5 Ways to Discover Your Next Career Move
When you’re looking for new careers for teachers, it can be hard to know where to start. When I was a teacher, I thought my only options were to stay a teacher forever or become an administrator.
I definitely wasn’t interested in becoming a principal and I didn’t know if I could be a lifetime classroom teacher. But I didn’t know what to do instead. Luckily, I found there are so many things teachers can do beyond the classroom.
In fact, there are so many options for alternative careers for teachers that it can be hard to know where to start. These five tips can help you to get clarity around your next career move.
Ways to Discover New Careers for Teachers
1. Tune into what you enjoy
If you’re thinking of exploring new careers for teachers, reflect on what you enjoy doing.
Consider these questions:
What is it about teaching that you really love?
What would you miss if you weren’t a teacher?
What do you feel like you’re really good at?
When do you feel most like yourself?
Tune into what you love and imagine if your job was focused on this when exploring jobs for teaching degrees. For example, if you love working with new teachers, maybe a new career option could be coaching beginning teachers.
Or if you live for coming up with innovative learning experiences, you might look into curriculum design as an alternative career. Whatever you do, try to keep focused on the positive. Instead of thinking, “Oh, I wouldn’t ever be able to make money doing ______,” think, “How could I make money doing _______?”
2. Talk to others in the field
Thinking about what lights us up can give us clues into how we should spend our days, but sometimes we need to see models of folks actually doing these things. There are lots of educators out there who left the classroom to explore new careers for teachers. Try to find people that you can talk to about their experience.
You can search LinkedIn using your ideal job title, then reach out to see if people would be willing to answer questions. Even if they aren’t available, you can stalk people’s profiles to gain insight about their career trajectories.
Consider reaching out to any colleagues, former colleagues, friends, or other contacts in fields that you are interested in. Prepare a few questions to ask them and see what insight you can gain about the best careers for former teachers through your conversation. If people take time to talk with you, please try to return the favor in the future. We all learn best when we help each other.
3. Acknowledge your hesitations
Change is hard! Instead of talking yourself out of trying new careers for teachers, acknowledge your hesitations. Notice when your brain tries to convince you not to try something. Then, if it’s really something you want to do, try it anyway! Talk about or write down your hesitations and worries about making a new career move. Just getting out our feelings can make a big difference.
When considering a change, we sometimes start “forward thinking,” imagining all the ways taking steps forward will change our lives. When applying for a new position, we can suddenly start thinking about how we will have to leave our schools, resign from our positions, and all the feelings that come with that. Instead of thinking too far in the future, take things one step at a time. Try to make the next best decision at each stage of your journey.
4. Think outside of the box
When it comes to exploring alternative careers for teachers, give yourself permission to think big. If you’ve always dreamed about a certain role, but don’t see it existing in the world, that doesn’t mean it can’t exist! After reflecting on your interests and skills, try writing your ideal job description. Don’t be afraid to come up with something out of the box!
There is only one you and you have unique skills to bring to the table across many new careers for teachers. After coming up with your ideal position, search around and see if you can find anything similar. If not, think about how you might be able to pitch or create a position similar to the one you dreamed up. You could even turn your idea into your own education business!
5. Take a chance
Don’t give up before you try. Actually, don’t give up at all! It’s so easy to talk ourselves out of trying new things, especially when those new things feel as big as exploring careers for teachers not in the classroom.
Making a big change can be scary, uncomfortable, and nerve wracking. But it can also be amazing! Try replacing doubt with the question “What if it was amazing?” Even if things don’t work out the way you planned, with the right mindset you can learn and grow along the way.
If you feel stuck, try to imagine the advice you’d give a struggling student. You likely have guided students to success by using many different strategies and approaches. Try to do the same thing with yourself! Don’t give up, just keep taking risks and being kind to yourself until you accomplish your goals.
Get Started with New Careers for Teachers
If you feel ready to start exploring new careers for teachers, it can still be a little overwhelming to know where to start. Beyond these five steps, there are plenty of other ways to begin working towards jobs outside of the classroom.
You could start a side hustle, teach online in addition to your day job or start trying out some education writing or educational consulting.
If you want more support on this journey, then check out our Beyond the Classroom course. You’ll learn how to make a living outside of the classroom and join a growing community of like-minded educators who are expanding their impact in education.