[thepiesleys]

Hiyall

I have taken on board all of the precious info from the various threads and followed the given links - all useful to a degree- but- i am still not confident about what i should be putting on, or how i should be writing my NZ cv for a teaching position

I have only been teaching English at secondary level for 2 full years and 2 years part time at the same school i did my NQT at ( previously one year teaching in FE (college) and so my cv could look pretty crap on the experience front.

Should i flesh ot these 2 positions to the required 4/5 pages ( easily done as i did get a promotion to HoY and have recived a lot of in house traing cos school worked at is a licensed training school) or be a bit cheeky and include the 4/5 schools i very briefly worked in during my PGCE (placements) to make me look more 'experienced'?

I know i have seen posts from secondary teachers who have secured a job in
NZ and are waiting to be off or alredy insitu (can't find 'em) any advice from these learned people would be greatly appreciated. (yes i am creeping a bit - don't care!) and can u really get a job offer without being obsevred teaching? stiill can't get my head round that... anyway ...

bye for now

Sue Piesley

[Shazanick]

Hi Sue - shame no one has got back to you yet. I am emigrating with Sharon (my wife) and George (my 8 year old son) on the 27th October this year (God it's close now!).
In a relatively short time I've managed to wangle three interviews with Principles whilst still here in the UK. I started by sending my CV with a covering email-letter to all the colleges that I liked the sound of. I used the TKI site (punch TKI Schools Directory in to Google)where there is (obviously!) a schools directory with info about deciles, number kids on roll and links to actual college web sites (not sure if you know this already - if so, forgive me). Had very positive response across the board.
As I hadn't applied for a job here in over 10 years my CV needed a lot of updating. We bought a fantastically helpful book called 'Brilliant CV' by Jim Bright & Joanne Earl. They recommend putting together an 'achievements -focused' CV to emphasise all your positives. As a result my CV is fantastic and has been commended by just about everyone who's seen it - including the Principles who I've met with. Buy the book & after a bit of thought and tinkering you too will have a great CV. Is that any help? Nick D.

[ruthyroo]

HI there

OH is a teacher, who come here with four years experience on top of his PGCE. He just used a standard CV that listed his educational achievements and employment history and was no longer than 2 sides of A4 long. I would not advise fleshing out your CV to make it any longer than that TBH. I would certainly mention your HoY experience and list any formal training you have undergone but I wouldn't try and make all your PGCE schools look like 'jobs' - you don't need to. You could mention them under your 'educational' background as part of your PGCE - maybe they demonstrate your ability to adapt to new circumstances, to fit in a be partof a team etc. etc. TBH as an English teacher I think you will find a job with the experience you have, so don't worry about appearing inexperienced. Better to be honest about it IMHO. Good luck with the applications - a lot of schools will be advertising in the next couple of months.