When you are applying for a vacancy how much of your CV covers all the additional things that you do? Do you give sufficient space in your CV or letter of application to mention all the clubs you run or help with? Do you list the musical instruments you play and the orchestras/ bands you play in or teach? In sport have you listed your own achievements as well as the teams you coach? Are you involved with community groups?

I have recently had the pleasure to visit two wonderful schools, Box Hill near Dorking and Licensed Victuallers near Ascot. At both I was overwhelmed by the extra mile that their staff went to both for their pupils and the school in general. At Licensed Victuallers it was lunchtime and as I toured the school there were staff and pupils participating in charity fund raising activities, tutorials, clubs and drama and music practises. Not just in certain departments, but right across the board. At Box Hill there were displays of a Fashion show that had been organised for an evening, which obviously had huge staff input. At both schools what also came across was the fun everyone was having too.

It’s these things that will make you stand out from the crowd. Take time to highlight them and remember ‘the more you put in the more you get out!’ Take time to get involved or support these extra curricular activities. Not only does it help the students, but will develop you and enhance your CV ready for your next move.

Tell me what activities you do that make you different! Don’t forget to contact us or update your details if you are looking for roles in Independent or International Schools for September ghm@eteach.com

Hi I’m Graham and I work for Eteach Agency. We work with schools and manage the permanent, long-term contract and daily supply staffing needs. This is my first blog for the Eteach site and I was wondering what suitable topic to discuss…. so whilst we are on the subject of first times, I thought it would be best to kick off with about first time jobs for prospective teachers and what we’re up to.

One area where we are currently seeing are large amounts of activity is with final year students and PGCE students starting to send us their CVs. Schools and local authorities are looking to build their talent pools in preparation for the next academic year. We are organising an open day focused on NQT’s during the Easter holidays…dedicated to all course leavers from this year and last year.

We also work with 1000’s of schools throughout the UK and Internationally and manage the supply pools on behalf of a number of local authorities. All of whom are looking to attract the best talent of 2008 and 2009 including those looking for their first role in teaching.

There maybe hundreds of student teachers throughout the UK looking to embark into their first teaching role. Previously there has been fierce competition amongst those looking and this year promises to be no exception. Hundreds of students are completing dissertations, undertaking their last few lectures and preparing for their last round of placements in schools. So….

Don’t be the last to get organised. Act now and spend time looking at getting your CV and references in order.

To put yourself in with a good chance, for this forthcoming September, get in touch now and get involved with our Easter Open day. We will give you free advice on how to apply for roles, how to write your CV and overall provide a helping hand for you to find that crucial first teaching role. We can link you up with roles throughout the UK and Internationally.

It would be interesting to hear how you will be using Eteach in finding your first role, either in person at the open day or by sending me your comments.

Take care, work hard and get in touch!

Graham

There is a culture of job browsing in teaching. Teachers are passive job seekers most of the time, merely browsing to see what’s out there.

Whether you’re happy in your job or you’re looking to move on, it’s important to keep your options open and to progress.

When we launched Eteach we changed the whole behaviour of teacher job seekers ….Until then everyone waited until Friday to see what jobs were available the whole sector was held to ransom by newspaper deadlines and extortionate advertising rates. Now we all benefit from jobs on demand at any time of day making job seeking and advertising more accessible.These days its made ever more easy because by setting up your searches and job alerts you dont even have to go to a website or buy a newspaper the jobs come to your inbox via email. Most good recruitment websites provide jobs and career advice tools to support your development at any stage of your career. Most importantly like Eteach, they’ve probably established strong partnerships with a number of schools and authorities who load their jobs when they like and the site updates them immediately.

Some simple things you might want to do are visit Eteach register FREE online and upload your most recent CV, subscribe to personalised job alerts, newsletters and newsfeeds, career advice- keep yourself in the loop, you never know what’s out there.

You could say we ‘ve changed the landscape forever and we will continue to do so when it benefits teachers and schools………………………….