key strengths

Along with your formal qualifications, the personal qualities and skills you have make a big difference in landing a teaching job. This section of your resume should be in dot-point (up to 10 points) and outline your essential skills and attributes, such as 'effective communicator', 'organised', 'energetic'.

Top hint:

If you are struggling to develop ideas for your skills, search on the Randstad jobs board for educators for a job title that matches the ones you are looking for. Usually, job descriptions include a 'candidate attributes' or 'responsibilities' section. If you can check your skills to those required for the job, you will be much more compelling to your prospective employer.

work experience

This area is usually the most important and should include all your recent and past employment history, including paid and unpaid work. Use strong, precise wording to speak for your teaching experience and always be prepared to back up what is written on the resume in your interview.

An excellent teacher resume format to follow is:

Job title
Name of employer (and the address or suburb of where it was located)
Dates of employment
List of key responsibilities and achievements (Hint - try to put yourself in the mind of your potential employer - what type of keywords and critical responsibilities would they be looking for as they scan each resume? Make sure you not only list your day-to-day duties but also how the centre you worked for benefited from your contribution)
Any awards or recognition you may have received during your time at this company

education & training

Don't underestimate the value of outlining your education and qualifications - particularly for those with limited job experience.

Your education and training section can cover anything from university degrees, TAFE diplomas and certificate courses plus any other professional training you may have undertaken.

An excellent format to follow is:

Name of degree/diploma/certificate etc
Name of an educational institution
Location of an educational institution
Graduation date
Any course credits or key achievements about this course (e.g. Finished in the top 5% of class with high distinctions)

professional memberships

Do you belong to any industry associations or hold memberships that pertain to the role you are applying to? If so, you can list these here - e.g. Member of the Early Learning Australia Association.

An excellent format to follow is:

Name of association
Your role/title within the organisation
Years/months active within the organisation
Any honours received

hobbies and interests (optional)

Many centres now look at your skills and experience and how you would fit into the team. For this reason, it is sometimes worth including a short list of your hobbies and interests to give them a sense of who you are and what you enjoy doing outside work hours.

Whatever your hobbies, if you do indeed decide to include this section, be careful in terms of what you want to divulge - there is always a chance that this section could work against you if the reader dislikes or is threatened by the activities you list.

category

tags