Table of Content
Here’s a sample resume we recently produced for a Teacher in Hong Kong .
In this article, you’ll learn:
- About the Teacher Role
- What Hiring Manager Look For In Teacher Resumes
- Teacher Job Opportunities
- Job Hunting Tips from our Resident Headhunter
Teacher CV [Full Sample]
Here’s a full Teacher resume sample, which we wrote for a client recently.
JASON TAN
LITERATURE TEACHER
Email: j.tan@email.com | Mobile:+852 XXXX XXXX | Nationality: Chinese
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- Seasoned educator with proven track record in teaching and delivering Literature in English lectures and tutorials, as well as assuming multi-faceted roles including Head of Department, academic coach, and academic coordinator at leading schools in Hong Kong
- Outstanding public speaker recognised for student and peer engagement. Well-versed in employing innovative approaches to enhance teaching and learning, such as by capitalising on Facebook’s group functions and other online tools
- Progressive leader adept at identifying and developing students’ potential, providing professional guidance when necessary
- Exceptional leadership skills, strong in driving change and capable of working round-the-clock to meet organisational objectives
[This section gives a good helicopter view of the candidate. Briefly mentioning about the subjects you teach, as well as your extra academic functions, will establish a focus of your specialisation and abilities.]
KEY SKILLS
Curriculum Development | Public Speaking | Educational Leadership | Innovative Learning | Communication | Classroom Management
[Ensure the keywords here mirror those used in the job ad. The first round of vetting is often done by a software scanner. This section helps to pad the CV with key teacher-related phrases necessary to get past those scanners.]
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
HEAD OF DEPARTMENT, LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
Jun 2011 – Present
Hong Kong ACADEMY FOR PERFORMING ARTS, Hong Kong
- Lead Literature Department in developing programs to improve students’ interest in literature and enhance their overall learning and development. Teach Literature in English to cohort consisting of 60 students [This is a good opening line as it clearly states the focus and size of your responsibility. In 1 line, the reader knows exactly what the role is about.]
- Revise subject curriculum in line with changes to syllabus, and ensure that guidelines and requirements are adhered to [This line and the following lines describe other academic functions you do in the school]
- Guided college’s Climb Team club to take part in their first ever nationwide competition, ensuring they were able to balance both CCA commitments and academics
Significant Highlights
- Pioneered new initiatives to drive interest in literature across both arts and science streams via exhibitions and through weekly civics sessions
TEACHER, LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
Jul 2009 – May 2011
Hong Kong ACADEMY FOR PERFORMING ARTS, Hong Kong
- Taught Literature in English to cohort consisting of 60 students. Improved existing subject curriculum to capitalise on current educational trends and modern technology [Simple, clear overview of the job you previously held. Notice also how the remaining bullet point is shorter. No need to go deep detail about previous similar workscopes.]
- Supervised and guided newer teachers in the department to ensure they adapted quickly to the curriculum and students’ needs
Significant Highlights
- Improved Literature in English subject curriculum which was adopted as the new standard for the college
RESUMEWRITER | ASIA
EDUCATIONAL & PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor of Arts (English Literature), University of Hong Kong, 2005-2008
MISC. INFORMATION
- Technical Skills: MS Office Suite
- Languages: English, Bahasa Melayu, and Mandarin
- Availability: 1 month’s notice
References available upon request
[There’s no need to list your references; if HR is interested in you they will ask you for them.]
RESUMEWRITER | ASIA
About the Teacher Role
Teachers juggle many roles on a day-to-day basis. These include being an educator, mentor, nurturer, life coach, second parent, as well as a role model.
They follow a curriculum that meets state guidelines throughout the year in order to ensure that students are best prepared for the major year-end examinations. Oftentimes, teachers convey their knowledge in many ways – through lectures, tutorials, small group discussions, and even online learning activities.
Outside of lesson hours, teachers are also involved in lesson planning, attending department meetings, overseeing the smooth execution of co-curricular activities, organising school events and more.
It’s a busy job, but highly rewarding. Therefore, more and more teachers are looking to enter the education field. With so many teachers vying to teach similar subjects, it is important to reflect your expertise and ability well in your CV in order to stand out from the crowd. It is even better if your resume portrays a clear career narrative that reflects how you are the best fit to nurture the minds of the next generation.
What Hiring Managers Look For in Teacher Resumes
- Your resume should provide a complete overview of your career experience, detailing in whatever length necessary your experience with teaching, guiding students, presentations, and committee and community involvement, as well as your own educational credentials and certifications.
- If possible, try to quantify and demonstrate how your students benefitted from your teaching. Inserting metrics into your resume strengthen your application, as numbers give your Achievements a sense of scale. Examples of relevant metrics include the average grades of classes you had taught or participation rates for events you have chaired.
- Important qualities for professional candidates include critical thinking and problem-solving skills, communication (both written and verbal), resourcefulness, the ability to work both independently and as part of a larger department and campus environment, and strong integrity. Make sure to showcase these skills and abilities in your resume.
- A teacher’s resume can be rather lengthy due to one’s regular career progression over the years. As such, you should make sure that it is formatted well. Your resume needs to be easy for recruiters to read quickly and absorb the key points.
- You may therefore wish to break your work experiences into two parts – your daily workscope, and your achievements. For the daily workscope, make sure that is it short and to the point – workscopes which are implied in your job title can be omitted. Remember, you want to keep your resume short and sharp for recruiters.
Tips on Resume Format
- Neat and professional templates are key. Don’t use fancy pictures or layouts that are hard to read.
- Proofread your CV! Spelling and grammatical errors are huge no-nos. Employers would be very reluctant to hire someone who makes simple spelling errors. It says a lot about that candidate’s professionalism and attention to detail. You can use apps like Grammarly, or ask a friend to proofread your CV for you.
- Use a suitable, professional font. Keep the flowery and artistic fonts for an ad; there are fonts which help you stand out without making you look unprofessional.
- Watch the fluff! When writing CVs, there is a natural tendency to ‘inflate’ our responsibilities and achievements a little. While this is acceptable in moderation, it looks really bad if overdone. Know when to stop!
- Keep it short! Most CVs can easily fit within a page or two. If you’re going over that, chances are you’re including too many irrelevant points. Employers and hiring managers are busy people – they are unlikely to read all 5 or 6 pages of a long CV!
Teaching Job Opportunities
- Join LinkedIn groups or follow companies you wish to work for to keep abreast with new job openings.
- Alternatively, you can reach out to these headhunters in Hong Kong to learn about any vacancies they may be trying to fill out.
Job Hunting Tips from our Resident Headhunter
- Create a winning cover letter and send it along your resume. The cover letter will serve as an introduction about yourself and is a great venue to answer the question “Why should we hire you?”
- Be active on social media, particularly on LinkedIn. Make sure to create a strong online profile that represents you and you professional experiences. Here’s our comprehensive guide on writing a great LinkedIn profile.
Before You Go…
Be sure to download this resume sample, which uses our tested-and-proven resume writing techniques, as a guide for your own CV. Best part is, this sample is available for free 🙂
And before you start sending out applications, send us your resume for a free CV feedback analysis from our team. We’ll review your CV in detail, share personalised feedback on its strengths and weaknesses, and show you how you can improve it.