Job application instructions

Question

I’m looking at a credentialed teaching application.

On the page where all of the jobs are listed for the school district (not just teaching jobs, jobs like police officers, principals, are also included) it says “it’s important to include all relevant work experiences.” I point this out because the job description doesn’t say “list credentialed teaching experience,” but I’m thinking it says it’s important to list “relevant work experience” on the main page because they post jobs other than teaching, so maybe that’s why they don’t say “list credentialed teaching jobs only.”

If I don’t have any credentialed teaching experience, should I just include non credentialed teaching experience I have? There are non credentialed teaching jobs I don’t want to post.

I’ve dissected the words relevant, similar and related, and found they are very different. I believe I have non credentialed teaching experience that are similar or related to the job I’m applying for, but they aren’t relevant.

For instance, if I coached a percussion group 6 hours a week after school, I think that’s similar to the music credential job I’m applying for since I am teaching music, but it’s not relevant because the credentialed music job I’m applying for involves job duties I’ve never performed before like, teaching wind and string instruments (I’ve never taught these instruments before) and it involves classroom teaching, grading, conducting a band, etc.

It it safe to say the word “relevant” is subjective, in which one could decide if a work experience is relevant to the job they are applying for?

Answer 1

Yes, the term relevant is subjective, but I think you are a mistaken on a few things.

Firstly, just because the role is for a credentialed teaching application, it doesn't mean they only want people with experience with "credentialed teaching", they want people that have the suitable credentials.

Whether you have these credentials or not is very separate from your work experience. You should make sure you have the suitable credentials before you apply.

Even a fully qualified, credentialed teacher, with a rich experience, would still list "non-credentialed jobs".

The term relevant is relating to the application process. They want you to list jobs that may influence how they feel about your suitability. The terms similar and related refer to the role itself.

If they had said "We will not consider uncredentialed teaching jobs as work experience", they they become irrelevant as they simply will not influence their decision. They do not say that however.

With your example of teaching, you are mistaken. There are elements of teaching percussion group that make it similar to teach teaching wind or string instruments. Namely that you are teaching, motivating and interacting with students. It would be advisable to include that because those similarities make it relevant to the application process.

Of course, leaving large gaps in your work history is likely to be questioned. So you should have good answers there. If they question a gap in your resume, and you say "yeah, I worked at a school then", they will be very interested to know why that wasn't on your resume.