Spitballs and passing notes are an all-too-common movie trope, i.e. when the substitute teacher arrives, the class goes haywire. In real life, however, substitute teachers are far from clueless fill-ins.
Substitute teachers serve as temporary replacements for full-time teachers when the regular teacher is ill or can’t come to work. They most commonly work for public or private elementary or secondary schools, although sometimes they are employed by junior colleges, technical and trade schools, employment services, and child day care services.
If you love teaching and want to step into the classroom, there is no substitute for having a strong resume. To compete and increase your chances of being hired, your resume should highlight your classroom management skills, ability to adapt to different learning environments, and experience working with diverse student populations.
As a leading resource for job seekers in all fields, Resume.io offers 500+ occupation-specific resume guides and samples, and customizable resume templates.
This guide, along with examples from a substitute teacher resume, will walk you through creating your own customized version to impress school administrators. We’ll cover the following essentials:
Before creating your substitute teacher resume, it's important to know the key sections to include. Here are the key components to include:
Just like students rely on a teacher for guidance and support, schools seek substitute teachers who can step in with ease. You'll need to show your ability to manage a classroom, keep lessons on track, and engage students—all while maintaining flexibility and patience under pressure.
School administrators often don’t have time to sift through every application they receive. Instead, they rely on ATS software to scan for keywords tied to essential teaching skills. This automated system filters out less qualified resumes before they reach a decision-maker’s desk.
That’s why incorporating relevant keywords in your substitute teacher resume is important. Your first step is to understand the qualifications and skills each school seeks. Including these terms can significantly improve your chances of passing the ATS screening. While there’s no guarantee, following this guide will boost your chances.
Now, here are the main points to consider for crafting your substitute teacher resume:
Be ready to battle the ATS
Many school systems use ATS or Applicant Tracking Systems to rank resumes against one another and send only the best to HR or the principal. Make sure your resume avoids this digital black hole by including keywords from the job description in the profile summary and skills section.
The easiest way to do this is to analyze the job listing and highlight the most important requirements—words that seem to come up often or those that are heavily emphasized. Another great source for keywords is researching the employer and learning its values, needs and educational priorities.
The chronological resume format is typically the best choice as it's widely accepted and easy for employers to follow.
However, if you're entering the workforce for the first time, shifting careers significantly, or have relevant experience outside traditional roles, consider alternative formats. A functional resume may better highlight transferable skills, training, or self-employment experience.
Just like students need clear instructions to succeed in class, your substitute teacher resume should guide principals and hiring teams with ease. Ensure your contact details are front and center—without them, they may be left guessing who’s the right fit for their classroom.
Include the following information on your substitute teacher resume:
Don’t include:
Sherri Waters
Substitute Teacher
sherri_wat_zrs@yahoo.com
(717) 205-4343
Lancaster, PA
Linkedin.com/in/sherriwaters
Sherri Waters
Subbing Master
checkmeoutparker@email.com
(717) 205-4343
1853 Bruxone Road, Lancaster, PA 17603, United States Linkedin.com/in/submaster
Just like a strong start sets the tone for the rest of the class period, a strong profile (also known as the summary) will carry the reader through the rest of your resume. A summary should give hiring managers a feel for your personality, previous experience and skills with just enough detail to make them want to keep reading for more.
Note that resumes are mostly built on bullet-point lists with little room for free-form sentences. The profile/summary is the only exception, so it might be a good place for some short-form creative writing.
The pitfall to avoid here is long-winded explanations. Evaluate each word critically, as they all need to be either action verbs (strong verbs describing concrete tasks or achievements), powerful adjectives or simply necessary for the grammatical structure.
When writing the summary, it’s important to keep the tone conversational and human-reader friendly. Just make sure to work in some keywords to make sure the ATS works in your favor.
Your summary can also answer basic questions about your preferred grade levels, subject interests or availability. Just keep in mind that flexibility is often one of a substitute’s most attractive attributes when it comes to hiring.
Need some inspiration for your summary? We have several resumes relevant to the education field:
You can find example substitute teacher resume summaries below:
Experienced and enthusiastic Substitute Teacher with a passion for teaching and inspiring others. Bringing forth several years of experience as a camp counselor and small-group instructor. Committed to learning about varying educational philosophies, and motivated by my appreciation of the human spirit and our innate desire to learn. Adept in following lesson plans and fostering a classroom environment conducive to learning. Bringing forth dedication, a love of education, and the desire to positively impact the lives of students.
It’s best to write your resume in reverse chronological order with your most recent experiences first. Work backwards until you have 2-3 relevant examples going no further back than 10-15 years. If you have enough experience in education, it’s best to leave off completely unrelated experiences, unless they demonstrate knowledge of a particular subject area you plan to teach.
Create a few bullet points under each job title keeping in mind the needs of the school when it comes to hiring subs.
A few things to ask yourself about previous roles to create strong bullets:
Example: Created lesson plans that boosted student engagement by 20% and improved behavior by 15%, as noted by teachers.
The shortage of substitute teachers is such a pressing problem that research shows more than half of teacher absences are not covered by a substitute, even when the administration knows in advance, according to Frontline Institute.
Substitute Teacher at Lancaster School System, Lancaster
July 2016 - February 2019
Assistant Teacher at Little Toad's Nursery School, Villanova
March 2013 - June 2016
Showing that you’ve worked with children before, even if it wasn’t as a teacher, will be a big advantage when it comes to securing a position as a sub. If you don’t have any teaching or childcare experience, you may also be able to demonstrate your expertise in a field relating to one of the subject areas you will be teaching.
Either way, it’s important to tailor your resume to the job description of the position you’re applying for by showing how your previous work experiences fostered the skills needed to be an excellent substitute teacher.
While education is about knowledge, teaching is about skill. Anyone who has spent a day in a classroom can tell you that the brainiest professor doesn’t always make the best teacher. That’s because having the knowledge and being able to impart it are two different processes.
The reality of substitute teaching is that your classroom management skills will be just as important as your teaching abilities. Students are likely to test your patience, and principals are looking for a substitute who can get through the day without cracking under pressure.
When writing your skills section, you will probably primarily focus on soft skills—those innate qualities that make you an effective teacher students respect. But it’s not a bad idea to throw in some hard skills, too. Hard skills are any abilities revolving around specific knowledge, computer programs, and pragmatic tasks.
If you already have some knowledge of the school system you intend to work with, you can include the specific classroom technologies that are in use, as long as you are decently comfortable with them.
If applying for a long-term position, you may already know what subject matter you will be assigned to teach. In that case, feel free to include your competencies related to that area. If you are applying for a general subbing role, you will want to keep your skill section more multipurpose.
Word cloud services like Worditout.com can make it easier to find important keywords by creating a visual representation of the most frequently used words in the job description. Then, plug them into the skills section. While the summary is a great place to cater to a human reader, the skills section is the perfect place to feed the ATS.
Here’s what the skills box looks like in our substitute teacher resume template.
The amount of education required of substitute teachers can vary widely from state to state or even between school districts. There are a number of regions which will accept substitutes with only a high school diploma, while others ask for an associate’s or bachelor’s degree as the bare minimum.
While a degree in education can be a big bonus, an unrelated degree is unlikely to stop you from being hired for a substitute position. In fact, candidates with other specialties often bring something new to the table, especially if the school district is in a position to offer some supplementary teacher training.
If you have a bachelor’s degree or higher, it’s fine to leave your high school diploma off your resume. If you have passed a teaching exam or training, it’s a great advantage to include it in this section. Additionally, some states require substitutes to pass a specific program designed to train them on teaching basics in case they come from another discipline.
Bachelor of Early Childhood Education, St. Joseph's College, Villanova
September 2019 - June 2019
High School Diploma, St. Dominic's Academy, Villanova
September 2006 - May 2010
It’s one thing to say you’re a well-organized teacher. It’s another thing to show it. One of the easiest ways to put some weight behind your words is through your resume layout and design.
The layout is like the lesson plan for the principal to follow in evaluating your skills and experience. A high-quality layout that hits just the right mark when it comes to professionalism and style is the best way to give yourself a fighting chance at landing the substitute teacher role.
In the education field, you’ll want to keep the resume simple. While one accent color may be acceptable, it’s best to keep the feel of the layout clean and free of unnecessary icons or pictures.
If you need a little help building a layout that meets the right criteria, try resume.io’s expertly crafted and HR-tested templates to get your resume on the principal’s desk in no time.
Profile
Experienced and enthusiastic Substitute Teacher with a passion for teaching and inspiring others. Bringing forth several years of experience as a camp counselor and small-group instructor. Committed to learning about varying educational philosophies, and motivated by my appreciation of the human spirit and our innate desire to learn. Adept in following lesson plans and fostering a classroom environment conducive to learning. Bringing forth dedication, a love of education, and the desire to positively impact the lives of students.
Employment history
Substitute Teacher at Lancaster School System, Lancaster
July 2016 - February 2019
Assistant Teacher at Little Toad's Nursery School, Villanova
March 2013 - June 2016
Skills
Education
Bachelor of Early Childhood Education, St. Joseph's College, Villanova
September 2019 - June 2019
High School Diploma, St. Dominic's Academy, Villanova
September 2006 - May 2010
According to the U.S. School Superintendents Association, “a shortage of substitute teachers, both in quantity and quality, across the country has never been more severe.” The cause is twofold: many high-quality teachers prefer to take on full time roles instead of subbing.
In addition, many current teachers are requesting more flexibility in a traditional rigid career, increasing the need for classroom coverage. In response to this imbalance, school systems have started increasing pay, offering bonuses, recruiting heavily and offering additional training to encourage more substitutes to join the pool.
In a recent article from Devlin Peck,
(Sources: EducationWeek, National Center for Education Statistics, US Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Substitute teachers in the U.S. earn annual mean wages of $28,790, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
A standout substitute teacher resume is essential in a competitive job market. Emphasize your classroom management skills, adaptability, and experience with diverse students. Include quantifiable achievements like improved student engagement. Optimize for ATS by using relevant keywords and tailoring your resume to the job. Choose a clear, professional layout to ensure it passes initial ATS screenings.
If you need a little help getting out of your living room and into the classroom, try our field-tested templates and custom builder tool to craft the perfect resume and meet your students in no time.