Why You Should Hire Career Changers as Teachers


| by Fayth Buriff

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My first job, at 15 years old, was detailing cars.  

Then I was a server at a pizza restaurant, a customer-service rep, a Certified Nursing Assistant, a bank teller, and a small-business owner. 

Then at 32 years old, I started my first teaching job. 

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects an average of more than 200,000 open K-12 teaching jobs each year over the next decade. As many as 3 in 10 teachers may look for a new job this school year, according to a Pew Research Center survey, which means school leaders need to look more and more to people like me — career changers — to fill open teaching spots. 

And that’s not a bad thing. The traditional path to teaching is great, but career changers can make excellent teachers as well. While they may initially lack traditional classroom experience or pedagogy, career changers do have years and years of life experience.  

Who better to teach math than a former architect — someone who can finally answer that age-old question: “When am I ever going to use this?” 

Who better to teach history than a former museum curator? Or biology than a former doctor?  

Below are areas where career changers shine as teachers, areas where they may struggle, and how you as school leaders can best recruit, support, and retain them.

Where Career Changers Shine 

I’ve always wanted to be a teacher. It was my dream starting back in the third grade, it just didn’t work out until later in my career. But each job I had before I became a teacher taught me something invaluable for the classroom.  

When I was a CNA in a nursing home, I learned how to be nurturing and put other’s needs before mine. There were plenty of times I was hungry or ready for my break, but a patient needed me, so I put them first. (If that’s not daily life for a teacher — putting student needs above your own — I don’t know what is.) 

When I was a bank teller, I learned how to be kind to people even when they weren’t being kind to me. Later, that helped me better communicate with students, parents, and other teachers. I learned to allow grace for what someone else may be dealing with, because you truly never know. 

As a business owner, running a natural health center with my husband, I learned about taxes, payroll, and how to look at the big picture. Every single job taught me something. And at every stop, I learned the value of hard work and perseverance, that you get out what you put in, and how to collaborate with different types of people. 

Here’s my point: Just because someone doesn’t have a set number of years of classroom experience doesn’t mean they don’t have years of experience that will benefit them in the classroom. Career changers, because they’re coming from all kinds of different backgrounds, will have diverse and creative perspectives. They’ll have new ideas, fresh energy, and innovative solutions that will make your school stronger.  

Where Career Changers May Struggle 

The No. 1 struggle for career changers (and honestly, if you ask me, the No. 1 struggle for any new teacher) is classroom management. Your career changer will have an idea in her head for how her classroom will run, but her 20 kindergarten students will have 20 different ideas. 

Career changers may also struggle with learning school lingo (the alphabet soup of educational acronyms) or with formative assessment, those quick checks, fist to 5, to see where students are on a certain topic or skill. 

This will all get better with experience, but since career changers may not have that traditional teaching education, here are 5 strategies to help: 

#1 Provide a Strong Mentor 

This is essential. Make sure your career changer is paired with a teacher who has been in the classroom for a while and can share their wisdom and experience.  

#2 Provide a School Guide  

This should cover basic routines, procedures, and expectations. A lot of what seems obvious to you will be completely new for a career changer, so having it written down will give them confidence and make them more comfortable.  

#3 Create a Classroom Management Plan 

Have your career changer write out a list of the routines and procedures they’ll use in their classroom. Then have them expand on it, and expand on it, and expand on it some more. 

It may seem like you’re overdoing it, but when a teacher doesn’t have strong classroom management, they lose time on task. They’ll have students who are struggling because they can’t focus in a chaotic environment. And eventually, the teacher will want to give up.  

#4 Support Teacher Certification 

Clearly lay out the steps to certification and support your career changers through the process. Help them find a quality EPP and consider covering their tuition if you have the budget. 

(Note: If more than 30 teachers in your district need a professional certification, Moreland University will offer a discounted tuition rate.) 

#5 Reflect and Regularly Adjust 

This is something we build into the curriculum at Moreland. We teach teachers to be reflective and to think critically about what’s working and what isn’t.  

Make sure your career changers understand it’s OK to fail — that’s how we learn. They’ll have bad days. They’ll have days where they think, Maybe I’m not cut out for this. It’s important for them to know that you believe in them, that you support them, and that they can and will improve.

How to Recruit Career Changers 

If you’re still with me, you can see how career changers are a key solution to school success. You’re on board with hiring them. But how do you get them to apply in the first place?  

Here’s my advice:  

Focus on the Benefits 

I’m not talking about salary and health insurance. I’m talking about the deeper benefits we get from teaching: a meaningful career, the chance to make a difference that lasts generations, the chance to help motivate, inspire, and guide students. 

For career changers, try to connect those benefits to their motivation for their initial career. For example, maybe someone became an attorney for the chance to promote justice. As a teacher, he could teach students about justice and equity. He could run a just classroom, ensuring every student has an equal chance for success. 

Maybe someone became a doctor to help people. As a teacher, she could help students develop healthy habits and lifestyles. Instead of treating a sickness at the hospital, she could teach her students how best to protect and care for themselves on the front end.  

Promote the Possibility 

A lot of my work now is with international teachers, and I frequently see what we call “trailing spouses.” One spouse moves overseas to teach, and their partner follows. Eventually, the partner realizes teaching is an option for them, too. 

I think this concept applies in the U.S. as well. There are a lot of people who would make excellent teachers and are passionate about helping young people, they just don’t realize teaching is an option for them. That’s why it’s imperative to make it clear, on your website, on social media, and to your current teaching staff, that you welcome career changers.  

Tell them you’ll support them through earning their professional certification, that your district is a great place to work, and they should apply today.


Moreland University partners with school districts across the country to help career changers earn professional teaching certifications. Click here to learn more about how we could support you and your teachers with our online, 9-month EPP.

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