CV Templates: Making your CV stand out

I receive many CVs every year to review for my clients, and sometimes I see that the important information regarding their teaching experience is not brought to the fore. Your SAF affords you the opportunity to outline your experience with the aid of specific sections and headings, but your CV can let you down if you don’t know where this important information should be. Below are tips on how to avoid this mistakes, and a few more pieces of advice too. Check out my Facebook videos for a run through of my best CV advice.

Teaching Cv Template

CV format

The type of CV you select is your own choice. You may see that there is one on Educationposts.ie and think that this is the format that you should follow, but you don’t have to. I do prefer a simple and clear Word document when drawing up a CV, and I have created a free template for you that you can download at the end of the article about writing a Personal Statement here. It is neater and not as fussy as some of the other templates that I see. I think less is more when it comes to format and the most important thing is to let make it easy for the reader to see what experience you have and what you can offer the school.

Name your CV properly

I often see CVs with the heading - Curriculum Vitae. You have very limited space to write all you need to and putting your name at the top of the first page just makes sense! The recipient will already know that it is a CV by looking at it so adding your name is a much better use of the space. I also think that the addition of a photo is completely unnecessary as well as they are going to see you at the interview anyway. Photographs can lead to discrimination too if the reader assumes something about the candidate.

Download my CV template specially designed for teachers Here

Teaching experience

Regarding Employment History; if you are an NQT, your teaching practice will be where the bulk of your experience will have been gained. I recommend placing this on your first page and above your Educational History to highlight it better.

Experienced teachers and Teaching Practice

A client, who is very experienced and has taught for the past 16 years, recently asked me about the Teaching Practice section of her CV. I told her to leave it out altogether as her career to date is what the employer wants to see most. Using her CV to highlight her achievements as a teacher to date, using power verbs , buzzwords and impactful phrases is a much more effective to use that space on your CV.

PPS numbers - be careful here!

As a final bit of advice; this is a big one! You will see that some CV templates call for a PPS number to be included. I don’t know why this need to be added to a CV at all and I advice clients absolutely not to do so. This is a number that you should guard and share with as few people as possible!

Download my CV template specially designed for teachers Here