Charlie Cramner gives advice to English teachers looking for work
Advice for English teachers looking for work
Hiring teachers can be one of the most stressful periods for management. First you need to sift through all the CVs you receive, arrange interviews, second interviews and then discuss job conditions and then, finally, you can begin. I’ve been Director of Studies of CLIC International House Cadiz for over six years and this process can also be the most rewarding. However, it all begins with that first step, the email. That first impression can make or break it. Here's some advice for English teachers looking for work in 2022.
Why are you applying?
Don’t say you’re saving money to continue travelling. You wouldn’t believe how many times I have read this and it gives the worst impression. A big mistake teachers make when they work abroad is that they don’t treat it as a ‘job’, they feel like they are on holiday. I’m afraid this is particularly true for native speakers. They often revisit destinations that they previously spent vacations on and assume it will be the same. If you treat it this way, then your job will last as long as a holiday!
Your experience
Do not include experience that is not teaching related. I don’t need to know you worked at your local supermarket. With experience, the most important information is level (if possible matched to the CEFR if applying in Europe), the approximate age of the students, the type of course you taught (if it was general English, exam English etc) and if your timetable was full-time or part-time. Do not include information on what coursebook you used.
Teaching qualifications
When I look for teaching qualifications, I need to see immediately if it contains assessed teaching practice. That is to say, you were formally observed by a teacher trainer and given feedback on your classes. The CELTA and Trinity courses in Europe have modules that focus specifically on this. Nowadays, teaching practice can be observed both online and face to face. If you do an online TEFL course that goes over the methodology and principles of English teaching, however useful that may be, it does not prepare you for the classroom as well as if you have assessed teaching practice.
Using CC on emails
I understand that when a teacher arrives into a new city looking for work, they try to contact as many schools as possible. But be careful! Do not copy every email address of every school into an email and send it out. Use the BCC function to hide the email addresses of the other recipients. Not only does it look bad for the person receiving it, but it also suggests a lack of technological awareness or worse, a lack of interest. This is important advice for English teachers looking for work.
Check, check and check again
Proofread your email, your cover letter and CV two or three times. You can sometimes omit the cover letter and include it directly into the email. However, with all that text it is imperative that you proofread everything. There may be jobs out there that don’t pay much attention to spelling and grammar mistakes, but English teacher’s isn’t one of them. If you are an English teacher looking for work, then make sure you get this right. One of your responsibilities will be to correct and prevent your students from making mistakes and if you are not able to do that for yourself, then this is a massive red flag. I’m not implying that you can never make a mistake and don’t get me wrong, we all make mistakes, even in class, but don’t make them now!
Formatting a 2-page CV
PDF is a file format that can be opened wherever you send it. There are lots of free online tools that can convert Word or Google Docs into PDFs, so there’s no excuse not to do it. Attaching a link to a Onedrive or Google Drive file takes the user away from the email and you want to keep it as simple as possible. On that note, try to keep the CV to a 2-page maximum. The person reading is probably having to read countless CVs and the more precise and efficient you can be, the better.
Eskills
In today’s day and age, if an English teacher looking for work can demonstrate that they are technologically adept, then this can be a big plus. At our particular school we have adopted a lot of tech tools for class such as Google Classroom, Classdojo, Kahoot and Quizizz. I would say it’s becoming more and more essential that a teacher can navigate and implement these tools into their classroom.
Social Media
Do include links to social media accounts that you run. Linkedin or Twitter are good places to start and they are more professional than perhaps Facebook or Instagram. Also, if you run any websites, blogs or YouTube channels that are teaching-related, pop the links in the additional information section as this can help you stand out.
When to apply
The busiest times of the school year for management often coincide with recruitment periods, so around September / October. If you can make your CV succinct and to the point, then you’re doing yourself and the Director reading it, a massive favour. As an experienced Director of Studies, these would probably be my first pieces of advice for English teachers looking for work.
by Charlie Cranmer
I’m Director of Studies of Foreign Languages at a leading language school in Spain. I've been teaching English as a foreign language for over 12 years. I'm passionate about meeting my student's needs and I have a passion for innovation. I made my YouTube channel to share my expertise in Education Technology and all other things that help teachers on a daily basis.