Teaching Cv's

[jo1966]

Hi, hope someone can help me please.
A New Zealand teacher at school gave me a copy of her cv which was 4.5 pages long and included photos of her teaching and quotes from heads, observations etc. Is this the format I should be following when writing my CV?


Thanks in advance, we sold our house in 2 weeks which was unexpected and this is one of the many things I am panicing about.
Joanne

[napiers]

Great news about the house but can see why you're having a panic! Can't help about CV but will be interested to see what others say. I've had some communication with one of the agencies and only gave them a brief CV which seemed fine - although if applying directly to schools I'd tart it up abit - but photos and quotes... !

[Kanga]

I'm not sure about photos and quotes but Australian and NZ CVs do tend to be longer and more detailed than is expected in the UK. A lengthy personal statement and career objective with a more personal flavour (but still professional) seems more the norm and the rest of the CV tends to be quite detailed. My partner and my mother have experience of recruiting in healthcare in NZ and Oz respectively and I've had some CV help from a principal and teaching friends, not sure whether that would be the norm in other fields, but I'd certainly spend a good bit of time on your 'personal statement and career objective' or whatever you call that introductory part of your CV and not be shy of it covering at least a page or two.

HTH.

[Carey]

I sent off loads of fairly standard Uk CV's with no luck despite agencies assuring me mine was fine; asked lots of Kiwi's here and some said it was fine as it was , others said no you must have at least a photo of yourself, others said you need quotes, refs, photos of work, yourself teaching; others said you need a graphic designer to produce one for you! I got one interview from the plain version but got the job from the fancy version wtht my photo in plus 4 photos of kids work taught by me, plus quotes from observed lessons. BUT by then I knew the Principal, had done some relieving in the school and quite honestly, that was what got me the position.

So ,I realise that's not terribly helpful....but I did pick up that you have to really sell yourself, answer to the spec of the job and also sometimes include references with your application.

[mojo]

I hope you don’t mind me jumping in on this thread. I have some questions that I am not sure of and wondered if anyone can help about CV’s for teaching jobs in New Zealand. I did hear (and it was from a chat to a random bloke out one night who had taught in NZ) that when it comes to ICT on CV it is worth putting down everything from smart boards and tablets right back to the basics such as word and excel, as there is no assumption about you ICT skill, is this true? The other big question is what are NZ government programmes and frameworks that need to be mentioned in a covering letter and highlighted in the CV? I am thinking along the lines of similar stuff to Every Child Matters, which is universally but comes in different names and acronyms or if there is other key standards that should be mentioned, the sort of things that you use every day in country but are difficult to find when trawling through ministry of education materials and are key on a CV.

Thank you in anticipation for anyone that can answer any questions

[beanbeanz]

When applying for teaching jobs my CV consisted of a covering letter which basically explained my teaching philosophy and why I'd be a perfect fit for the particular school I was applying for, along with 2 pages of bullet points on my education and previous experience.

I'd heard that photos of yourself are standard. However, I refuse to do this as I feel it's not at all relevant. Seemed to do the trick and I got the interviews I wanted (and the job)

[smudgerand4]

[QUOTE=jo1966;293316]Hi, hope someone can help me please.
A New Zealand teacher at school gave me a copy of her cv which was 4.5 pages long and included photos of her teaching and quotes from heads, observations etc. Is this the format I should be following when writing my CV?


Please do ot look at me as any kind of expert but I have found myself answering a number of questions reference CVs. In the UK my job involved me assisting people writing their own CV`s and I have attended several courses on the matter during my transition from Service life to the "real" world. I have never had a problem with my own CV and mine was picked up on a NZ wesbite within a few weeks of me posting it and, believe me, I do not consider myself to be anything that special !! Firstly I will say; this reiterates earlier comments made on this forum by me; that a CV of any more than 2 - 3 pages is far too long. The main impact of any CV should be on the first page and this page must meet all that an employer is asking for. You need to study an advertisement for the job and make sure that your CV meets all the requirements or as many as possible.
It is a good idea to generate an all round CV and adapt it for each job applied for. If necessary contact the employer in question and ask for a personal specification for the job advertised and make sure you make the CV relevant. You can put everything on page 1 that meets the requirements of the job and, if the employer is interested, then they will look at the rest.
Without going into too much detail you should be able to find links to previous answers to the CV question. I have previously posted some tips for CV writing.
The most important thing is to keep an open mind when looking at jobs. It is very easy to focus on a particular job when, in fact, you may find a link to your particular skill within another type of employment. AND........don`t forget; your CV needs to be special. Sell yourself without trying to be sickly but if you are good at something relevant to the job then say so.
ALSO remember the personal touch. Focus on what a particular employer wants. They do not want something that appears to be generic. They want to know that you are sure you have some idea as to what you are applying for.

Good luck - and if you have any more questions............fire away

[akp713b]

Well I was trained to teach here in NZ and at Uni they did two workshops on CV's for teaching with us. They basically said it should be at least 3 pages with a maximum of 6 pages, not including the covering letter. They told us to list every paper (course) you took at University related to your subject. They advised us not to include grades but some students did. They told up using a photo was optional but helped make your CV stand out from the dozens they recieve.

My CV was 3 pages plus a cover letter and I did not use any photo or quotes. Of course I was a beginning teacher with no experience to provide quotes or photos. I had to apply at 14 schools before I got a single call-back, let alone interview. Luckily the first school that gave me an interview hired me. For my classmates it seemed to matter much more who they knew than what their CV was like.

[beanbeanz]

I also trained here and we too did a workshop on CVs. The consensus was that most people do have extremely lengthy (4++) page CVs. However the five principals who were present did say that they rarely read past the first couple of pages. The most important thing is to show that you're a good fit for their school. After all, isn't the point of your CV to get an interview?

The uni lecturers handed around thick, professionally bound CVs filled with coloured photos of teachers working with children etc. It's so unnecessary! Quality, not quantity...right?

There was an article in the newspaper a year or so ago about teaching CVs and how over-the-top they were. In the article one principal mentioned how one CV was shaped like a fish .... and that despite their uniqueness, that person didn't get the job.

[tea drinker]

Sponsors

A fish???

It's on my list of things to do to NZ my UK CV
Going off to work in a bit and will think about the shape of my CV on the way