make it more specific and more quantifiable.

Resume Summary

In 1-3 sentences, explain the value you’d add to the teaching position you’re seeking. You don’t have much time to draw your reader in, so make sure your concise statement is only filled with the essentials. Your summary statement should describe you: your teaching specializations, skills or interests.

A summary statement would look like:

Compassionate teacher with expertise in organizing and implementing educational games and activities, assisting with homework assignments and assisting students in developing good habits and behavior. Experienced in supervising large groups of students simultaneously along with building strong rapport with faculty, students and caregivers.

Objective statement

Objective statements are usually a one-sentence statement of purpose which clarifies the type of position someone is seeking. Objectives are one place where it’s acceptable to switch from third person to first person,for example, using the pronoun “my”.

An example of an objective statement for a teacher would be:

Committed teaching assistant, excited to launch a career as a geography teacher. Highly knowledgeable in key child development theories. Successful in building rapport with students and helping lead plans along with developing new learning activities.

Showcase key skills from the job posting

For your skills section, have your most relevant skills that best suit the job you are applying for near the top of your document. You can use specified sections for languages or specific training programs, and provide a detailed showcase of your soft skills in either a Professional Skills or Summary of Qualifications section depending on the format. Make sure to read the job description thoroughly and incorporate the skills and requirements they are looking for, paying special attention to things like years of experience for a particular program or discipline, e.g., an employer wanting someone with 30 Day Substitute Teaching Permit or State Teaching Credential along with a minimum of 2 years of teaching experience.

Other qualifications to include in your skills sections would be: 

Interpersonal skills such as:

• Communication skills
• Teamwork and collaboration
• Time management
• Leadership
• Adaptability

And technical skills such as:

• Curriculum Management
• Documentation
• Google Suite programs (e.g., Google Slides)
• Lesson Planning
• SharePoint (or other Data entry program)
• CPR and First Aid Certification

Work experience section

The experience section is usually the second section in a resume unless you’re a recent graduate. This section may be titled: Work History, Work Experience,Teaching Experience or Professional Experience.Your work experience section is going to be the heart of your resume. To construct this section, list your jobs in order with your most recent job first, your years of experience and highlight a few of your primary responsibilities and accomplishments while working in that position. Make sure to use examples, utilize numerical values and showcase the results of your big accomplishments. Here’s what that could look like: Created engaging and more lesson plans along with improving productivity in the classroom by 15% after incorporating tablets and computers to lessons.

The standard elements for each work experience entry are:

• Job title
• Place of employment
• Dates of employment
• Brief description of your accomplishments and responsibilities in the job, as well as skills gained and used in that piece of experience

Sometimes the job title is listed first, sometimes the place of employment is listed first. Just be consistent in whichever approach you take. Listing the dates along the right-hand margin helps hiring managers and recruiters quickly scan dates so they can assess career level.

Writing descriptions of your accomplishments, responsibilities and skills gained is the difficult but essential part of writing your resume. Use bullet points, not paragraphs and be concise, but specific. Use examples to show evidence of your effectiveness. For example:

“Increased student reading proficiency test scores by 15-22% for five years in a row.”

Key guidelines for the experience

• Don’t use personal pronouns. Instead, as in the examples above, start with a verb (“Managed”) and leave off pronouns like (“I”).
• For past jobs, use past tense verbs. For any position you currently hold, use present tense verbs.
• Use bullet points, one for each sentence or phrase. You can end your sentence or phrase with a period or leave it off. Just be consistent — use one method or the other.
• Avoid superlatives. Teaching isn’t a sales role and exaggerating does not fit the culture. But use adjectives and adverbs that show your level of performance. Be concise and stick to the facts.
• Generally, use 2-4 bullet points per job. For jobs where you stayed many years and had several important components, you might use up to six or seven bullets.
• Quantify, quantify, quantify! Anytime you can tie in data, measurable results or specific numbers, do so.

Once you’ve drafted the work experience bullet points for each job, don’t forget to scan the job ad and note the keywords and job requirements used. Then scan your work experience. Can you add or substitute a keyword from the job ad? Can you reorder a point to highlight one of the job requirements? Can you adjust your wording to match the tone and language of the job ad more closely?

On your resume, highlight experiences with components like classroom management, parent communication, lesson planning or curriculum development, and student test score performance. Skills like time management, relationship management and adaptability are important. Use action words and be as specific as possible when describing your experiences.

Quantify your experience

Try to quantify your work as best you can, using examples like test score improvements, grant awards won or the number of students in your classes. It also helps to show related experience outside of your mandated job, like school teams you’ve coached or after-school activities you’ve sponsored to show your involvement with school communities. If you don’t have relevant teaching experience, you can highlight similar positions like a nanny, student teacher, tutor or camp counselor.

Here are some examples:

• Increased standardized test scores in Math by 30% and Science by 24%, implementing creative coursework into curriculum as elementary school teacher.
• Built a collaborative and friendly classroom environment using and enforcing behavior guides, team teaching and interactive learning.
• Received Teacher of the Year Award in 2010 for incorporating engaging technology into high school science curriculum.

Additional certifications and added skills can help you land the teaching job you’re looking for. Adding multiple specializations can make you more versatile and expand the range of potential job matches. So even if it’s been 10 years since you worked with special education students, you may want to make sure that important specialization stays on your resume.

Education

List your top academic achievements such as your college or more advanced school degrees in this section with the most recent first, along with any awards or honors and relevant training programs. Take care to be as specific about your teaching degree as you can, including industry-related words for your resume (ex. Not a “B.S. in Teaching,” but instead a “B.S. in Math Education (K-12) and a minor in English Education.”) You can include your GPA if it was particularly favorable (3.5 or over). Many people remove their GPA and even graduation date from their resume when it was a long time ago (10+ years).

The education section of K-12 teaching resumes can be a little unusual because in certain cases, it might make sense to list your secondary or even elementary school education if it’s a recognizable school for that system in which you’re applying. If you were on the high school track team or in student government and you’re applying at that same high school, they may love those details. It’s not at all required, but adding a little local color might make your resume stand out.

Don’t forget to clearly list the details and years of all your relevant certifications, whether it’s a Montana State Teaching Certificate, a National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification, etc. It’s also smart to list professional development or continuing education courses to demonstrate that you’re current and ready.

Additional sections

In addition to the basic resume sections above it is important to solidify your network connections and experience by showcasing your certifications or relevant affiliations.

If applicable to the specific application, you may want to include:

• Subject Matter Training Programs
• Presentations 
• Languages
• Certifications
• Awards
• Affiliations

Landing the teaching job of your dreams requires research, preparation and homework. When applying it’s important to note the specific requirements of your state and the particular institution you want to work at, along with having sufficient classroom experience, either in field work, as a substitute teacher or as a volunteer. Once those boxes are checked, follow the steps below to find the teaching job that’s right for you:

1. The first step is to figure out where you want to teach as different countries, states, institutions and online schools require different levels of planning and experience.
2. Then create a list of classes and activities you have taught and use it to seek out schools that have programs for them. 
3. Next, make a list of school districts you’d like to work in and target certain schools. Resources such as EdJoin.org are a great place to learn more about schools and their school districts. Once you have the school in mind, explore and learn more about the area. 
4. Finally, practice for potential job interviews with a friend or family member and have answers prepared for the commonly asked interview questions such as “What are you passionate about?”

If you want to make the best impression with your teacher resume you need to be able to adapt to changes quickly and have a set of versatile and well designed templates that can help your documents be professional and readable. ResumeHelp has many resources which could help you to create the perfect resume for your next job opportunity. 

Check out these resources if you are looking for just the right way to present your resume or want to view other examples from related jobs in your industry:

• More resume examples for hundreds of jobs 
• Resume templates you can use
• Resume format guide
• How to write a resume 
• Education resume example
• Student teacher resume example
• Teaching assistant resume example 
• Tutor resume example

Having an excellent cover letter is a plus when you’re applying to jobs and if mentioned in the job description it is a must to include. A cover letter can be used to tell your career story and express your enthusiasm for the position which is a plus when you are trying to show off your unique classroom experience. If you need help crafting your cover letter ResumeHelp has plenty of cover letter writing tips, cover letter examples and a wide range of cover letter templates you can use to write the perfect accompaniment to your teacher resume.

The purpose of a cover letter is to:

• Demonstrate your specific interest in the type of school to which you’re applying (performing arts, low income, private, urban, rural, etc.).
• Highlight 2-3 particular skills or areas of expertise.
• When needed, give you an opportunity to explain any extenuating circumstances that make your resume look unusual.

First, do your research on the schools that you’re pursuing. Find an aspect that genuinely appeals to you:

“I thrive in a special education teacher role where the needs are urgent and significant.”

Drop “To Whom This May Concern” or “Dear Sir or Madam” from your cover letter if you can and address your pitch to the head of the department or the department you’re applying for. Then, highlight 2-3 specific skills or areas of expertise that you want to emphasize. This may be customized by position or it may not. Share examples or specifics, even a story if it’s appropriate. Is the school looking for a confident classroom leader? Write about the time you refocused squirmy second graders eager for recess with an engaging lesson on snakes. Maybe they want an organized, adaptable leader in lesson plans. Write about the time you added a new unit on fractions after you noticed your students were struggling to understand them. This is a way to personalize your resume for the reader. Stories can be tricky to convey well, though, so if it’s not flowing, skip it. Simply pointing out your achievements in making standardized test preparation fun and effective, for example, helps the hiring manager get a specific perspective on your individual strengths.

If you’re having trouble coming up with ideas, revisit your work experience section. Read those bullet points and think about how you handled your responsibilities every day.

Cover letters should be between half a page and one page. Don’t exceed this or you’ve lost your reader. Use standard business letter formatting, see the example below. Around three to four single-spaced brief paragraphs is a good length. Order is not necessarily key here; whatever flows best can work.

Here’s a sample approach:

In the first paragraph, introduce yourself with a one phrase summary of your experience. State that you are seeking the position and reference the job ID#, if applicable. That helps ensure the resume gets to the right place. Explain what attracts you to this role at their organization. As someone who grew up in a rural school system, I have always wanted to return and teach in that environment.

In the second and maybe third paragraph, expand on a couple of strengths you want to emphasize. Expand and give some specifics about your strengths to give your candidacy some vibrance.

If you have extenuating circumstances, such as a mid-life career change or several years out of the workforce, explain the circumstances very briefly and confidently. 

One example:

“After 10 years in a field that never really inspired me, I discovered my passion for teaching and am graduating this spring with my mathematics teaching degree. Just briefly address the issue. Another example: I loved teaching but needed to drop out of the workforce for twelve years due to family needs. I have looked forward to returning to the classroom and have now updated all necessary credentials.”

Don’t spend too long addressing potential concerns about your work history or you may attract more attention than is necessary.

In the final paragraph, close by mentioning how you’re a good match, including some of the information you gained from research. For example:

“I’d love to be part of the New York County School District and learn from your outstanding high school teachers.”

Cover letters are less rigid in format than resumes, though it’s advisable to use a traditional business letter format. One universal rule, however, is that cover letters should always be brief. The longer they are, the less likely they will ever be read!

Both cover letters and resumes require a balance between brevity and explanation. It’s important to show your strengths, your relevant skills and the experience you bring to a position. Doing so in a concise way keeps the attention of the hiring manager and can help you find success in your job search sooner. Stay focused on what’s relevant to the position, use terms that match and ensure that your resume has impeccable formatting. Soon you’ll be out of the job hunt and into your own classroom.

1. Education first: Make sure to pay attention to key features in the job ad and highlight your most relevant traits in your resume. When listing volunteer work, past jobs or special skills, strive to match to the job advertisement. ResumeHelp has tips on writing a resume for your industry to help you get started.
2. Prove your understanding of the subject: Do some self analysis and make sure you can offer a complete explanation of the subject you want to teach without jargon or confusing language. One of the key questions you’ll be asked is why (this subject)? And you need to have a thought out and easy to understand explanation as a good teacher should be able to explain the basic concepts of their subject to their students.
3. Highlight your engaging classroom presence: Being able to curate and present your work is essential for adequate lesson planning and for making the subject matter of your teaching more presentable so being able to showcase the different techniques you use to keep students focused along with effectively documenting student performance is an important point for your resume. 
4. Show off your all-important technology skills: The use of different types of technology is now extremely important in the class environment whether it’s virtual learning tools like blackboard, Zoom or Pear Deck that make teaching online easier or learning management systems that can help with grading, lesson planning and plagiarism checks.
5. Utilize your problem solving and leadership skills: One of the most important things to note on your teaching resume is your classroom management skills. As everyday can be different, displaying both leadership and problem-solving abilities are required in keeping a classroom running smoothly.
6. Communicate effectively:  It’s important to be concise and demonstrate success instead of just listing accomplishments so in both your resume and cover letter it is important to highlight the results of your work along with the exchange of best practices with your peers and your lifelong love of learning.
7. Be a strong closer: One of the best things you can show in your resume is that you see the value in real-world learning so having special attention paid to your education, training and volunteering sections on your resume is a must.