I’m attempting to do the scariest thing I’ve ever done professionally...leave the classroom. Being a teacher right now is...not great, and it’s something I’ve been thinking about for awhile anyways. Given that my 11 year career has been all teaching, and most people I know professionally are teachers/in public education, I was hoping to get some corporate/non-education perspectives.
-Have you hired a teacher right out of the classroom before? Why? What made them a good fit for you?
-I recognize that my resume needs to show how my skills apply to a new type of position. So far I’ve been looking at opportunities still semi-within the education industry (content writing with ed techs, assessment writing for companies that support districts, etc). Is there anything else I need to be thinking about in approaching a career pivot?
-Are there other types of positions where my skills might also be a good fit that I haven’t considered? I’ve read that some teachers have successfully become corporate trainers, but every job description I’ve read so far for those requires some type of industry-specific knowledge that I certainly don’t have.
(For background purposes—I have a Masters, experience writing content for an ed tech company, some experience training other teachers, as well as roles/responsibilities where I’ve deeply expanded my elementary math content knowledge [so I would consider that my area of specialty at this point]).
13 Comments
13 Comments
Anonymous
12/06/20 at 3:30PM UTC
Is there anyone that can help with this? I really appreciate your time and perspective. Thank you!
Reply
M Elizabeth Ingram
497
HR, administration, & benefits at work; mom of 2
12/08/20 at 6:56PM UTC
I taught for two years & got picked up by a temp agency specifically because of my teaching experience. I work at an insurance agency where 2 of the other 14 employees are also former teachers. Employee benefits or admin work could be options.
Best of luck!
User edited comment on 12/08/20 at 6:56PM UTC
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Tara C.
264
Career Coach/Advocate
12/08/20 at 7:06PM UTC
Teachers have skills that translate in a lot of areas - Project Manager, Program Manager/Officer, HR or Training (as you mentioned), Sales, Customer Success, etc. What interests you?
1 Reply
Anonymous
12/10/20 at 2:47AM UTC
I guess I’d still like to be education-adjacent, particularly because I’m having a hard time seeing skills for something else (everything, skills-wise seems SO specific for things completely removed from education). I did an ed policy fellowship a few years ago so that’s another direction I’m looking as well (I’m in the DC area so this is definitely the place for that).
1 Reply
Tara C.
264
Career Coach/Advocate
12/10/20 at 4:41PM UTC
It might help to chat with a career coach or something who has experience working with former teachers. There are a ton of directions one can go from education, and there are lots of training/education-related roles as well. It's all about changing the language. Curriculum development and lesson planning, for example, are really educational words, whereas you may talk about instructional design and needs assessments outside of a school district. So there are likely things in job postings you DO, but the vocabulary you've developed in teaching is not translating.
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Nancie Zobrist
46
12/08/20 at 7:21PM UTC
It sounds like you have a wide variety of experience to draw on. My advice would be to look for opportunities that sound interesting and that play to your strengths. Fiver.com has loads of opportunity for freelancing if you wanted to explore different work without committing. And it might lead to consistent work with the same company as a 1099.
On a side note, I interviewed a teacher looking to transition years ago. She had a very unrealistic view of what a work day looked like and her expectations were too far off for the corporate world. So when you are looking, I would suggest that you prioritize what is important to you. Flexibility? Benefits? Work hours? And then go from there.
1 Reply
Anonymous
12/10/20 at 2:43AM UTC
I’m curious as to what her expectations were?
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Anonymous
12/08/20 at 8:05PM UTC
I also left the teaching profession but I transitioned to a different field -- data analyst/science. I did look for other jobs in edtech and education nonprofits with curriculum design, professional development, and product/project/program management. Professional development and product/project/program management could be done for other non-education companies too. I did get offers for a curriculum developer at an education curriculum organization and a program manager at an afterschool organization. I just decided to completely switch fields. So there are definitely jobs out there. I think a lot of edtech companies and education organizations that provide remote learning have a lot of openings so definitely check those out!
My current coworkers have told me that teachers have strong skills in time management, multi-tasking, attention to detail, and patience with others (lol), so they felt like they could trust in me to get my work done well and on time and keep up with the fast pace.
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Louisa Adams
47
CX Associate with Management Experience.
12/09/20 at 10:09PM UTC
I'm in a very similar boat; this is my second year teaching and it's definitely not a great fit for me (I worked generally in admin/people management in media and eCommerce before this.) I've found that the classroom management, any tech skills you've picked up during COVID, communications, and things like that are huge in the career transition. Is there a specific field of corporate training that does interest you that is perhaps something you have some experience in from education (eg: taking a background as a theatre teacher into being a corporate trainer on public speaking, etc.) Just a couple ideas! I'm also finding the transition challenging, so I really do understand what you are going through.
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Sharla Taylor
27
Executive Resume Writer and Career Coach
12/11/20 at 10:15PM UTC
Some ideas include a human resources role such as training and development specialist, ed-tech, instructional design, coaching people in course creation. There is a wonderful book by Dawn Graham titled Career Switchers that will help you convey your transferrable skills.
The Holland Code Career Test is a free career quiz based on the scientific Holland Code that shows you which jobs suit your interests, talents, and aptitude.
1 Reply
Anonymous
12/11/20 at 11:30PM UTC
Thank you for the book and the quiz recommendation!
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Sarah Bartley
107
Front-end Web Developer
12/14/20 at 6:48AM UTC
Former teacher here. When it comes to making a career pivot, transferable skills are going to help. So take a few minutes to sit down and identify what your transferable skills. Teaching can translate into training, communicating, etc. Writing lessons is another way of problem solving, creating visual aids, etc. Brainstorm all the tasks teachers do and think about how they translate into the career you want.
A position you can consider is a web designer or web developer role. That is the industry I'm in and I've run into lots of former teachers who are working in tech now. You just need to learn how to code a little bit and there's tons of great resources to help you learn how to code. Coding isn't for everyone though so I recommend doing some of the Hour of Code tutorials to see what you think of coding. Just trying coding is the best way to see if something is a good fit for you.
Two, network! Even if you don't know 100% what you want to do, you want to network. You can also people in your network what a person who has experience doing certain skills can do. This will help you find people who are doing careers with the skills and background you have. If you do have an idea of what you want to do, networking is going to help you meet people who can help you get your foot in the door with companies you are interested in and let you learn more about the position you want. So
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Shayla Mark
15
Salesforce Administrator in Orlando, FL
12/20/20 at 9:59PM UTC
I'm a former teacher. I recently transitoned to a carer in cloud-computing as a Salesforce Administrator for a virtual school district. Like the previous posters mentioned, we have tons of transferable skills. Be sure to highlight them, and show how they are relevant to the position you're persuing.
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