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THE EDUCATION
JOB SEARCH

Carroll College – Career Services
Walter Young Center – (262) 524-7335

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Section One: basic education job search information

Preparing for job search
Internet Resources

Suggested resume headings
Resume format example
Sample resumes

Section Four: Cover Letters

Cover letter format
Sample cover letter
Reference page example

Section Five: The Interview

Dress for success
Sample interview questions
Teacher Perceiver interview
Urban Teacher Perceiver
Subjects to inquire about

Section Six: Portfolios

Section Seven: Mentoring

Additional information

Section One: Basic Education Job Search Information

SUGGESTED RESUME HEADINGS

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Identification

• Begin with your name as the heading.  Make it stand out using all capital letters, bold type, and/or a bigger font size.

• Include a complete present address and/or permanent address where you can be reached or a message can be left.  Your e-mail address is necessary if you check it daily.

• Place telephone number(s) below address(es).

• Do not abbreviate, including names of states.

Job Objective

• If you use an objective, make certain it will enhance your employability.  Design a new objective to fit each position for which you apply.

• Sometimes a narrow objective can eliminate you from other possible positions.

• When writing an objective, include the name of the position or type of industry you seek, as well as traits, skills and knowledge you would bring to that position/industry.

• If you have any interest in co-curricular activities (i.e. coaching), you may want to include this.

Summary of Qualifications  

• Explains who you are and what you have to offer (skills and attributes) an employer

• Make it brief and highly focused.

• This is optional - especially useful for those experienced in the field.

Education

• List your degree, major(s), minor(s), any special concentration or emphasis, month and year of graduation, and the institution with the city and state.

• Include your GPA if you feel it is to your advantage.  Generally, make sure you have at least a 3.0 if you include it.

• If you attended more than one institution, list the name and dates of others with the most recent school listed first.

• Academic honors or awards (dean's list, scholarships, etc.) may be included in this section or listed in a separate section.

• Study abroad may be listed in this section, or placed in its own section for emphasis.

Skills Summary

• Utilize this section to outline your special skills and knowledge.

• This section can be a simple list of items or it may be a longer section containing subcategories to classify your skills.

• Describe your skills and give examples of how you have acquired them or can use them.

Student Teaching/Work Experience

• There are many different headings you could use for this section such as:  Experience; Field Experience; Professional Experience; Related Experience; Work History; Additional Experience; Computer Experience; Volunteer Experience; etc.

• Within headings, list the most recent position first.

• Introduce each position with job title, name of the school, city, state, and dates of employment.

• Describe results, accomplishments, skills and responsibilities.  Be specific.

• Highlight your skills and responsibilities with action verbs.  When applicable, use adverbs (effectively, successfully and consistently etc.)

• You might want to include all positions from which you have gained meaningful experience, even positions such as waitress or bartender.  Often it is significant to an employer that you have gained work experience, even if the work itself is not directly related to your job objective. 

• Think about skills you used in past positions that you would use in positions you apply for.

• If you choose to omit some positions, you might want to make a general statement such as: "have held various full- (or part-) time positions to finance college education."

• This section takes a lot of thought and time. Remember, you want to sell yourself!

Extracurricular Activities

• List offices, committees, sport teams, organizations, responsibilities and results of projects and activities. This illustrates leadership qualities and how you spend your time.
  Note: If any of these activities involved skills related to your objective, you may consider moving this listing from here to "Related Experience".

References

• At the bottom of your resume, you may state that references will be available upon request.  If you do not have extra space, omit this statement.

• List references on a separate sheet of paper.  Typically these are not included with your resume, but given to the employer when requested.  Bring this sheet with you to the interview.

• Include a printed list of 3 to 5 individuals willing to give you a good recommendation.

• Include professionals and professors with whom you have worked.      

• Be sure to get their permission to use them as a reference.

• List their name, occupation/title, address and phone number.

Resume Format Example

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Entry Level High School Teaching Resume

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K-12 Phy Ed Teacher Resume

Primary Level Teaching Resume

Section Four: Cover Letters

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Writing a cover letter to send with your resume is one of the most important and often neglected parts of the job search process.  Students spend days or weeks writing the perfect resume.  However, when it comes to composing an effective cover letter, most people write a quick, canned letter that could be sent to anyone.  By creating an original, high impact cover letter you will stand out.

THE PURPOSE OF A COVER LETTER

• Tells the employer what type of position you are seeking.
• Personalizes your resume for the employer.
• Provides or expands your resume objective.
• Serves as a small window into your personality that makes the employer feel he or she simply must get to know you better.
• Gives you a little-used opportunity to impress the prospective employer by showing your knowledge about the company and/or industry.
• Entices the employer to learn more about you by reading your resume.
• Shows how well you express yourself.

BASIC RULES FOR COVER LETTERS

• Address each letter to the recipient.
• Do not point out what the employer can do for you or what you hope to gain - rather, show how you can meet the needs of the employer.
• Use the body of the letter to highlight experience relevant to the job.
• Use a minimum of sentences beginning with "I."
• Do not use a letter that looks like it could have been sent to anyone.
• Make each letter unique to every employer.
• Keep your letter to one page.
• Don't forget to sign your name.
• Use the same paper you used for your resume.

ADDITIONAL COVER LETTER TIPS

• Research the district and incorporate information you learned in some way.

• Make sure your grammar is correct and you have no spelling errors.  A cover letter is just as important as a resume and can help you stand out.

Cover Letter Format

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Sample Cover Letter

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Reference Page Example

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• Know the product (yourself) well.  Be prepared to talk about your skills, experiences, traits, enthusiasms, and philosophy. Answer the question "Why should I hire you?".

• Research the organization you will be interviewing with so you are prepared with intelligent answers and questions.

• Be prepared to provide clear, concise responses.  If the question is difficult, do not hesitate to pause to collect your thoughts.  Ask for clarification if you are uncertain.

• Rehearse answers with a career counselor, family member, friend, colleague, tape recorder, or in front of a video camera.  Write out short answers to help you focus - but do not memorize.  Give examples explaining the situation, the actions that you took, and the results.

• Practice until you can carry on a conversation without a lot of "fillers" (ie. "Umm...uh" or "you know").  Avoid slang expressions.

• Prepare questions that you would like answered about the position.

PRACTICE NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION

• Arrive at least 10 minutes early.  Practice the drive or get clear directions, giving yourself plenty of time for wrong turns and limitations in parking.  This demonstrates the value you place on responsibility and promptness.

• Exude confidence!  Relax as much as possible.

• Maintain good eye contact.

• Shake hands firmly.  Lean slightly forward in your seat.  This shows interest.

POSSIBLE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR EDUCATION GRADUATES

Questions and answers span eight major interviewing categories:

1. General Character Assessment
2. Academic and Co-curricular Background
3. Teaching Ability and Educational Philosophy
4. Learning Styles and Student Achievement
5. Planning and Organization
6. Student and Parent Rapport
7. Student Management
8. Classroom Environment

SAMPLE QUESTIONS:

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• What influenced you the most to become a teacher?
• Provide a brief biographical sketch of yourself. Start with high school.
• Pick your favorite teacher (high school or college) and describe what impressed you the most about this person.
• What do you perceive as the three most important strengths you possess as a teacher?
• Name one or two areas that you discovered while student teaching that you would like to improve.
• Why do you think you will make a good teacher at this school?
• How are you able to show both an interest in and an enthusiasm for teaching?
• Describe how you might dress for the first day of school.
• What class or classes did you take in college that prepared you the most for a teaching career?
• Explain why you feel you are ready to be a teacher.
• Describe your student teaching assignment. How would you rate your general performance? What went especially well for you while student teaching?
• What student activities, if any, were you involved in during high school and/or college? How might your involvement have helped you to be a better teacher?
• To what other areas of the school could you make a contribution? What sports or student activities do you feel qualified to coach or direct? Why?
• Name two or three teaching skills essential in helping students learn.
• Talk about your ability to introduce or begin a lesson.
• What strategies and/or materials would you use to aid students in developing creativity?
• What have you found to be a good way to motivate students toward active participation in the learning process?
• How can you get students excited about your subject area?
• Name and discuss a critical issue in your area of teaching.
• How do you reinforce major concepts or ideas that you want students to learn?
• Students need teacher feedback regarding their efforts. Name several ways that you provide students with such validation.
• In what ways are you able to change your teaching methods to meet the wide range of academic needs that will be present in your classroom?
• Describe one or two good questioning techniques that you use with students.
• How can a teacher get students actively engaged in a classroom discussion?
• How do you draw a lesson to a conclusion?
• In your opinion, what abilities are common to good teaching?
• How would you go about deciding what teaching materials to use for one of your classes?
• Describe your ability to listen and be responsive.
• Not all students learn best in the same way. For instance, some may need more visual cues than auditory ones. How might you accommodate some different learning styles in your class?
• What are some ways that teachers can be helpful to the slow learner?
• What type of testing information might be helpful in assessing a student’s ability?
• If most of the students in your class were achieving below average at the end of a grading period, what might you think? What would you do?
• What would you do if you were to receive a new student in your class who had a learning disability?
• What makes up a good lesson plan for you?
• How might a teacher’s goals or objectives affect learner outcomes?
• What are your professional and personal goals for the next five years? How does working for this district relate to your goals?
• Almost every school has a prescribed curriculum for each grade level or subject area. How would you use this information in planning your own classroom curriculum?
• Most lesson planning results in the modification of ideas and approaches. When you student taught, how and when did you deviate from your lesson plans?
• Describe how you determine academic needs and then decide upon the proper learning materials.
• How do you help to ensure students stay on task?
• How do you organize students for effective instruction?
• What techniques do you use to display an interest in your students?
• Would students view you as a reasonable person to know and a fair person with whom they can work? Why?
• How are you able to make students feel at ease around you, while still respecting you?
• Why might students view you as fair and impartial?
• In what ways do teachers need to show a willingness to help students who have difficulties?
• How would you handle a parent-teacher conference where the parents blamed you for their son/daughter’s lack of progress?
• In what ways can you have a positive impact on the parents’ view of you as a teacher?
• Good teaching can usually prevent discipline problems. Explain what this means.
• Why is good classroom control a prerequisite to teaching and learning?
• How would you handle a student who refuses to work in your class?
• In what type of situation would you turn to the principal or dean of students for assistance?
• In what ways would you be able to convey to the students that you are in charge of the class?
• How would you go about making your room attractive and inviting to the learner?
• Describe a student seating arrangement that would be in concert with your teaching style.
• What is the teacher’s responsibility for maintaining a clean and functional room?

TEACHER PERCEIVER INTERVIEWING

The Teacher Perceiver Interview is becoming popular in many school districts. It is based on the premise that the outstanding people in a profession think in similar ways and when asked a series of questions, respond similarly. Thus, they can be identified using structured questions. Be prepared for an open-ended format where there are no right answers. The questions enable you to talk about yourself and your beliefs. The process takes approximately 45 minutes and should be tape recorded.

The Teacher Perceiver Themes are:

• MISSION:  Deep underlying belief that students can grow and attain self actualization. Goal to make a significant contribution to other people.

• EMPATHY: Understanding of the state of mind of another person. Put ourselves into other person's place.

• RAPPORT DRIVE:  Mutually favorable relationship with each student. Likes students and sees it as a necessary condition of learning.

• INDIVIDUALIZED PERCEPTION: Thinks about the interest and needs of each student .

• LISTENING: Spontaneously listens to others with responsiveness and acceptance

• INVESTMENT: Capacity to review satisfaction from growth of students.

• INPUT DRIVE: Continually searching for ideas, materials, and experiences to use in helping students.

• ACTIVATION: Capable of stimulating students to think, to respond, to feel, to learn.

• INNOVATION: Willing to try new ideas and techniques.

• GESTALT: Drive towards completeness; uneasy until work is finished. Tends toward personal perfectionism. Even though form and structure are important, the individual student is considered first.

• OBJECTIVITY: Get facts and understanding first - responds to the total situation.

• FOCUS: Has models and goals - moving in a planned direction. Selects activities in terms of goals.

SAMPLE TEACHER PERCEIVER QUESTIONS:

• What do you want to accomplish as a teacher?
• How will (do) you go about finding out about students' attitudes and feelings about your class?
• An experienced teacher offers you the following advice: "When you are teaching be sure to command the respect of your students immediately and all will go well". How do you feel about this advice?
• How do you go about deciding what it is that should be taught in your class?
• A parent comes to you and complains that what you are teaching his child is irrelevant to the child's needs. How would you respond?
• What do you think will (does) provide you the greatest pleasure in teaching?
• How do you go about finding what students are good at?
• Would you rather try a lot of "way-out" teaching strategies or would you rather try to perfect the approaches that work best for you? Explain your position.
• Do you like to teach with an overall plan in mind for the year, or would you rather just teach some interesting things and let the process determine the results? Explain your position.
• A student is doing poorly in class. The student tells you that you are the poorest teacher the student has ever met. What would you do?
• If there were absolutely no restrictions placed upon you, what would you most want to do in life?

URBAN TEACHER PERCEIVER INTERVIEW

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Based on the same premise mentioned above, there are specific themes found to be associated with the most successful urban teachers. The Urban Teacher Perceiver Interviews is designed to help identify those teachers who will have their greatest success in a culturally and economically diverse environment. The Urban Teacher Perceiver Interview has 55 questions and focuses on the following themes:

COMMITMENT: Highly committed teachers make very conscious decisions to contribute to people through education, and primarily to work where there is the greatest need. Commitment means sticking with students and teaching in spite of obstacles.

DEDICATION: Teachers with high dedication find satisfaction from each step of progress in a student's life. There is typically evidence of a history of investing in others and emotionally becoming a part of others' futures.

INDIVIDUALIZED PERCEPTION: Urban teachers most-valued by their students have a sense of the differences present in each student and express regard for individuality. It is natural for them to personalize their teaching even when they see many students every day.

CARING: Students bring out the best in teachers with strong caring themes. These teachers show warmth and affection to their students and give priority to relationship development as an avenue to student growth.

INVOLVER: Teachers with a strong involver theme see life as a two-way street. The teacher wants to be a partner to students, parents and other teachers. Students have more say in their education when the teacher is an involver.

EMPATHY: Sensitivity and anticipation mark teachers who bring empathy to the classroom. Students are better prepared to accept themselves and establish relationships when they work with a teacher who acknowledges and understands their feelings.

POSITIVITY: There is a hopeful attitude towards students when a teacher has high positivity. These teachers look for what is right and help others feel better in their presence.

INITIATOR: An initiator is an advocate of students. These teachers are willing to speak up when it makes a difference for a student.

STIMULATOR: There is more emotion and excitement in a classroom when the teacher has a strong stimulator theme. These teachers can be personally dramatic as well as very receptive to the ideas and opinions of students.

INPUT: Teachers intrigued with ideas. They search for those ideas and activities applicable to the classroom. Creating new techniques and sharing them with others meets the learning needs of these teachers.

CONCEPT: Teachers that have developed a philosophy about what is best for students and are guided by positive learning concepts.

SUBJECTS YOU MAY WISH TO INQUIRE ABOUT

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• Procedures for reporting pupil progress to parents

• Average class size

• Basic and supplementary textbooks

• Curriculum plan, teacher involvement in planning

• Types of extracurricular activities

• Computer systems and equipment

• Number or percentage of students participating in extracurricular activities

• District philosophy

• Types of management styles utilized within the district

• Procedures and objectives for observation and evaluation

• Types of support personnel and programming

• Parental activity and involvement

• District-wide systems or techniques for classroom management strategies

• Opportunities for team teaching or planning

• Support/encouragement of teachers' continued education

• Support available for new teachers
  
• Special challenges that the school or district is facing
  
• Teacher evaluation process
  
• Description of typical student at the school
  
• Salary questions (when you are offered the job or are close to an offer)

How to Ask Questions

Not: "Am I going to have low level classes?"
But: "What will my schedule look like?"

Not: "Do I have to teach_______?"
But: "Would art be included in my schedule?"

Not: "Do parents support the school?"
But: "How do you involve parents?"

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What:
A teaching portfolio should be more than a miscellaneous collection of artifacts or list of professional activities.  It should carefully and thoughtfully document a set of accomplishments attained over an extended period.  You must know your philosophy, be able to state it and measure your practice against it.  It should also be an ongoing process conducted in the company of mentors and colleagues.

Why:
Students develop portfolios to demonstrate their achievement.  Later, they might present these portfolios at job interviews. Some interviewers may not want to see portfolios. Some may want to, but only at a certain time in the decision making process. If you take your portfolio to the initial screening interview, use it sparingly and have a couple pages marked where you can point something out very quickly. Hiring administrators prefer to see portfolios as they get nearer to choosing a candidate. One suggestion by a school district human resource director is to make copies of the main things in your portfolio, thereby creating a "throwaway" copy that recruiters would not have to give back to you and that they would have available whenever they needed to see it.  

Experienced teachers construct portfolios to become eligible for bonuses and advanced certification.  Some districts use portfolios to evaluate teaching excellence.  Those meeting district standards may receive annual performance bonuses.  Some states might require portfolios to be developed and assessed in order to renew professional licenses. (NOTE: The portfolio presented at an interview is not to be confused with the Professional Development Plan (PDP) Completion Portfolio that will be part of the new licensing procedures for the State of Wisconsin. An "initial educator" will be required at the end of their first five years of teaching to present evidence that they have successfully completed a professional development plan. Whether the initial educator has met the goals of their professional development plan, presented in an extended portfolio, will be reviewed and approved by a three member panel. If approved, the "initial educator" will be licensed as a "professional educator".)

REMEMBER, your portfolio is never complete. It is a growing, ongoing creation, a representation of your professional growth and progress. Revisit it - revise it- review it with others, frequently.

Portfolio Contents

Portfolios may contain some or all of the following: