I have been a principal at various international schools for a long time and I have seen literally tons of resumes. I can tell you what I do immediately. If there are any mistakes in spelling or syntax I throw them immediately in the trash or in this digital age just delete them. You might think this harsh, especially considering all of the mistakes I make in this blog but a blog or email is totally different from a resume. A resume is a thoughtful precise summary of your working career and we want and expect perfection. If you cannot give me your best work on a piece of paper, why would I think you could perform in the classroom?
Secondly, if it is too flowery, which is the style in many countries like the Philippines or India I immediately discard. Get to the point immediately. Principals are busy people and do not have a lot of time to sift through descriptive accounts of your life.
Thirdly, do not list every workshop you ever attended. It is not helpful for me to know this. I am far more interested in what you learned at the workshops than whether you attended or not.
Fourthly choose which experiences you wish to highlight wisely depending on the job you are applying for. You have done tons of teaching either in your practice teaching or your teaching career. The challenging thing is to figure out what is important to note for the school you are applying to. For example, if you coached basketball and the school has a basketball program, you may want to mention that in your resume.
Secondly, if it is too flowery, which is the style in many countries like the Philippines or India I immediately discard. Get to the point immediately. Principals are busy people and do not have a lot of time to sift through descriptive accounts of your life.
Thirdly, do not list every workshop you ever attended. It is not helpful for me to know this. I am far more interested in what you learned at the workshops than whether you attended or not.
Fourthly choose which experiences you wish to highlight wisely depending on the job you are applying for. You have done tons of teaching either in your practice teaching or your teaching career. The challenging thing is to figure out what is important to note for the school you are applying to. For example, if you coached basketball and the school has a basketball program, you may want to mention that in your resume.
Do's
Read the ad carefully and find out everything you can about the school and I mean EVERYTHING. Contact someone at the school if you can and get the inside "scoop"
If you know they want someone with language skills, coaching experience, classroom experience, team player and so on I would be inclined to write my resume in that order. That is, have a section on each of the skills they are looking for. The advantage of this is twofold. It shows you are an individual who created their own template for a resume and secondly you are handing the principal information on a platter about your skills. I can't tell you how boring it is to see the same Word template on a hundred resumes for the same job. It is just human nature to pick a resume that stands out.
Make sure you include a flattering picture where the reader can see your eyes and ensure that your clothing is appropriate. Make sure you look professional. Attach whatever other information the school is looking for such as a police report, educational documents and passport. Failure to attach what they require can also mean immediate disposal of your application.
Make sure your references are willing to say nice things about you. Surprisingly, when I call references about a candidate I am often shocked when they tell me what a bad experience they had with a particular candidate. Phone or write your references before hand and ask their permission. Hopefully, if they are going to give you a bad reference they will tell you and if they do....do not use their names.
Send the materials in a manner that was asked. For example, some schools want everything on a PDF form and others insist on Word and so on. If you are rejected, you want to make sure you are rejected for the right reasons, not based on incomplete applications... so Just do what they ask for.
By the way, if you are rejected after an interview do not despair. It is probably a good thing because you would not likely have been a good fit in that school. Just keep applying until you get the job you want.
Read the ad carefully and find out everything you can about the school and I mean EVERYTHING. Contact someone at the school if you can and get the inside "scoop"
If you know they want someone with language skills, coaching experience, classroom experience, team player and so on I would be inclined to write my resume in that order. That is, have a section on each of the skills they are looking for. The advantage of this is twofold. It shows you are an individual who created their own template for a resume and secondly you are handing the principal information on a platter about your skills. I can't tell you how boring it is to see the same Word template on a hundred resumes for the same job. It is just human nature to pick a resume that stands out.
Make sure you include a flattering picture where the reader can see your eyes and ensure that your clothing is appropriate. Make sure you look professional. Attach whatever other information the school is looking for such as a police report, educational documents and passport. Failure to attach what they require can also mean immediate disposal of your application.
Make sure your references are willing to say nice things about you. Surprisingly, when I call references about a candidate I am often shocked when they tell me what a bad experience they had with a particular candidate. Phone or write your references before hand and ask their permission. Hopefully, if they are going to give you a bad reference they will tell you and if they do....do not use their names.
Send the materials in a manner that was asked. For example, some schools want everything on a PDF form and others insist on Word and so on. If you are rejected, you want to make sure you are rejected for the right reasons, not based on incomplete applications... so Just do what they ask for.
By the way, if you are rejected after an interview do not despair. It is probably a good thing because you would not likely have been a good fit in that school. Just keep applying until you get the job you want.
in the next installment, let's get to the interview stage and I will tell you the do's and don'ts of an interview.
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