More and more teachers are becoming disillusioned with the incredibly long hours, and small pay packet they receive at the end of the day.
Not only this, but teaching can be tiring.
You spend hours pouring over details in order to meet curriculum guidelines, conduct endless marking in your spare time, and with constant new initiatives pouring in from school boards, it feels almost impossible to keep up.
If this is something that you’ve been battling for a while, then the good news is that you don’t have to anymore.
If you’ve been considering leaving teaching and pursuing another career, we’d absolutely encourage you to do so.
Because of all of the skills you’ve built up during your training, and employment period, you’re actually super well matched for a number of different roles.
If you’ve been on the hunt for some inspiration, and are looking for some alternative career options, then we’re here to tell you that you’ve come to the right place.
Below, we’ve compiled a list of what we believe to be some of the very best alternative career paths for teachers.
To find out more, simply keep reading below, as we take a closer look.
Transitional Skills Gained From Teaching
Now, before we jump straight in and take a look at some career paths which are available to you, first, we’re going to be taking a look at some of the many transferable skills you’ve gained during your time teaching. We jump in below.
Problem Solving
One of the key transferable skills that you gain whilst teaching is problem solving. Even if you’ve only been teaching for a little while, you will have quickly picked up this skill.
It means that you’re able to analyze situations, and find practical solutions. This may have shone through when you were aiding a struggling student, or dealt with a gap in the curriculum.
Either way, problem solving is one of your key skills.
Management Skills
Many teachers won’t realize that they’ve actually gained a ton of management skills whilst teaching. They won’t view the classroom as a team per say, but it really is.
You’re in charge of managing a classroom full of unruly students. What could be more difficult than that?
Presentation Skills
When companies are looking to hire people, one of the key things that they look out for is presentation skills.
Presentation skills are incredibly important, and they ensure that you’re able to deliver information to groups of people in a well paced and informative manner.
This skill is something that you’re doing each and every day as a teacher.
Time Management
Another great skill that you can put on your resume is time management.
Teachers have a hundred different tasks that they have to juggle throughout the day, as well as sticking to the routine of the classroom. This all means that you’re excellent at managing your time efficiently.
Communication Skills
Let’s not forget that you’re working directly with others all day, and that sometimes you need to deliver complex lessons in an incredibly easy to understand manner, and help your students to understand various concepts.
In order to be a teacher, you must have good communication skills, and this means that you’re highly employable, as it’s something that almost every company covers.
Organization
In order to be a teacher, you need to be extremely organized, and this means preparing classes for the following day, and making sure that all homework is marked and ready.
You can put this down on your resume, as you have this skill in bounds.
Empathy
This is a skill that many people brush over, but it’s incredibly important in the workplace in order to develop good relationships with those around us.
As a teacher, you will be continually empathizing with the problems of your students, and helping them with personal as well as academic issues.
Developing these empathetic skills ensures that you’re able to work effectively with other people.
Essentially, as you can see from our list above, there are a ton of different skills that you will have acquired as a teacher.
Most of these skills we won’t even consider at first, but when we actually sit down and think about them, we actually find that we practice them each and every day.
All of these skills make you highly employable, and can be transferred to a business setting.
Things like organization, time management, communication, and presentation skills are all things which are covered by potential employers.
If you’re tired of your teaching job, then there’s no need to keep pursuing it, as there are a whole host of other opportunities out there for you.
Less Talked About Reasons Why Teachers Quit
Apart from the typical overwhelming aspects of the job, such as being overworked and underpaid, there are actually lots of additional reasons why teachers decide to quit teaching.
Take a read below, and we can guarantee that you’ll relate to all of these. They’re points which are driving teachers the world over to pursue a different career path.
1. No Career Advancement
This is one of the key lesser talked about reasons why teachers decide to quit their classroom jobs. There is just so little opportunity for advancement in terms of their careers.
Many teachers will be pleased with their jobs at the beginning, when they enter it after graduating, as they find that they have a lot more money than their friends.
But, as time moves on, they discover that there’s actually very little opportunity for career growth, and that everyone else is beginning to climb the corporate ladder, and earning a whole lot more than them.
Where are teachers supposed to go from here? There is only one real opportunity for advancement, and that is the Principal role.
For many people, this doesn’t appeal to them at all, meaning that they find themselves completely stuck.
2. Breaks Aren’t Enough
One of the key misconceptions about teaching is that it’s a good profession to get into because of the long breaks that you have throughout the year.
But those who teach will know that this simply isn’t the case.
You still have work to do throughout the summer, and with the curriculum constantly changing, it can be incredibly difficult to keep up.
You’ll probably find that unlike resting during the holidays as you should be, you’re anxiously trying to get to grips with a constant influx of new materials.
Teachers require longer breaks than most professions, simply because their jobs aren’t a simple case of 9 – 5. They spend their evenings marking endless papers, and preparing for the following day.
But, the breaks themselves just aren’t enough.
3. Skeleton Crew Staff
Another reason why many people decide to quit their teaching job is simply because there aren’t enough of them to go around.
Because of the poor working conditions, more and more teachers are deciding to give up their teaching jobs, and pursue other careers.
However, this means that there simply isn’t enough staff to go around, and often we have to pitch in with other classes.
This can be incredibly draining, and leave you feeling as though you’re being stretched too thin.
4. Lack Of Mental Health Resources
This one is quite a serious issue that many people don’t take into account when it comes to the job. But, there is a serious lack of mental health resources for teachers who are struggling.
With so many struggles and responsibilities that come with the job, teachers need somebody to speak to as an outlet if they’re finding things difficult.
But, with nobody to provide support, who are they supposed to turn to when things get too hard?
Many people quit teaching simply because it’s not worth sacrificing their mental health, and they’d rather be in a career with manageable expectations.
The Very Best Alternative Jobs For Teachers Who Are Tired Of Teaching
Now that we’ve covered why teachers decide to quit their teaching careers, as well as some of the most important skills you’ve obtained in your role, we can move on to the exciting part.
Below, we’re going to be taking a look at some of the different career roles which are attainable for you.
We’ve provided the job title itself, as well as some information about each different one, which will help to give you an idea of what it involves.
If any of these interest you, we’d recommend doing some background research to find out more about it.
This will help to give you a better understanding of the role, as well as helping you to prepare your resume accordingly. To find out more, simply keep reading below.
1. Any Degree Based Job
We’re starting off our list in incredibly general terms, and just pointing out to you that pretty much any degree based job is within your reach.
This gives you an incredible sense of freedom in terms of what kind of field you’d like to pursue, and in your time at college, your degree will have covered a number of different skills that employers are searching for.
We bet that many of you reading that didn’t realize that although almost every graduate role looks for a degree, over 60 percent of these roles don’t specify what kind of degree you need.
Take a moment to think about that.
Most companies won’t care what your degree was based on, just that you’re able to demonstrate the skills that they’re looking for, and, as we discussed above, teaching is a career that has a wide range of transferable skills, perhaps more than any other.
2. Standardized Test Developer
Many people don’t consider this role as a career option, because it’s not widely advertised as an option after you’ve completed your teaching degree.
This role is great for those who want more of a creative role, as standardized test developers are responsible for developing tests for their students, and coming up with different questions.
The standardized test developer will also rely a lot on analytics for their work.
You’ll be required to check out what’s working with students, and what they’re responding to in terms of outcome, as well as things which aren’t going as great.
You’ll get to listen to real feedback from teachers and parents about what they think of the tests, and feel as though you’re making a positive difference.
If this sounds like something that you’d be interested in, this career is directly related to your current profession.
However, bear in mind that to be a standardized test developer, you will need to complete a short Master’s course in order to do so.
3. HR Specialist
Another role that is very much linked to teaching is a HR based role. HR is all based around people, and helping them to feel safe and comfortable within their jobs.
As a teacher, this is something that you will have been responsible for on a regular basis, and as a result, HR might be a good fit for you.
HR jobs are also widely available, because every single company requires a HR specialist. One of the most appealing things about a HR role is that you get to make a positive impact in other people’s lives.
If something in the company is affecting the workers, you’re able to report it to management, and provide a continuous stream of feedback about what’s working and what’s not.
In addition to this, you’ll also be highly adept at picking up all of the paperwork based tasks which come with the role. With all of the papers involved with teaching, HR will feel like a breeze.
Depending on the specific HR role that you go into, you may need some further training along the line.
4. Educational Consultant
If you’re looking for a job related to teaching that’s incredibly well paid, then we’d like to introduce you to the educational consultant role.
This job is great for those who still want to be involved in the learning process, and helping children, but don’t want the day to day stresses of teaching.
With an educational consultant role, you’re helping to affect and shape young people’s minds in an incredibly positive manner.
Educational consultants are responsible for doing just that, consulting various institutions in all manner of different ways.
Your role will vary depending on which particular institution you’re working for, but some of the most common tasks involve providing teachers with help and guidance in regards to their teaching style, as well as being a direct link for principals.
You will work as a link between the curriculum in place, as well as the real impact that it’s making in schools.
You may therefore need to spend time traveling to different institutions, but generally, your job will be office based.
5. Dental Hygienist
Some people might be surprised to find this job on a list of alternative careers for teachers, but it’s actually super obtainable for you.
After all, many of the skills practiced by dentists are practiced by teachers too, including paying attention to detail, helping those around you feel at ease, and instructing and informing other people.
If you want to go down a career route that’s totally different from the one you’re pursuing now, consider looking into the job role of a dental hygienist.
Most of these roles will involve a short two year course, where you learn about all of the more specialized tasks within the job.
6. Homeschool Consultant
This is another teaching related job that’s incredibly well paid.
If you still want to make a positive impact in terms of teaching young people, but don’t want to do so in a classroom based setting, then the homeschool consultant role might be a good fit for you.
Many people haven’t heard of this job role before, and aren’t quite sure what exactly it entails. Essentially, homeschool consultants are responsible for consulting parents who homeschool their children.
It can be difficult for some parents to get to grips with the process of homeschooling, and may find it difficult to find the best methods of instruction.
As a result, they reach out to people like you, who are homeschool consultants, who can provide them with resources to refine the educational process.
Oftentimes, homeschool consultants will set up their own business, and will see multiple different clients at a time.
They will work in a group based setting, where they can help to teach parents about methods of instructing their children.
You’ll cover lots of different topics, including curriculum, lesson plans, and lesson objectives. You can help to provide parents with a clearer direction in terms of their homeschooling.
You don’t need any additional qualifications for this career path, and if you’re working independently, you can set the cost and fees yourself.
7. Marketing Specialist
If you’re looking for a job where you can be a bit more creative, and give real feedback and ideas that aren’t confined to following a particular curriculum, then we’d recommend that you start looking into marketing based roles.
Having worked as a teacher, you will have already gained a lot of insight and experience in terms of observing human behavior.
You will also be able to spot other people’s problems, and offer practical solutions. As a result, marketing is a good fit for former teachers, as it’s all based around these particular skills.
As a marketing specialist, you will be responsible for creating new, innovative advertising campaigns that will appeal to audiences.
As well as this, you will also be in charge of working directly with marketing teams and companies so that you can spread awareness about what the company has to offer.
You will observe data and analytics which will show you the impact of your campaigns, and you will be able to tweak and refine your work in future based on what’s working and what isn’t.
This is a great opportunity for people who like making a positive change, and delivering new and interesting ideas based on real feedback.
8. Curriculum Designer
Chances are that if you’ve been working as a teacher for a while, you will have some, (or many) qualms when it comes to the curriculum that you’re required to follow.
We bet that you will have spent many moments pondering over what could be improved, and why these improvements aren’t already taking place.
If this is the case, then why not have a say yourself, and start working as a curriculum designer?
As a curriculum designer, you are directly responsible for meeting the needs of students. You will be outlining and creating the learning structure that teacher’s will follow.
You can actually get creative, and use your own knowledge as a teacher to apply what works and what doesn’t in terms of curriculum.
One of the best things about the job is that you get to listen to direct feedback in terms of what’s working and what isn’t, based on what teachers and parents are saying.
You’ll be able to make real changes, and have a positive impact by hearing the feedback given by real people.
In addition to this, curriculum designers are incredibly well paid, and it’s a good career path to undertake for those who are tired of their underpaid teaching salary.
For curriculum designer roles, you will typically require a Master’s degree, which takes a few years of extra training, as well as having some experience in the classroom, which, if you’re reading this article, you will already have acquired.
9. School Psychologist
If your favorite part about your teaching role was helping the children, and getting to grips with all of their problems and anxieties, then perhaps a role in mental health is right for you?
As a school psychologist, you will be able to have an incredibly positive impact in a child’s life.
Oftentimes, it’s impossible for teachers to give their attention to one specific child at a time, simply because the classes are usually so overfilled, it’s difficult to have a real impact.
If this has frustrated you in the past, then consider looking into psychologist based roles.
As a school psychologist, you will be working one on one with the child in question, and getting to know on a very personal level that isn’t all about meeting outcomes and objectives.
You will be doing everything, from leading group meetings with children, instructing them how to take care of their mental health in a school based setting, as well as helping with serious issues such as bullying.
As a school psychologist, you can make a real impact in terms of children’s mental health.
In order to become a school psychologist, you will need a Doctorate degree that is fully licensed by the state.
10. PR Specialist
Oftentimes, those of us who are in teaching roles love to be there because we’re extroverted and enjoy interacting with other people.
We love talking and coming up with different ideas and solutions to problems together.
If you’re somebody who absolutely loves working with other people, then we’d recommend that you look into PR as a potential job role.
Those who work in PR are responsible for forming good relationships with media professionals, and the public in general. If you’re great at liaising with other individuals, then this one is a great fit for you.
As well as employing your excellent communication skills, you will also get the opportunity to show off your immense writing skills, as well as public speaking and organization skills.
You don’t necessarily have to have any additional qualifications for this particular role, just so long as you’re able to adequately demonstrate the relevant skills on your resume.
Final Thoughts
To sum up, there are a whole host of different jobs out there other than teaching that may be a great fit for you.
Take a look at the aspects of teaching that you currently enjoy, and search for jobs which require these skills. We hope that we’ve provided you with some inspiration today.
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