Sometimes, the inspiration you need to make a career change doesn’t come from within or reading a book (or blog or website). Sometimes, inspiration comes from hearing from other people on similar journeys.

For teachers making a career change, hearing instructional design success stories from former teachers may be the nudge you need to revise your resume and apply for jobs outside of the classroom. Knowing other ex-teachers who’ve successfully transitioned into instructional design often inspires others to take that next step!

This phenomenon is the reason we started the Leaving the Classroom podcast. We wanted to share instructional design success stories from former teachers and create a hub for instructional design inspiration for unhappy teachers who wish to find a new career. Keep reading for a highlight of three of our most recent former teacher spotlights for a glimpse into real-life challenges, triumphs, and advice from teachers who have been in your shoes.

Jill Kelly, Project Coordinator

Jill Kelly left a 12-year teaching career to become a sales development representative at an EdTech company, leading her toward her current role as a project coordinator. Despite enjoying being a middle school teacher, Jill had a nagging feeling that she just couldn’t do it anymore. So, she began exploring the possibility of a teacher career change away from the education field. After hours spent perfecting her resume and cover letter to display her strengths and experience in a new light, she landed a job in sales in an industry adjacent to education but with an entirely different role.

The Challenge

Jill knew she couldn’t return to teaching but had no idea how to prove her transferable skills could benefit a sales role in a different environment. She analyzed dozens of job applications until she identified the common traits hiring managers were looking for. Then, she built her resume and cover letter around proving her strength in these attributes, presenting herself as a spectacular candidate for the positions despite her experience in a different role.

Triumphs

With preparation, interview skills practice, perfecting her resume and cover letter, and an intentional understanding of the role and company she was interviewing with, Jill could ace the interview and prove her value to the team. Jill spent 1.5 years as an entry-level sales development representative before moving on to a project coordinator position.

Advice

Jill lists communication, presentation, and organization as the three most essential skills that successfully took her from a teacher to a project coordinator. “As teachers, you communicate with students, parents, administrators, other teachers… And it’s the same thing with this role. You have to communicate both verbally and in writing to your clients and really make sure you’re on the same page.” She also emphasizes the importance of networking when searching for a new opportunity as a teacher making a career change. “Connecting with others who have made the transition can provide guidance and support.”

Melissa Chapman, Project Manager

Melissa Chapman started her career as a middle school Spanish and social studies teacher. Her first year of teaching began during COVID-19, an understandably tough and confusing time for educators and students. She discovered project management after searching for job opportunities for teachers wanting a career change. She earned her Project Management Professional certification and landed a job in project management.

The Challenge

Melissa’s greatest challenge was quickly learning (during her first year) that COVID-19 had completely upended the teaching industry. What she thought her job would look like, changed completely thanks to a worldwide pandemic that changed almost everything about daily life.

Triumphs

Through her experience transitioning into a new career, Melissa has become involved in bettercareer.org and the Project Management Accelerator Program, where she has created an entire curriculum to help anyone wanting to change careers or pivot into project management.

Advice

“So it is such a paradigm shift, to have to change your resume, right, from a teacher resume to something totally different. So that took a lot of time and thinking and being proactive in figuring out how do I translate my teacher resume into a project manager resume and it took time.” Melissa created two versions of her resume: one for project management and one for customer success. The significant difference between the two was how she extracted her experience to be relevant to the given industry and position.

Jared Speight, Instructional Designer

Jared Speight was a teacher for 14 years, teaching English Language Arts and Social Studies in middle and high school. He was also involved in adult learning, teaching adjunct classes to incarcerated adults through his local community college. Jared loved teaching and wanted to be a teacher, but COVID changed everything. Suddenly, teaching became toxic to his mental and physical health. Jared narrowed his focus and began identifying skills he enjoyed to find his new job in instructional design.

The Challenge

Once Jared’s exhaustion peaked, he began mass-applying for jobs. Over the Thanksgiving and winter breaks, he applied for 120 jobs and received just one email about the potential for an interview. Exasperated, he knew he had to change his strategy and narrow his job search to more relevant roles for his experience level.

Triumphs

Jared successfully narrowed his job search and identified his strongest transferable skills for other industries, though he credits his portfolio with helping him land a new job. “I think it’d be impossible to get a job in instructional design right now without some kind of portfolio and work samples you can share.” By showcasing his work on software challenges within the eLearning community, Jared built a portfolio to shine a light on his abilities. 

Advice

Jared encourages teachers wanting a career change to look at their skills and how they can be transferred to different career opportunities. “Really [take] time to analyze what an instructional designer does, and if that really is a good fit for you, because some teachers would be terrible instructional designers, but they would be incredible project managers for a number of other things.”

Instructional Design Success Stories: Write Your Own

If you’re ready to write your own instructional design success story and make a career change from teacher to instructional designer, get started with IDOL On Demand Bootcamp. 

IDOL On Demand Bootcamp combines everything you need to know to start a career in instructional design, including on-demand training, workshops, templates and tools, and certification. Perfect for busy people who work full-time, IDOL On Demand Bootcamp can be completed in six months or less and students have landed jobs making $80,000 or above in less than a month after completing the courses.

Sign up for IDOL On Demand Bootcamp today for a jumpstart on your teacher career change and start a new career as an instructional designer!