How to impress Education Employers

Last week, I wrote about how prospective teachers could improve their chances of getting teaching jobs in the New Year. However, I did not bring out one important element in the character of employers that every job seeker needs to understand before submitting an application. Employers are ‘selfish’. There is no employer in the world that recruits people because they want to dish out money to supplement poverty eradication programmes. They hire because they have a problem- getting their job done. Otherwise, they don’t like hiring. To impress a prospective employer can be both painstaking and easy. It requires skill and tactic. Education employers want to hear the benefits of choosing you over numerous other qualified people who have applied for the job. To get the employer’s attention, do something radically different from what other job seekers do: by focusing on the value that you bring to the employer instead of what they can do for you. What you can do for the employer can be captured in the objective part of your CV. An employer doesn’t want to hear a career objective like: “to have a rewarding high paying position where I can learn and rise through the ranks within the organization.” When you are preparing your CV imagine the employer has asked you to answer the question: “What’s in it for me if I hire you?” To make your resume stand out, state your objective in a strong statement that includes specifics on how you will, for instance, improve the performance of the school. To be shortlisted for interview, alter your cover letter and resume to the school’s need. In so doing you will stand out from the rest. An adjusted and different cover letter and resume shows the employer that you are self motivated—more attention, therefore, will be drawn to your application. Being self motivated and willing to get a job completed in a timely manner is an invaluable quality that employers look for. Education institutions with task oriented and highly motivated teaching staff have tremendous results. Before attending an interview, try to find out, as much as possible, about the school that you want to join. Having little or no knowledge about a company is the most common mistake job seekers make during interviews. Each school has a mission and a vision. Employees who join a given school should be ready to support the vision and mission. All programmes and academic policies should be geared towards achieving the set vision. One can only know how beneficial they are to a school or company if they know its mission and vision. The author is the Director of Studies at Nu Vision High School, Kabuga. znyamosi@yahoo.com