How to ensure your preschool teacher resume stands out (with bonus interview questions!)

What is important to go on your resume to ensure you land that ideal preschool teacher job?

I have a lot of experience recruiting and working with preschool teachers – good and bad – and below are my top tips for completing your preschool teacher resume. I hope they help you on your journey to the next level!

• Broad areas to cover in your preschool teacher resume (areas for you to think about):
• Your individual goals – both for now and where you would like to be in 5 years’ time
• Your personal teaching philosophy (you can view mine here)
• Documentation on the whole cycle of planning – how you go about planning for both your group and individual children?
• Your approach to lesson planning
• Background information – what would employers like to know about you?
• Situational examples – in each scenario, think about what happened, and what did you do?
• Professional qualifications and training – even if you think it’s not that relevant, it might be of interest to a potential employer
• Professional development you have undertaken – this demonstrates an ongoing commitment to improving your craft, and employers love it
• Relevant experience with the process of preschool accreditation (only 10% of US preschools are accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children – so experience in this is highly desirable)

I include below some sample interview questions that I have asked and been asked over the years. If you prepare responses to each of these questions, you will be extremely well-placed to perform at a high level and nail that interview.

Example Interview Questions for Preschool Teachers:

1. Could you briefly describe the relevant experience you have that equips you as a preschool teacher?

2. How does your programming reflect the contemporary approaches to curriculum and programming?

3. What strategies do you use to guide children’s behavior?

4. A colleague comes to you to inform you about a problem she has with another team member – what do you do?

5. Describe how you interact with children in the playroom.

6. How do you ensure that children’s health needs are met/promoted within the center?

7. What is your understanding of equal employment opportunity and how does it relate to children’s education?

8. What is meant by ‘duty of care’?

9. What is meant by ‘OH&S’?

10. What records does the authorized supervisor need to keep on a daily/weekly basis?

11. Describe what you would do in an emergency evacuation (e.g. bomb scare/ fire).

12. How do you deal with an irate parent (step-by-step)?

13. How do you deal with staff conflict (step-by-step)?

14. What is your experience with special needs?

15. How do you undertake behavioral management?

16. How would you handle the departure of a parent when leaving an upset child?

17. What is meant by ‘cultural diversity’?

18. What does confidentiality mean to you and how is it important?

19. What special talents/passion can you bring to the job?

20. How do you involve parents in your day-to-day programming?

These are twenty top questions – have you been asked anything at an interview that isn’t included above? I’d love to hear them and include them on the list.

Thanks for reading, I hope this gives you some ideas about what you can do to succeed in your next interview and make sure you wow your interviewers with your preparation and experience.