Are you fed up in your current job? Maybe you have been in the same position for years and fancy a change or maybe you have tried something new and realised its not for you, there are so many job options out there it seems silly to stay doing something that you don’t enjoy.

If you have decided that you fancy a new challenge next year then why not consider teaching. Although no one can tell you teaching is an easy job or extremely well paid, but it is very rewarding and there are some perks. If you have children that are of school age then you may find that it is nice to know that during the school holidays you will be able to spend time with them as you will most likely have time off too.

You will need to have obtained a teaching degree at university to allow you to teach but if you have done any degree you can then add a PGCE course on to the end which takes about 12 months to complete and then allows you to teach.

If you want to teach in a secondary school then you will need to have a degree in the subject or very close to the subject you wish to teach.

Primary school teaching requires a less in-depth but more general knowledge across multiple subjects as you will be teaching a range of lessons based on English, Maths, Science, RE and PE for example.

There are several ways in which you can start searching for a job that may be suited to your skill set, qualifications and commitment.

You may decide to go to the job centre and either speak to an advisor or many now have online computer systems you can use to find jobs that match your skill / experience level. This can be particularly handy if you are not exactly sure as to what you want to do or the opportunities open to you.

The other place you may want to look is on online jobs boards. There are quick and easy to use and allow you to search through hundreds of jobs at a time. You can usually filter the jobs that come up by job type, location or salary and some allow you to refine this more by selecting qualifications you have.

A CV is a very important tool when applying for jobs. This document can mean the difference between asked in for an interview and turned away at the first stage. It is vital that your CV is up to date with all of your education / qualifications as well as any working experience you may have. If you have an up to date CV to hand you can quickly apply for jobs even if the deadline for applications is closing soon. You should always tweak your cover letter for each company that you are sending the CV to as the covering letter should be quite specific to the job you are applying for whereas your CV is likely to be more generic. 

A CV is vital if you are job hunting. It can be the difference between between progressing to the next stage and being rejected. It is important to put aside a good amount of time to put your CV together and once complete, check it and check again.  

When writing a CV there may be times when you have to put down something or miss something out – which may not look great such as a gap in employment or short employment periods at a number of different companies. There may be a genuine reason for this but if not explained, potential employers may see it as you being unreliable. If for example you have had a few short jobs due to working through an agency, then it is often advised to put that as a not on your CV.  Although you will often have the chance to discuss these anomalies when attending an interview, you may not even get that far.

Employers tend not have the time to read pages and pages of information, but a little note to say why is perfectible acceptable.  With this in mind, ensure that you try and keep your CV to one page and if you do have to write more, definitely no more than two.

If you are invited for an interview, be prepared for any questions they may ask your CV and ensure that you are honest.

There may come a time in your business when you need to take on extra staff to cover the growing demand for your products and/or services or just to cover staff absence or a busy period. Not all companies use the same methods for recruiting staff as some companies choose to advertise and carry out the recruiting process themselves and others choose to outsource all or part of the recruitment process to an agency.  If you want to keep costs down then you will probably do the recruitment yourself. This may involve advertising through your website and on social media, vetting CV’s and carrying out all the interviews. Although this will keep your outgoings down it may eat up a lot of your and other staff member’s time.

If you use a recruitment agency then most often you will only pay for their services if they find the right candidate or they will offer you a fixed fee regardless of how many people they send through to you. Most recruitment agencies will vet all applicants first and even conduct a mini interview over the phone and then only send you through the CV’s of people that they think are suitable.