What Are The Best Career Changes For Teachers?
Teacher burnout is a phenomenon that more and more educators are dealing with every year. Even if you love sharing knowledge and shaping minds, you can still find the classroom draining and want to try something new professionally. The good thing is that teachers have so many skills they can use to transition into a new career. To name only a few, teachers have advanced organizational skills, know how to manage their time, and are confident speakers and stellar communicators. Let's look at 6 options you can explore if you feel ready for a career change.
6 New Careers For Teachers To Transition Into
1. Instructional Design
If you like creating learning material that caters to the learner's specific needs, then this is a great career choice for you. As an Instructional Designer, you will create eLearning material for various audiences and develop activities as well as assessments to check learning progress. In addition, Instructional Designers exchange feedback with the administrators of the eLearning courses—whether they are fellow educators or business managers—to make adjustments for optimal results. The best part about Instructional Design is that it allows you to channel your creativity without the pressure of a typical classroom. To follow this career, start by exploring the typical tools and latest trends of the industry.
2. Corporate Training
Former teachers usually thrive as corporate trainers because they possess the special ability to know how to talk to make people listen. In this position, you will get the chance to work closely with employees and supervisors to help them continue their education and optimize their performance. Specifically, you will develop training, give presentations, plan workshops, facilitate communication, etc. Whether you are a freelancer or an in-house trainer, working closely with a company to analyze organizational objectives, evaluate challenges, and figure out the best training options are all part of the job description.
3. Business And Educational Consultancy
Similar to being a corporate trainer, a business consultant offers their insights and expertise to companies. However, instead of creating the actual training program, a consultant collaborates with management teams to analyze an organization's current strategies, policies, challenges, and goals and formulate the most suitable improvement plans. If you're interested in remaining in the education sector, you can become a consultant for schools that want to improve score statistics or modify learning to accommodate students with difficulties. To transition into this career, whichever sector you choose, you're going to need a long experience in teaching so that you have advanced analytic, organizational, and problem-solving skills.
4. Human Resources
Being a teacher, you already know how to talk to people, identify their strengths, and help them bring out their best selves. And, wouldn't you know it, that's a large part of what HR professionals do. Moreover, Human Resources teams deal with recruitment and onboarding, legal issues regarding contracts, evaluating performance, discussing personal development plans with employees, and more. Although you might need extra certifications or a degree to become an HR professional, your teaching experience and excellent communication skills will certainly put you ahead of candidates with experience in other industries.
5. Editing And Copywriting
Teachers usually have a great understanding of language and a keen eye for mistakes or inconsistencies, which makes them perfect candidates to transition into a career in proofreading. You can start your search for editor positions in your local newspaper or magazines, or you can work remotely for online publications. If you're more interested in creating rather than editing content, you can give copywriting a chance. This career will allow you to share your insights on your areas of expertise and generate sales copy regarding products or services, or educational content that promotes another website or even your own. The great thing about this career is that you can freelance and shape your schedule according to your needs.
6. UX/LX Design
User experience and learning experience design have taken the technology industry by storm in recent years. Professionals in these positions are tasked with creating compelling and intuitive experiences that help users achieve their purpose while using a product or browsing a website. The reason why teachers are very well suited for this new career is that UX/LX design depends on being able to understand the way people learn and internalize new processes. Another reason is that the design process resembles planning a new curriculum. If this career sounds like your cup of tea, there are plenty of courses available that will provide you with the necessary training.
Taking The Leap
The love for teaching never fades, even if you're not in a classroom anymore. Thankfully, the skills one develops while working in the education sector can very easily be transferred to a new career. So, if you enjoy teaching but you're itching for a change, you can use this article as your guideline to transition into a new career. We are certain that your love for learning, patience, and excellent soft skills will be appreciated in many industries.
Download the eBook Breaking Into The Industry: Tips For Teachers Transitioning To A New Career Path today to discover more insider secrets, including how to prep for your first eLearning course launch.