Resume Question

[Jennifer03]

I am a teacher and dealt with a horrible principal this past year. She had anger issues and bullied many staff members. Nothing we did was ever good enough. The principal I worked for before her was wonderful (I left that school due to a long commute). I am about to apply to another school and am unsure if I should leave this past year on my resume or take it off. I have to submit a list of references and I am worried that even if I don’t give this past principal’s name, they will still call her. However, this position is for the grade I taught this past year, so it would be nice to show that I have the experience. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[wvjules]

The job goes on the resume. If you left it off and then they found out about it then it would look like you were lying and trying to hide something.

 

[OneOftheB's]

And, I’ll add some unsolicited advice; if they ask why you are leaving don’t bash your prior principal. Think of a more neutral reason for your leaving and not that the principal was a horrible so and so.

 

[Ben E N]

Yeah no one wants to hear about a he said she said situation. The building not being a good fit for you is reason enough to look elsewhere, especially if you use language like you were looking to challenge your students more than you felt possible at your last position, or something along those lines, during your interview. It would help explain why you were only there a year, as well as why your principal might not leave the most glowing review of you.

 

[Jennifer03]

I was never asking what I should say at the interview. Obviously I know not to go and bash a former principal. I was simply asking if I should leave it on or off the resume.

 

[Allison]

No way do you leave it off the resume. I always ask about employment gaps. Do you realize how bad it would look when you were asked about it and it came out you left it off?

 

[disneychrista]

Honestly, I think leaving it off will look worse than putting it on. Simply explain that it was not a good fit for you if asked about it.

 

[barkley]

No way do you leave it off the resume. I always ask about employment gaps. Do you realize how bad it would look when you were asked about it and it came out you left it off?

i presume that in addition to a resume a candidate for a teaching position w/a school district also has to fill out a standard application (just like most civil service type jobs). where i worked/hired for if it was found that an applicant had not done as the application read: 'list all jobs and gaps in employment for the past x number of years" truthfully then they were immediately ruled out for employment. if it was found out after the fact it was grounds for immediate termination.

part of our job dealt w/completion of official forms and documentation for records that could be called upon for juveniles in court/cps situations similarly to those educators are responsible for so someone omitting information on their own legal records was viewed as a risk in faithfully and honestly doing so for those they were entrusted to.

 

[Ben E N]

Honestly, I think leaving it off will look worse than putting it on. Simply explain that it was not a good fit for you if asked about it.

That's why I brought up the interview piece. It has to be on there, and you have to be ready with why you are leaving after one year, and they will be contacting your former principal to check to see if your stories mesh.

 

[klacey1]

I was never asking what I should say at the interview. Obviously I know not to go and bash a former principal. I was simply asking if I should leave it on or off the resume.

There’s no need to be hostile. If you did leave it off your resume, what exactly were you planning on saying if asked in an interview why you hadn’t had a job in the past year?

A resume’s job is to highlight your skills and experience in such a way that gets you an interview. What could possibly be the benefit to leaving off your most recent relevant experience? A hiring committee isn’t going to base their entire decision off a random call to a reference that the job candidate didn’t provide. And unless you only had a one year contract and are unable to return to the school at which you spent last year, most hiring districts are going to understand that you can’t provide a reference from a school that expects to keep you for the year ahead...if your contract is up and not eligible for renewal, it might behoove you, if possible, to find another admistrative-level contact from that school who would give you a positive review, and list them with your references.

The only time I’ve ever heard of anyone recommending someone leave a job off their resume is for extremely short tenures (a year does not qualify), or for low-level, short-term jobs that have nothing to do with one’s career (ie—a retail job during college for a lawyer).

 

[teller80]

I was never asking what I should say at the interview.

There’s no need to be hostile. .

Yeah, this jumped out at me too. Posters are just trying to be helpful, you're free to skip reading what you want.

 

[BearFamily]

I am a teacher and dealt with a horrible principal this past year. She had anger issues and bullied many staff members. Nothing we did was ever good enough. The principal I worked for before her was wonderful (I left that school due to a long commute). I am about to apply to another school and am unsure if I should leave this past year on my resume or take it off. I have to submit a list of references and I am worried that even if I don’t give this past principal’s name, they will still call her. However, this position is for the grade I taught this past year, so it would be nice to show that I have the experience. Any advice is appreciated.

(Teacher here - regularly on hiring committees.)

- Definitely leave the job on the resume. If you're in the same area, likely they'd find out you worked there this year anyway, and in that case it would look very bad to have it left off.
- Put someone ELSE at that school on your reference list instead of the principal. A department chair would be great, but a co-teacher or team leader or just regular colleague would work. They may very well call the principal anyway, but the fact that you have listed someone in that building/district means they may figure out admin was part of your reason to leave and gives them a chance to check in with someone else about the situation. Make sure you do have your previous principal on there to demonstrate that you DO have previous supervisors that will say good things about you.
- As has been said, be prepared to have a truthful, diplomatic reason for leaving after one year that won't blame your principal but won't contradict whatever that person may say. It doesn't have to be the WHOLE truth or a main reason. Something like "It wasn't the right school culture" is accurate without going into the whole situation. It's likely they would call references *after* any interview, but just be prepared.

 

[Ben E N]

(Teacher here - regularly on hiring committees.)

- Definitely leave the job on the resume. If you're in the same area, likely they'd find out you worked there this year anyway, and in that case it would look very bad to have it left off.
- Put someone ELSE at that school on your reference list instead of the principal. A department chair would be great, but a co-teacher or team leader or just regular colleague would work. They may very well call the principal anyway, but the fact that you have listed someone in that building/district means they may figure out admin was part of your reason to leave and gives them a chance to check in with someone else about the situation. Make sure you do have your previous principal on there to demonstrate that you DO have previous supervisors that will say good things about you.
- As has been said, be prepared to have a truthful, diplomatic reason for leaving after one year that won't blame your principal but won't contradict whatever that person may say. It doesn't have to be the WHOLE truth or a main reason. Something like "It wasn't the right school culture" is accurate without going into the whole situation. It's likely they would call references *after* any interview, but just be prepared.

I fully agree there and should have mentioned that I am also a department chair who has been on interview committees. It is quite clear when something seems off. I also interviewed for my current position after being at my old job for only one year. Even though I did not get along with administration at that job, I still spoke glowingly of them and just focused on our differences of opinion, perhaps playing my views up a bit. My current employer of course called my previous boss even though I did not leave him as a reference, but our relationship has already been brought up by me.
I also had an old roommate who had a terrible relationship with her principal. When she went looking for a new job, she would make it through the first two rounds of interviews, and then she would get a call that the place she was trying to get a job at was no longer interested in her. She couldn't figure out what was going on, but it was quite clear that her potential new workplace was calling her old workplace and her former principal was able to trash her. Had my roommate anticipated this during the interview, she could have made those calls a lot less significant and may have ended up with a job in a much better district then where she is now.

 

[nkereina]

Why is it that you fear they will call the principal - is it because the principal will give you a bad reference, or because you do not want the principal to know you are looking elsewhere in case you stay on next year?

Regardless of the answer, I agree its best to include it. They will likely ask what you've been doing this past year and to say anything else would be a flat out lie. I don't know what state you are in or what kind of school you are at, but here in NY, teacher info is public record so it would be easily verifiable.

 

[Starshine]

(Teacher here - regularly on hiring committees.)


- Put someone ELSE at that school on your reference list instead of the principal. A department chair would be great, but a co-teacher or team leader or just regular colleague would work. They may very well call the principal anyway, but the fact that you have listed someone in that building/district means they may figure out admin was part of your reason to leave and gives them a chance to check in with someone else about the situation. Make sure you do have your previous principal on there to demonstrate that you DO have previous supervisors that will say good things about you.

Yep, this. I work at a University (not quite the same I know), but I've chaired a few hiring committees, and we are always required to contact the current/last employer, even if it's not listed as a reference. However, if I see someone from your current/last employeer listed I will typically call that person instead of calling and asking for the supervisor.