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Guide to CV Writing:
As you are most probably already aware a CV is a vital part of the recruitment process. If you don’t have a CV, you are unlikely to even be able to apply for a position. That is unless the teaching role has a standard form for all applicants to complete. Even if this is the case, it is always useful to have a CV handy, so we have put together some advice on how to write your CV.
What should you include in your CV?
Although there is no standard format for a CV, there are certain topics which should be covered as standard. These topics can be listed in any order you wish, but we would suggest that you list them in the same as we have.
Contact Details:
Your contact details should include:
Name
Address
Phone Number (mobile optional)
Email address
Optional contact details include:
Nationality
Age
Driving license status
Personal Statement:
Your personal statement should ideally be one paragraph in length, which captures and keeps the attention of the interviewing panel. This statement should cover your key skills & attributes and in particular how they relate to the teaching position you are applying for. Try not to cram too much into this paragraph; you can always expand on the information given here later in the CV.
Work Experience:
Your work experience should be listed in reverse chronological order, the details of the position should include:
Company name
Location
Date of employment (normally displayed in months e.g. March 2009 – October 2009)
Company website
The responsibilities and tasks you carried out during the role should be listed in bullet points. This helps the interviewing panel to easily scan your CV for specific skills that match that of the teaching position.
Education:
Education should also be listed in reverse chronological order with brief explanation of each qualification including what grade you achieved. If you faired particularly bad in a certain subject you may wish to omit that subject. However this should not be done in two cases:
1) The subject is vital to the position you are applying for
2) The subject is Mathematics, Science or English
This section may also include any recognised professional qualification you hold, including when you gained them and who they were awarded by.
If you are looking for your first teaching role, then you may wish to list the education section above the work experience section. Any part time jobs you have held whilst studying should be listed here, as they show you can hold down a job.
Skills:
This section can include any skills you have gained either through work experience or personal experience. Skills included may be general IT skills such as proficiently with the MS office package or any foreign languages you may speak. Skills such as these should be grouped into one of the following categories: Basic, Intermediate or Advanced. You may also list things like communication here, it is harder to categorise this, so you should provide examples where possible.
Hobbies & Interests:
Although this is optional, this section can help give a rounded view of you as a person. As the rest of your CV is related to what you have achieved in your career, it is nice for the interviewer to see what you like to do with your social time. Try to avoid listing general activities that everyone may do such as ‘socialising with friends’. The more unique your hobbies & interests are the more you will catch the interviewers attentions. However remember not to make hobbies up, as the interviewers may well ask about them in the interview!
References:
References or referees are an important part of any job process. You can write how you are the best in the whole world at your profession, but that is only your opinion! Any potential employers are going to want this confirmed by an unbiased third party before shelling out loads of cash to you! This is where references come into play!
However it is also worth remembering that you don’t have to list the referee’s details on your CV, and instead can write ‘details available upon request’. Whether you choose to list the details or withhold them until they are requested, you need to make sure your referee is easy to contact. You should also ask if they are willing to be a referee before listing them on your CV. The last thing a former head teacher wants is a call out of the blue asking for a reference.
Layout:
Try to ensure your CV doesn’t exceed two A4 pages; also ensure your CV contains plenty of white space. Doing so will make sure that the reader can easily differentiate between the different sections, and locate the content they feel is most important.
Imagine you are the interviewer, you have received many, many applications and need to weed out the unsuitable ones. You will have to scan through the masses of CV’s spending roughly about 20 seconds on each one. Bearing this in mind, you need to make sure that your CV can be scanned suitable and is as interesting as possible.