When schools are looking for help using Zen Educate they see your teaching profile first. Your profile helps show schools what you can do and your past experience and education. We also include a photo as schools need to be able to identify you when you arrive at the school.
Here's 4 steps to a solid teaching profile that will increase your chance of getting work:
Include a clear and professional photo
Check that your bio reflects your strengths and experience
Add relevant experience
Add relevant education
Where to find your profile
Your profile is in the menu on the left once you sign in. If you're on your phone, just hit the menu icon in the top-left to find it.
1. Include a clear and professional photo
When we set up your profile we'll use the photo that you provide while setting up. You can easily update that with a photo of your choosing. Here are some simple tips for a helpful profile photo:
Choose one that's high quality and clearly lit — try to avoid grainy photos, or ones where the light is poor.
Make sure your face is visible and towards the centre of the photo
Aim for a professional setting — best to avoid the holiday snap, or the night out
Be sure to smile 😁
Find our more tips and things to avoid in our article: Profile photo guidelines
2. Check that your bio reflects your strengths and experience
Everyone has a free text section called 'Profile' where you can write a summary of your strengths and experience to make yourself stand out. When schools search they'll see an excerpt of your profile in their search results and they're able to dig in to read everything you want to share.
Useful profiles tell a bit about your experience, your philosophy and what you love about your work. Think of it as a mini sales pitch for your skills.
Find out what schools are looking to see in your profile: Guidance on writing your bio.
3. Add relevant experience
It's an easy decision for a school if they can see that you've worked at schools like theirs in the past. Take a moment to add some detail about the schools you've worked at and what you were covering.
If you did agency supply work for a period of time with lots of short periods in many schools then feel free to create one entry for supply work with the dates you worked.
4. Add relevant education
While your experience is the most useful information for helping schools understand your skills, your education adds an extra demonstration of your abilities. Including relevant education is worth a few minutes of your time, particularly if you are new to teaching.
What about the CV?
Think of your CV as icing on the cake for your profile — it should be an extra bonus, not the main event. It's quicker and easier for schools to scan the experience and education you've called out than dive into a pdf. So our tip is to call out everything you want to and save your CV for a little extra colour or detail.
The bottom line
Your teaching profile is what schools have to go on when deciding who to request for work. A little time spent checking yours is in good shape will likely pay off in requests for work.