There are so many job titles that require no explanation because everyone knows what those jobs are – doctor, lawyer, nurse, police officer, actor. “Teacher” is one of those titles. Everyone thinks they know what a teacher does. Teachers teach students, of course. Everyone has had a teacher, so everyone assumes they know exactly what skills a teacher has. But, if the students are taken out of the picture, the question then becomes what are transferable skills for teachers?

If you are a teacher looking to make a move into a career outside of the classroom, it’s up to you to explain the skills that you use daily. More importantly, it’s up to you to help people outside of education know all the things you do besides teach.

The key is that you must show how you use these skills with other adults. Moving into the corporate world means that you will be working with adults, not children or teens. On your resume, there is no need at all to mention your students. Everyone knows you have students. What they don’t know is all the “stuff” you do other than working with students.

Communicating Transferable Skills for Teachers

When you speak about your skills on a resume, think about how you apply these skills with other adults. Do you lead a team of teachers? Are you a mentor teacher? Have you done any presentations at faculty meetings? Do you lead a committee? Are you the person who plans and organizes all the field trips for your grade level? Do your team members ask you to share your lessons with them because they are so well thought out? Have you trained others in your school on how to use an EdTech tool? Do you lead the curriculum night for parents or write your weekly communications for families?

If you are not sure how you would speak to these, use this school year to start tracking. Keep a list of all the ways you interact with adults as a teacher. These are the things you will want to mention on a resume for positions other than classroom positions. Start tracking them now.

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If you want additional help with speaking to your transferable skills, consider taking my one-hour-long module, “Transferring Your Skills”. This just-released module focuses on:

• Understanding transferable hard and soft skills
• Translating transferable skills from the classroom to a corporate resume
• Identifying transferable skills in job postings
• Highlighting your skills in interviews

You will walk away from this module with a reference guide to transferable skills to better enable you to track and speak to the strengths and skills that you possess.