It is so great that many of you have received your copy of ‘Avoiding Accreditation Disasters.’ I hope you found the resource useful and I’d love to hear any feedback that you have. Also, please feel free to forward the resource to any teachers that you think will find it useful.
Writing resumes and applying for jobs can be a long, and often exhausting process. In order to improve your chances of getting to interview there are a few things that are crucial for your application.
Organise your referees
Make sure you read through a copy of the job application and find out which referees are required. Quite often, but not always, the application with ask you to put your principal and teaching supervisor to speak about your suitability for the profession.
Proof read your resume for errors
There are few things that will get your resume thrown out immediately, careless grammar and spelling mistakes are some of them. If grammar and spelling aren’t your strength, ask someone else to proof read your application.
Use the correct school name
It sounds obvious, but this is a common oversight! Because we write so many resumes, most teachers create a template and then personalise the application for each school. This makes it very easy to send the wrong application to the wrong school.
Ask a supervisor, school executive or your principal to have a read through your resume
A trusted colleague, or experienced teacher familiar with the application process, can offer invaluable advice. When I asked one of my first supervisors to take a look at my very first permanent teaching application, it came back covered in red pen, with multitude of errors highlighted and changes galore. It was a little awkward, but it’s far better for someone you trust to pick up the mistakes on this end than failing to make interview.