You might be a new teacher, an experienced professional or someone looking to change careers. You might be looking for lecturer jobs or a college management role. Whatever your goals, if you want to work in further education you will need to navigate the sometimes dreaded application form. However, there are ways of making the task easier.
A common question of further education (FE) applicants is why fill in a long application form when it’s so much easier to send in a CV and a covering letter? First, colleges reply, CVs usually get written rather generally and don’t carry enough information to match the specifics of a job that HR departments need to make the shortlisting process accurate, fair and transparent. The advice is to ruthlessly check what you’ve written is specifically relevant to the job in hand.
Most CVs are not focused on a specific post — if you have only taught in a primary school, your skills are not necessarily transferable. Your CV might say you have taught at a school but not which exam boards you taught to and at what level of course.
If applying from industry, chances are that you have very relevant transferable skills. If, say, you have long been a senior mechanic, you will likely be used to training staff and overseeing apprentices — just the sort of experience many colleges will die for. Your experience does not need to be classroom-based - you can get relevant on-the-job teacher training from your college once you land the post.
Find out even more about the college – not just from its own website and Ofsted reports, but also from sources such as local papers and forums. They’re often a good way of finding out how the college is seen by students, parents and the media. You could also do some research on the people who’ll be interviewing you – there may be profiles or background information online.
Read up on some current further education issues before your interview. It’s probably sensible to steer clear of contentious topics, but a discussion of a broad issue shows you’re interested and have done your research.
Be prepared for up to a three-month application process from interview to start date in the FE sector. The majority of job postings stay active for 30 days and then there will be a shortlisting period after this as a college looks to select suitable candidates for the interview process. Considerable time is then spent on DBS and other security checks, as well as following up references.
College job vacancies are posted throughout the year, although the main period is immediately after the Easter holidays, the latest time most people need to give notice if they wish to leave at the end of the summer term.
Many potential employers will check you out online, including on social media, and colleges aren’t any different in this regard. It goes without saying that you should make sure there’s nothing inappropriate out there, but you could also turn this to your advantage by showing that you’re contributing to education debate and knowledge. For example, you could upload presentations, case studies or textbook reviews.
Good luck with your FE job search. If you don’t land the job, it’s all good practice for next time and if you’re successful, congratulations: enjoy your new role.
AoCJobs, part of the Association of Colleges, connects teachers and support staff with schools and colleges for online job opportunities.
