5 Things You Should Include in Your LinkedIn Profile as a Teacher
Wednesday, August 3, 2022
The education system has been struggling to keep or even find teachers. It sounds unfortunate, and it is, but if you are on the lookout for a new teacher job this may be the blessing in disguise from it all.
Since there is a huge shortage in teachers, it also means there is a huge supply in jobs. This is probably the best time to look for jobs because you have an abundant amount of options. But it doesn’t mean you should just wing it, because who wants to work at a school that hires just anyone? So it’s time to optimize that LinkedIn profile of yours!
You should always have a resume done and updated. The use of handing in an application with your resume will never go away, but there are also other options to land a job. LinkedIn has increasingly been a popular platform for business and careers. It is a platform that connects you to the right people with your portfolio automatically on display. This way, you don’t have to be just on the lookout for the right jobs, the right jobs could be on a lookout for the best fit and they can easily see how it is you.
So making sure you have the right things to showcase on your LinkedIn is just as important as it is to have a great resume. Do you have questions on how to build your portfolio or what you need to have on your LinkedIn profile? Here are 5 things you need to be sure to add on your profile:
It sounds shallow, but you want to have a good photo. Your profile picture should be as professional as you want them to take you for. It will be the first statement piece that your audience is going to lay their eyes on when they find your profile. And depending on what kind of ambience you want to give off, consider what is necessary for the photo. Think about location, lighting, and literally what you are going to dress in.
This is going to be your first impression you will give off to those viewing your page. If you are going for an elementary school, those schools are probably looking out for teachers who have a sense of creativity and outgoingness, so it might be good to dress colorful and be in a fun and organized environment for the photo. Or say you are looking for a high school position, the vibe is going to be more serious and a little more formal. So you may want to settle with a nice dress or suit to give off the more educated and down to business ambience.
As teachers, sometimes you just don’t want to look at worksheets anymore. Especially after those LONG hours spent repetitively grading the same sheet for 30 different kids. But saving those papers and lesson plans are a great way to show the evidence in your hard work.
Don’t leave out the accomplishment your students achieved while they were learning from you. You can showcase their work to amplify how great your work is. Lesson plans can be the best way to showcase your work ethic and efforts. So don’t just toss them out. You can easily store and organize them on an online platform like TARA so that you can take them out whenever you need them.
If you recently just graduated from college, you want to avoid what they call “grad talk.” This is what happens to the majority of college graduates that lean on transparency and talk too much about their experiences because they just got out of school rather than talking about their real experiences they endured through jobs even though it was just in a shorter time frame.
It can definitely be rewarding to add your experiences that you had as a student teacher, but real life experiences outside of the opportunities through your school can be a lot more beneficial to show off. It can be your first year as a teacher or you don’t even have to highlight just teaching jobs. If you have any other experiences dealing with children, it is just as good as teaching. For example, if you worked at a:
These are great examples of real life experience you have in the field of working with children.
Showing off is not something that a lot of people are comfortable with. And it can seem inappropriate in a lot of situations. BUT when it comes to landing a job, especially in something competitive like teaching, you are going to want to stand out. Bragging is not an option anymore, it is a necessity on your profile.
You want people to know exactly what you are good at and especially what you may be better than others at. Don’t be shy when it comes to your achievements and awards because it may be the make it or break it to some viewers. You should also put them on display because you earned it, and not by luck, but through your skills and hard work. And don’t forget to mention where you went to school, so they know exactly the education you got and what you are qualified to do.
This tip is something you definitely can’t skimp out on. When we say purpose, we mean you need to know exactly what job you are trying to get and show that on your profile. You might have a long list of experiences or skills, but if you compact too much information, people are going to resort to skimming. And you absolutely don’t want them to skim over the perfect information and jump to the most irrelevant information.
So just like choosing the ambience for your profile photo, make sure to portray that with everything else on your portfolio. If you are looking to work with at an elementary school, you want to only mention your experience working with elementary aged students, like at a daycare, and not the time you volunteered to lead out a debate team to championships. You want to customize your profile so that it is clear on what position you are looking for. Make sure to strip out irrelevant skills and experiences so that viewers will see exactly what you want them to see.
There are plenty of things you can do to optimize your LinkedIn profile, but these are great points to start off with. Take advantage of the shortage and use this time to put yourself out there and find the teaching position that is best fit for you! Since there is a plentiful amount of jobs, you can be picky and you don’t have to settle for the first one that comes. Take your time to compare your options.
Because when teachers come first, students win...and teachers stay.