Regardless of what you do, the odds are that you might get a job teaching. If you have significant professional experience in a field (or even not that significant professional experience), you are likely qualified to teach. Education is a gigantic industry and there are a ton of potential education-related employers you can work for.
- You can teach in public or private schools.
- You can teach in colleges or universities.
- You can teach at vocational schools.
- You can teach at for-profit educational institutions.
- You can teach inside companies (companies have jobs for “trainers”)
Going into teaching can be an excellent choice if you are interested in going in a different direction in your career. One of the most rewarding things about choosing a teaching career is that you can draw upon your experience and profit from it. In fact, you can even do teaching as a second job most times.
I have had two formal teaching jobs in my career and all of them I got fairly easily. I enjoyed the teaching because in both cases the jobs drew upon my expertise.
The first teaching job I got was when I was a college student at the University of Chicago—a professor asked me to help teach a course for a semester. I was teaching primarily about an issue that I had become an expert in through a lot of independent research and work. I really enjoyed the experience and teaching the class was second nature to me because I knew so much about it.
The second teaching job I got was when I was an attorney—I saw an advertisement for a law professor job, applied, and was hired within a few days. This too was a simple job for me because I could draw upon my experience as an attorney. I simply got up in front of the podium and spoke about things I had learned in my job over the past few years.
Another time, I opened my mailbox and received a letter from the University of Phoenix, offering me a teaching job I had not even applied for! They wanted me to teach a course in business. This would have been an easy course to teach as well.
I also love teaching. I write articles, teach several online courses and enjoy teaching a great deal.
Despite the incredible luck I’ve had, it is becoming increasingly difficult for many people to find teaching jobs. Many people are eager to go into teaching because there are so many good things about the jobs:
- Teaching jobs often have very good salaries compared to private industry.
- Teaching jobs also may offer relatively good employment security.
- Teaching jobs also may offer lots of time off.
- Teaching jobs may also offer excellent healthcare and retirement benefits.
There are exceptions to this, of course. For example, many teaching jobs have horrible salaries. Other teaching jobs with for-profit educational institutions may have little employment security and no benefits at all. However, as a general rule, working in teaching can be a rewarding career in many respects.
How to Find Teaching Jobs
If you are looking for a teaching job, the following are the places you should consider: (1) public k-12 schools, (2) private k-12 schools, (3) trade schools, (4) colleges and universities, (5) corporations, and (6) miscellaneous employers such as state-specific boards of education, the US Department of Education, preschools and Teach for America.
Most education-related jobs are not advertised on large job sites and are best found, instead, by going directly to the job site of the educational employer. Because there are so many education-related employers, it is extremely important that you know where to look.
- How to Find Jobs With Public Schools (K-12 Jobs)
The best way to find jobs with K-12 public schools is to use the website of the U.S. Department of Education Institute for Education Sciences:
http://nces.ed.gov/globallocator/This tool is extremely useful in tracking down school systems in the area(s) you are searching. Once you have located the specific school system, please make sure that you go to the specific school system website and not a specific school website looking for jobs. Most of the teacher-related jobs will be on the school system website in their “careers” section. - How to Find Jobs With Private Schools
Most private schools contain a careers section that lists all the school’s jobs. The best way to access these jobs is to use the following links:
http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pss/privateschoolsearch/
http://www.eschoolsearch.com/
http://www.petersons.com/pschools/code/psector.asp
http://www.localschooldirectory.com/Since there are a huge variety of private schools, I would recommend checking each of these links to insure you do not miss any of the opportunities. - Where to Find Jobs With Trade Schools
There are a vast variety of trade schools out there and if you have a specific sort of trade-related experience, they can be not too difficult to get positions with. Some good links to trade schools are:
http://www.trade-schools.net/
http://www.trade-schools.info/
http://www.rwm.org/rwm/
http://www.trade-schools-search.com/I would recommend checking each of these trade school links for trade schools since most of them are not complete. Make sure you check each of their career pages. - Where to Find Jobs With Colleges and Universities
There are an astonishing number of colleges and universities you might work in. Here, you need to visit the careers section of the colleges and universities to locate all of their jobs.This is the best list I have found of colleges and universities you can apply to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_universities_and_colleges_by_country – North_Americas
Here are some other lists as well:
http://www.utexas.edu/world/univ/state/
http://www.ope.ed.gov/accreditation/Search.aspx (accredited universities)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unaccredited_institutions_of_higher_learning (unaccredited schools)
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools (US News Rankings—there are several of these. The one above is for graduate schools.) - Other Sources of Education Jobs
Here are a few other sources of educations jobs and education-related jobs: Education Job Sites
http://www.EducationCrossing.com (consolidator of education jobs from various sites)
http://www.higheredjobs.com
http://www.nationjobs.com
http://www.edjoin.comTeach for America
http://www.teachforamerica.org/admissions/how-to-apply/State-Specific Boards of Education
http://wdcrobcolp01.ed.gov/Programs/EROD/org_list.cfm?category_ID=SEAUS Department of Education
http://www2.ed.gov/about/jobs/open/edhires/index.html(Typically not a lot of jobs on this site, but an excellent source to review for the sake of being thorough)
Conclusions
There are many sources of education and teaching-related jobs out there. The best way to find teaching jobs is to ensure that you go to the source of where you are seeking to work. You need to remember that most education jobs are not well advertised and that the best way to find them is typically to search directly on the website of the education employer.
THE LESSON
Education is a gigantic industry, and there are many employers for whom you can work. One of the most rewarding things about is teaching career is your ability to draw upon and profit from your experience. The ideal way to find a teaching position is to go directly to the source of where you hope to work.
About Harrison Barnes
Harrison Barnes is the Founder of BCG Attorney Search and a successful legal recruiter himself. Harrison is extremely committed to and passionate about the profession of legal placement. His firm BCG Attorney Search has placed thousands of attorneys. BCG Attorney Search works with attorneys to dramatically improve their careers by leaving no stone unturned in a search and bringing out the very best in them. Harrison has placed the leaders of the nation’s top law firms, and countless associates who have gone on to lead the nation’s top law firms. There are very few firms Harrison has not made placements with. Harrison’s writings about attorney careers and placements attract millions of reads each year. He coaches and consults with law firms about how to dramatically improve their recruiting and retention efforts. His company LawCrossing has been ranked on the Inc. 500 twice. For more information, please visit Harrison Barnes’ bio.
About BCG Attorney Search
BCG Attorney Search matches attorneys and law firms with unparalleled expertise and drive that gets results. Known globally for its success in locating and placing attorneys in law firms of all sizes, BCG Attorney Search has placed thousands of attorneys in law firms in thousands of different law firms around the country. Unlike other legal placement firms, BCG Attorney Search brings massive resources of over 150 employees to its placement efforts locating positions and opportunities that its competitors simply cannot. Every legal recruiter at BCG Attorney Search is a former successful attorney who attended a top law school, worked in top law firms and brought massive drive and commitment to their work. BCG Attorney Search legal recruiters take your legal career seriously and understand attorneys. For more information, please visit www.BCGSearch.com.