After years of learning the craft, applying for your first teaching job feels like the realisation of a life-long ambition for some people.
The application process itself is the final step and one that you will not want to stumble on after the journey you have already taken.
Know your audience
At this point you are no longer writing to impress university tutors, pupils or even yourself. You are writing to the headteacher of the recruiting school and you will want to tailor your qualities accordingly.
Most headteachers would be far more willing to consider applications who had displayed some level of interest in the school itself, rather than just the specific teaching job on offer. If you have drafted a perfect cover letter that highlights all your achievements, carefully listing the recommendations you have amassed during your training, but then used a near identical copy for every application, you are not giving your employment prospects a fair chance.
Be particularly careful about using templates you find online. They will end up being counterproductive, with many heads admitting if they receive two applications with similar structures and an identical sentence or two, they dismiss both.
Know your objectives
The ultimate aim of your application is to get you a teaching job. However, if you break this down, you'll be able to construct a more tangible checklist of sub aims that you can build your application around.
First, you need to create enough of a good impression to get you to the interview stage. This is basically a process of checking that you include nothing that could discount you - including typos or flaws in your knowledge.
Next, you'll want to ensure the piece of paper the head and governors are reading is capable of influencing them to visualise you in the role they are advertising. To do this, closely match your experience to their specific details in the job description.
Finally, the application needs to not get you sacked after you get the job, so it must be honest. Sell yourself, don't lie about yourself.
Know the form
Government advises schools not to ask for CVs - although some may still do. Instead, your initial vacancy search is likely to be meet by an application form. Practice filling it out if this needs to be done by hand and get to know all sections of the form before you start writing anything at all.
Always list any achievements or experience in order of relevancy. This will ensure that your application is not bypassed even though you have the requisite skills.
Most forms are concluded by a statement (and if not you should include the following information in your covering letter).
Pay attention to the guidelines. If the school asks for two pages, it means somewhere between 1.5 and two pages, not a paragraph and type it unless it is specifically stated it should be handwritten. Build your response around the pointers given by the school, but use this as a final chance to emphasise your skills or address any qualities that you may have that you have been unable to document so far.
Be keen to get across why they need you, rather than vice-versa, although you will want to include your positive research about the school at this point.
End on a bright, but formal note and keep a copy of the form for yourself because hopefully, you'll be asked questions about it fairly soon.
