You might also want to consider gaining some relevant experience by becoming a substitute teacher. Or you could even volunteer to teach classes for a non-profit organization. Many of them have educational programs as part of their activities.
I've thought about that. Maybe I'll give that a try.
I'm in a somewhat similar position at the moment, finishing grad school for math, looking for work in finance/analyst type positions, but all my job experience is teaching/tutoring.
Cool, I hope this thread helps you too.
As for an adjunct position, I'm not sure about in History, but as I understand they tend not to be super competitive.
That's comforting.
Did you not have an assistantship in grad school to get teaching experience? Because that's the experience you really need, without it teaching jobs will be harder to get in general.
No, I never got selected to do anything like that.
Buy you shouldn't have any problems, really. Nobody expects field experience if you just finished your studies.
I really hope so. But a lot of the "entry" level positions indicate that they want or at least prefer work experience. Maybe that's just there to weed out easily-deterred people ( a pretty crappy practice if there ever was one, why shouldn't I be able to look at the job requirements and tell if I'm eligible or not, and reliably be able to "not waste my time" on something I wouldn't get?), or maybe it's a very honest statement, and they'll give me a chance to get my foot in the door because I look promising or something...
While in graduate school, did you serve as a teaching assistant (or even a reader, or grader) for a course (or somehow shadow one of your professors)? If so, stress that. Make that or those experiences your central qualifications.
No. I've never been a teaching assistant or grader or whatever. I tried, but I was never accepted. I've never been published (by something I would put on a CV, lol), never been invited to one of those conferences to present or whatever, just classes and degrees.
All the "help" stuff I've ever found about this, as sparse as it is, basically just says "be awesome for the position, and you'll get it."
...
You can even mention courses you've designed, but not yet had a chance to teach. You should in any case have (as follow up, not to be included as part of your vita) syllabi for all of the kinds of core survey courses you might be asked to teach in your field. Rough will do. Here's the books I'd have students buy; here's the sequence I'd have them do the readings; here's the core idea I'd like them to walk away with as a result of this content and arrangement. Your vita can include a one-line summation of those syllabi, i.e. of how you would teach such courses interestingly.
That's a pretty brilliant idea! I've pondered that off and on over the years, I suppose I should get to work and do that!
Along these lines, and in your vita or cover letter, you can beef things up by having a (succinct) "teaching philosophy," two sentences probably. It shows that, even if you haven't taught yet, you've been thinking carefully about how you will teach.
And this I have. I've been paying attention to my professors' different teaching styles ever since I started college, noting what I like and don't like, what works to keep people interested, active in the discussion (since if done wrong, history can be
very dry and snore-worthy, and I've seen that too), and to remember the material, so I'll have to digest that into a more useable formula than "stuff I remember about my profs," lol.
Now to your core question. You might have a section on your vita where you list "Other Employment." You of course have to have something from within academe in order to use that word, "other." Give the dates (as BC says, to show that you do stick with jobs and they with you), then, in one sentence per listed job, stress skills from that work that you think do bear on teaching. You're on the right track with "on task" (but don't say "under control"; humanities folks don't like talk of controlling other people). You're not changing industries; you're changing from industry to academe. (I know your subject line was just designed to elicit broader comment). Communication skills, organization skills, interpersonal skills.
The bolded part is important, I think. Good to note.
Good luck.
Don't forget to mention that you've worked successfully with some of the most perverse, recalcitrant and closed-minded pupils imaginable . . . here on CFC:OT
I've done worse than that: I've managed a few dozen high school brats whose daddies made them get a job because "it'll be good for them."
So first, I'd be wary of what almost anybody else here says, because the rules for resumes entering academia are different than they are for industry, and may vary again if you're looking outside the US.
Noted. As for now, I'm only looking at jobs inside the US. In most European countries there is no such thing as a community college, which is where I would have to teach, not having a Phd.
The first thing you need to do is talk to the career services department at your university, and then start talking to peers in your field of study. Your rules may be very different from somebody who is say, trying to get a job in finance.
I hadn't thought about that. I'll give them a buzz.
If you would switch from academia to industry I would clearly recommend mentioning former jobs. In Germany people who have never worked in a job outside academia are often seen a bit "otherworldly". So other jobs will show that you know how to work in the "real" world. At least that's the way it is here when changing form academia to industry.
As mentioned before it also matters how much other qualifications you have and how important they are compared to the jobs you did before. Most people will at some point of their live have much more qualifications and certificates than any HR manager is interested in. (I've seen applications with 30+ certificates) The important thing is to find out which are relevant to the job you apply for.
In your case you could just mention X years of experience in gastronomy (service and management) without adding too much detail. Of course you should be prepared for further questions when it comes to an interview.
This seems to be the consensus.
Thanks guys!