Jobs for ex-teachers: What’s your next career move?

The teaching profession typically has a very clearly defined career path for those who choose to study and progress to become fully qualified teachers. 

The marketplace outside the education sector, however, also presents huge opportunities and there are many jobs for ex-teachers which are a good fit in terms of the skills and qualifications needed.

Teachers possess a plethora of skills which can be transferred to numerous roles within different industries. Typically, teachers, or ex-teachers, have the below soft skills:

• excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
• strong literacy and numeracy skills
• high levels of organisation
• confident in managing other people and dealing with difficult situations

The government, community or charity organisations, museums, social services and universities are employers who are usually particularly interested in these skills.

Depending on the stage that you are at in your career, there are a number of jobs for ex-teachers you might very well be interested in. If you have a particular career in mind, use our Skills Checker to assess your skills. 

Job opportunities for ex-teachers

If you want to step away from the traditional working environment of a teacher, then here are the top roles we believe your skills might be better placed for. 

1.    Recruitment

Do you thrive in a fast-paced environment? With strong people skills to develop relationships, compelling and persuasive communication skills, and effective organisational and problem-solving capabilities, ex-teachers make great recruitment consultants. At Michael Page, we are always looking for talented individuals to join our team.

We have offices in the UK servicing markets in London to Leeds and Glasgow to Aberdeen, the US where we have offices in New York, right across Europe and even in Australia. Many of our consultants enjoy the ability to transfer between offices and explore their options in new parts of the world.

Career progression is also high at Michael Page, so if you have a strong drive to succeed and want to build a long successful career, then a role in recruitment could be the change you are seeking.

2.    Sales 

Whether this is still within the education sector or not, you will have developed some great presentation and communication skills as a teacher. With some additional training, you will be an attractive candidate for many sales positions. 

Many sales roles actually have built-in training programmes, so you will require very little external support to take this step. Sales roles sit across every industry so offer the opportunity for you to experience a completely new industry, company structure and culture. 

Sales jobs also allow for flexible working, offer great work perks and generous salary and benefits packages. Explore our sales salary guides to find out exactly what you could be earning throughout a career in sales. 

3.    In-house learning and development 

Do you still want to teach but just not as a teacher? Outside the educational sector, individuals within companies are constantly learning, not just on the job but also through planned training sessions hosted by their organisations. 
These take place either at external facilities or through their own team of in-house trainers. While the content and level of learning will be very different, the fundamental abilities required to teach others new skills remain which is what teachers are great at. If this is of interest to you, consider upskilling in this area. 

Take a look through our live learning and development roles to see if it’s something that might suit your interests. 

4.    Digital copywriting 

Do you possess exceptional writing and editing skills? As a teacher, it is likely you do, but if you have an especially notable flair for the creative why not put your talent to use. 

Whether you are interested in becoming an independent author or working for a company as a copywriter, your experience as a teacher will have sharpened your literacy skills significantly, which makes you a particularly attractive candidate. 

View our current copywriter roles to see if this is a suitable step for you. 

5.    Editing 

Especially adept in grammar, punctuation and spelling? Similar to a profession in writing, or part of a career in writing, an editor is responsible for the final sign off on written content, ensuring copy is grammatically sound, error-free and factually correct before publication. 

This might be as an in-house editor for website content or marketing materials, or for a publishing company working with writers to help improve their story structure throughout the writing, editing and publishing process. 

These roles sit within a number of sectors, explore your options as an Editor on the Michael Page website. 

Upskilling opportunities for ex-teachers

In addition to some of the more logical next steps you could take in your career, there are also a number of opportunities for those who are willing to invest in upskilling.

Whether this is via an online course or formal training programme, combined with your experience as a teacher, upskilling is a great next move for anyone considering a career shift. 

What’s next? 

Of course, every professional has their own unique skills, interests and experiences which can make it difficult to determine roles every ex-teacher is suited to but teaching is a well-respected profession and employers recognise the value that such individuals can bring to their team.

Upload your CV to match your skills with the jobs most relevant to you. Or if you’re interested in finding out more about working for PageGroup as a recruitment consultant find out more below. 

WORK WITH US