Teachers can do anything!!

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Resources of the Week

1. Close to 600 jobs this week on the community job board.

2. One of my fellow corps members from Teach For America recently shared this post about her post-layoff search (I think she’s had two in the last few years!) including an industry shift. Check out Erika Parrish’s post!

3. Our friends at Earnbetter put together this list of top job search voices (including me!) A disclaimer, vet the list for yourself - some of these folks are great, others, I wouldn’t personally recommend. But it might be a helpful place to start (and Earnbetter is a cool and totally free resource so regardless, check them out!)

The Transitioning Teacher

To all my teacher friends, this issue is for you!

If Tim Walz can go from teacher to (future) VP, you can do ANYTHING!

A lot of the advice I’ve shared about career pivots applies to educators, but I wanted to share a few tips, specifically for teachers (though I think a lot of these tips are transferable to other fields).

Gain Experience Internally

My first position in recruiting was while I was a teacher! I helped out with conducting interviews which helped me better understand hiring processes.

I became a system administrator when I dove in and learned a new platform that was being rolled out and found myself helping teammates so my principal made this a position.

I gained fundraising and project management experience by proposing projects, getting approval from my principal, creating project plans, writing grants, holding fundraisers, etc.

I gained instructional design and L&D experience by volunteering to lead PD and working at a summer teacher training institute where I trained adults.

Most school districts have just about any role you’d find in a corporate setting - marketing, operations, HR, software engineering, finance, etc. And your experience as a teacher will give you a big advantage because you understand your end users, and they’re often willing to train educators to build functional knowledge. So check out school districts and charter networks to see if you can find an opportunity in your target field.

Talk the Talk

One challenge when transitioning industries is translating your work into the language of the industry you’re moving into. Don’t assume that they’ll be able to read between the lines and see how your experience transfer.

So translate your experience into language that aligns with the industries you’re looking at.

ChatGPT can help here - for example:

Teaching: "Developed comprehensive curricula for various subjects, integrating technology to enhance learning outcomes."

Corporate: "Designed and implemented training programs, incorporating digital tools to improve skills and productivity."

Teaching: "Effectively communicated complex concepts to students and parents, tailoring messages to different audiences."

Corporate: "Presented complex information to stakeholders, customizing presentations to align with the audience's knowledge level and interests."

Teaching: "Assessed student performance through various methods, providing feedback and strategies for improvement."

Corporate: "Evaluated performance using key metrics, delivering actionable insights and improvement plans."

Of course for each of these, I would beef them up with more specifics and an example of impact, but hopefully this gives you an idea.

Curate!

You’ll also want to lean heavier on relevant examples in both your resume and interviews. So even if you spend 80% of your time teaching, go heavier on examples from working with adults, leading projects, etc. if you’re looking for roles outside of the classroom since these are the most relevant examples.

Consider education-adjacent industries

Beyond school districts and charter networks, some of the industries that can be a great match include non-profits, ed tech, curriculum companies, higher education, and pretty much any company that sells to school systems (for example, consider the companies that manage your school’s nutrition program, transportation, uniforms, etc. as these are all places where your insider knowledge could be valuable).

Some of the fields teachers may be well suited for include learning and development, instructional design, sales and customer success, human resources, writing/curriculum/content creation, and operations.

Who can I look to for examples/support?

One thing I want to note is that I don’t know most of these people, and I cannot recommend any of their programs. Someone’s ability to transition is partially about them and their access, and partially luck and timing - it’s easier to transition in a favorable job market for example, and 20 years ago, a lot fewer people were leaving the classroom which made transitions easier. Neither of those things is true in 2024.

But they have solid resumes, and may offer some useful content.
Josh Czupryk - Josh is a buddy of mine from when we worked at Teach For America’s summer institute together. He’s still in education (though he’s been out of the classroom for quite some time) and he has a job blast where he shares jobs in education but outside of the classroom including tons of jobs with 6-figure salaries and remote options (and he doesn’t sell anything to jobseekers!)

Erika Parrish - as noted above, Erika shares lots of advice and learnings from her own journey (and she doesn’t sell anything!)

Olivia Russell Mitchell - has build a career in project management, and creates content mostly about her field, but does have some content for transitioning educators (and she doesn’t sell anything!)

Stephanie Yesil - former educator, currently a full-time coach. I cannot vouch for her program in anyway but she shares tips and jobs regularly.

Kristi Olivia - I think her trajectory is a realistic one and she’s made a lot of great moves and shares her path on LinkedIn, thought she also has a program that I cannot vouch for.

🙋Answering Your Questions🙋

Each week, I’ll answer one (or more!) of your questions in this section. You can submit your questions here.

I would start off checking your employee handbook. Your employer may not have a policy against this. I’ve never run into issues on this front though I know some people who have. (I am of the mindset that an employer should not have any issues as long as you’re getting your work done and not using company property for a side business, but some employers may not agree with me, of course).

I would take care not to overlap your side business with your full-time job, especially if you’re “on the clock” at work. If people are scheduling time with you, make sure available times do not overlap with times you’re working. The exception here might be if you have variable hours (for example, you work async and tend to work 6-8 am, 10 - 3 pm, and then wrap up from, 7-8 at night. Then taking meetings at 3 should be fine. But I’d make sure you and your manager are aligned there so if questions arise, you can count on them to have your back.

Other expectations may be that you don’t use any company products for your side business, avoid any conflict of interest, etc.

If it is against the rules, I might be a bit more hesitant personally and seek approval unless you’re comfortable risking your full time job .

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