Teachers in Transition – Episode 235: Top Needed Skills in 2025 - that YOU already have - and Where You Can Use Them!

In this episode, Vanessa explores the top transferable skills that teachers already possess, making them highly competitive for jobs in 2025. These skills include emotional intelligence (EQ), data literacy, adaptability, project management, strong communication, and problem-solving. Vanessa explains how these abilities align with various career paths outside of education, such as project management, instructional design, user experience research, event planning, and more. She emphasizes the importance of recognizing and translating these skills for roles in fields like nonprofit work, tech, customer service, and even voice-over artistry. Teachers are well-equipped for success in numerous industries and can leverage their skills to create fulfilling second careers.

Links mentioned in the show: 

1. Microsoft Learning Paths for Data Literacy Certification: Microsoft Learn
2. Teachers in Transition Website: teachersintransition.com
3. Free Virtual Coffee Chat or Discovery Session: Sign up here
4. Email Vanessa for Support: vanessa@teachersintransition.com
5.   Charity Navigator: https://www.charitynavigator.org
      Charity Watch: https://www.charitywatch.org

Please rate and review wherever you listen to your podcasts!  It really helps the show.
 
 A transcript of this podcast can be found on it’s homepage at www.buzzsprout.com

Transcript

Are you a teacher who is feeling stressed out and overwhelmed? do you worry that you're feeling symptoms of burnout - or are you sure you've already gotten there? Have you started to dream of doing something different or a new job or perhaps pursuing an entirely different career - but you don't know what else you're qualified to do? You don't know how to start a job search and you just feel stuck. If that sounds like you, I promise you are not alone. my name is Vanessa Jackson; and I am a career transition and job search coach and I specialize in helping burnt out teachers just like you deal with the overwhelmingly stressful nature of your day-to-day job and to consider what other careers might be out there waiting for you. You might ask yourself, What tools do I need to find a new career?  Are my skills valuable outside the classroom?  How and where do I even get started?  These are all questions you deserve answers to, and I can help you find them.  I’m Vanessa Jackson. Come and join me for Teachers in Transition.  

I want to start by acknowledging the intense disaster on our West Coast, particularly in areas surrounding Los Angeles and Malibu. So many people have lost everything—whether they are famous or not, they’ve lost irreplaceable things like memories and pictures, and in so many cases, insurance will not help at all.  My thoughts and prayers are with the families who have suffered such devastating losses. I cannot begin to imagine what you're going through.

However, thoughts and prayers alone are not enough. We also have to act. I encourage my listeners to find a charity they trust and feel comfortable donating to, even if it’s just $10.    Small donations combined can create a significant impact. My $10 doesn’t do much, but combined with amounts from people across the country, we can make a big difference. Please vet your chosen charity carefully—not all of them are reputable. You can visit sites like Charity Navigator or CharityWatch to evaluate whether a charity is legitimate and how effectively they allocate donations – you know – how much goes to those affected and how much goes to those ‘administrative costs’. I’ll include links to both in the show notes. Even a few dollars can help those facing immense losses that will impact all of us for years to come.

With that said, today’s format will be a little different. In light of everything happening – we’ll just dive right into today’s topic on career transitions and job searches.

Today I want to talk about some of the top 2025 job skills that teachers already yave – our transferable skills. 

Teachers possess numerous skills that are highly valued in the current job market. I think teachers have practically all the skills necessary in any job. Well, almost. While some roles may require additional courses training (like underwater welding!), let’s focus on key skills teachers already excel at.

Let’s start with: Emotional Intelligence (EQ):

Effective leaders need emotional intelligence to build cohesive teams and resolve conflicts. Teachers practice this relentlessly as they manage diverse classroom dynamics, support student development, and build relationships with students, colleagues, leadership, and parents. De-escalation tactics, recognizing emotions, and helping others move forward are hallmarks of emotional intelligence, making teachers experts in this area.  Let’s not forget all the training you’ve had in social-emotional learning out there.  

Next up: Data Literacy:

Informed decision-making and analytics-driven strategies are crucial in the corporate world. Teachers constantly analyze student data to inform curriculu with teaching strategies and to improve learning outcomes. Synthesizing information from multiple sources? That's teaching in a nutshell – quantitative data from performance and testing and qualitative data from observation and inquiry. How many meetings have you sat in aggregating and disaggregating data from test scores?   You have these skills.  Sure, you might need some official courses, but you can get the certification you need to be legitimate on paper.  Microsoft has free learning paths you can take to get Microsoft certification in assorted data areas. 

Next desirable skill? Adaptability and Resilience:

While teachers may be exhausted by constant adaptation, these skills are valuable in roles that require responding to evolving technologies and rapid industry changes.  And every industry has them. If you have not moved to Widows 11 just yet, you may not know the pain and anguish initially felt when the system search bar was no longer automatically at the far left.  After a week, I don’t even notice anymore. Besides, outside of education, corporate adaptability does not mean being handed a new program with minimal training months before launch and expected to master it immediately and remember everything when it finally DOES launch. Think about how you navigated virtual learning during 2020 if you were teaching then or managed shifting classroom dynamics—those are adaptable, resilient skills.  Think about all the workarounds you figure out because your technology is powered by a geriatric hamster on an exercise wheel!

Project Management:

Let’s talk about your ability to manage projects. There is a whole field of work out there called project management, which is exactly what you think it is. Teachers manage numerous projects daily, whether planning lessons, organizing events like Math Night (anyone?), or coordinating extracurricular activities. The ability to juggle complex schedules and ensure smooth execution aligns perfectly with project management roles.

If a company has something big that they want to accomplish, and a lot of people working on it. There is a project manager coordinating all of the things to make sure they all happened at the right time with the right resources to come to fruition.

 I think that the rise of project management is an interesting corollary to the drop in being teachers being allowed to teach kids to be independent learners, which is a whole separate rant that we will save for somebody else's podcast. But project management is about the efficient execution of goals and objectives. Have you ever been responsible for planning that math night? Or perhaps you were the yearbook coordinator? That's a massive project right there. Do you know how many people on the planet would never be able to get a yearbook put together or put out? Teachers excel at planning lessons. managing extracurricular activities.  I used to have to create a sectional schedule for my band classes – that’s where you work with the kids in small groups like just the flutes or just the trumpets, so none fall through the cracks.  These all happened outside the school’s regular school day. I would take all the student schedules and have to pull together a sectional that worked for most of the students.  I would encourage the kids to put their extracurricular activities outside of school on there so I could work around that as best I could. That that is absolutely a project management skill -  being able to coordinate with other staff and parents to get things done, dodging other projects and extra-curricular activities – planning things like a class party or a play or working on making sure that you don't lose the children on an off-campus event. Teachers are independent planners who constantly monitor what is going on adjusting midstream into what's happening to make sure the end product is not thrown off. And teachers know how to plan backwards. We call that strategy! If we are looking for a particular outcome, teachers know how to look at it and say, “well, to do A, we have to have B, and to do B, we have to have C, and to do C, we're going to need D and E. So it looks like we're going to be starting with F.”  (maybe that’s the wrong letter, lol) And they know how to track and strategize Project management and project managers are all about strategy.

Strong Communication Skills:

And the other big one on here is strong communication skills. Teachers communicate constantly, all the time.  Does this sound familiar?  “You tell them what you’re going to tell them, you tell them, and then you tell them what you told them!”  And it is so important to have people in any field who know how to deliver clear messaging across departments to potential clients, to customers, other stakeholders. Teachers are extremely gifted and in fact, it is the core of our training to take complex ideas and make them accessible in being able to present things like lessons, and to be able to facilitate productive discussions with groups of people, with groups of very diverse people. Teachers excel at delivering clear messaging and making complex ideas accessible, and these essential for cross-departmental communication, client engagement, and stakeholder management in every industry.

Problem-Solving:

And a bonus sixth skill is your ability to problem solve, which everyone sort of forgets that teachers have, but teachers are presented daily, hourly, probably every five minutes, with a situation that requires some sort of a problem to be solved or a decision to be made, and teachers are constantly evaluating the data and getting it done at the speed of light.  Teachers are problem-solvers by nature, constantly evaluating data and making decisions at lightning speed. Companies quickly learn that hiring teachers boosts productivity and efficiency—and often look to bring more of them onboard.  

OK, so you ask: what sorts of jobs are out there for a teacher who uses these skills? What sorts of jobs are available? And the beauty of it is, there are a lot of jobs out there that are available. Teachers come and they are most interested in doing things like instructional design and curriculum development, because that's what they do all day, every day. They look at corporate training because it's teaching adults. And the other one as previously mentioned, project management. Those are the most popular fields that people come to me and are interest in. The fact is:  Instructional design, curriculum development and corporate training are very difficult to break into. Project management is being used in more and more fields. Some fields may require some specialized training in that area.  As an example, project management is extremely necessary in fields like construction, finance,  and tech, but you might need to know the unique ‘languages’ of those fields. But here are 10 other  jobs and fields beyond these initial three (four?) that might need people with your skills. 

Museum or Exhibit Curator

This one almost writes itself!   The whole point of a museum is to educate. 
 With museum work, they are all about educating about an item, an exhibit so teachers excel in this because they are able to really help design educational exhibits. They lead tours, they can develop programs for visitors, and you will find this in, of course, museums, cultural centers, visitor centers, science centers, places like that. 

Next: as an Educational Consultant for Travel Companies!
 Another thing  that teachers can do is to become an educational consultant for travel companies. Teachers excel because, again, their project management and planning skills allow them to create these educational travel experiences for student tours or family tours. 

Next is User Experience ( also called UX) Researcher

So teachers excel at this because you are a master at understanding user behavior. You know how to conduct informational interviews (ever had to get to the bottom of who fed goldfish crackers  to the classroom fish?) and designing intuitive user experiences. And this is valuable in the industries of tech, consumer products, design agencies, product design 

Next up is Grant Writers

Teachers (especially teachers grounds in ELA) excel because you're excellent at creating a compelling narrative. You understand educational and nonprofit missions in a way that non teachers cannot, and grant writers also manage the funding proposals. So this is valuable in a nonprofit field, any research institution, educational foundations. And again if you are coming out of an ELA background, you have excellent writing skills. Grant writing is a particular type of writing, skill, but it is one that you would quickly absorb and master if you do not already know it. 

Next career to contemplate? Event Planner

Next up is as an  event planner.  It could be one who specializes in educational or nonprofit events, but really you can plan any event. Teachers excel at this because of your ability to coordinate logistics, keeping different sorts of stakeholders happy -  students, administrators, parents, colleagues. You know how to adhere to timelines and create schedules.  You know how to make others adhere to those deadlines too!  And basically, in the event planning industry can span all the way from coordinating logistics for small companies to weddings.  This is needed in the world of non-profits, the corporate world, and in the private sector.   
 
 A whole subset of this could be professional organizer.  More and more people are overwhelmed in their lives and their homes, and they just require someone with compassion and organizing skills to help them get it all sorted out. 

Next up? Public Relations Specialist

The next area here is in a public relations sort of field. Why would a teacher be good at this? Well, a teacher is good at this because of a teacher's ability to tell stories, to communicate, to craft a very targeted message. This is seen in the area of media, nonprofit, corporations and beyond. This would also extend to some forms of social media management. Is there anybody else on here who remembers with great fondness back in the days of Twitter the Wendy’s account and how the person who was running that account had this chef's kiss ability to roast anybody that came at them. That is an example that social media management is something that a teacher could do.  I might even argue that all the snark that a teacher restrains in a given day is just waiting to be unleashed in the correct social media accounts! 

Next up, we have behavior analyst with certification because - tell me - who understands a wide range of behavior's better than teachers?  That’s right – no one. Teachers understand behavior patterns.  They know how to collect the data on the behavior, and they know how to apply strategies to foster growth.  They create targeted strategies to foster growth and change behaviors all the time. This is necessary in the health care industry and education as a private citizen.  Think about advocacy in special education, which is going to probably need a lot of outside support if threatened changes come to the Department of Education. 

Toy or Learning Product Developer

The next up would be a toy or a learning product developer. Teachers would excel at this because they know how to create and envision  developmentally appropriate products, and how to test them for educational value. It's going to be easier to function in this capacity through an educational technology company or a company that focuses in educational toys, but this field is a possibility.  
 
 
 

Voice-Over Artist

And another possibility is: voice over artist. How many books have you read to kids if you're an elementary school teacher? How many of you do the voices?  You can quite literally read those books upside down and backwards. So, teachers excel again in their storytelling skills, the ability to engage in clear communication, and how to explain complex ideas in a simple way. 
 
 So definitely this is something to explore in your own research but you might even explore what it might take to actually narrate audiobooks and/or work in media production and that field, perhaps a bit of podcasting might be interesting to you. Let me know. I've got a little outline on what it takes to get started in podcasting. and 

Another thing to really consider -  another field to consider talent acquisition specialist or recruiter and specifically specializing in education adjacent companies or educational technology. Why would a teacher excel at this? Well, because you know how to identify talent, you know how to evaluate potential and you know how to build strong relationships. All of these things are essential in the world of a recruiter. And this is necessary in places like tech and startups and education companies. And who better than teachers to know how to find educational talent? 

And lastly,  a bonus one (because we've got to have a bonus one) - consider customer service relations or customer experience.
 
  So hopefully on the podcast here in the next few weeks, I hope to have an interview with an amazing teacher who left teaching went into customer service and has since moved up the ranks into a completely different position in her company, and this industry is not known for its happy customers. So it is not necessarily known for being a place where customer service might be a place people would dream of going. But she found it less stressful than teaching, so we can look forward to that in the future!
 
 But customer service is just when people call and they have problems they want addressed and solved. Teachers are great at problem solving! Teachers are great at listening for what the real problem is and how to fix it. In that instance, customer service and customer relations would be a great place for a teacher. And honestly, yes, angry people calling about things that they're not happy with can be frustrating, but it's not like they're in front of you  and it’s not like you have to continue to teach their kids for the rest of the year. You hang up the phone and you're pretty much done. So, there's an element of distance to that that doesn't exist in the world of teaching.   It makes it a little easier.  This might be a good field to consider if you want to leave teaching and just clock the time without vast amounts of responsibility.   Some people require time in positions without the extreme amounts of responsibility that come with being a teacher especially when they first leave the profession. 

So I hope that these give you some ideas of the things that you can do, and the things that you're qualified to do, and honestly, I really feel like a teacher can do anything if you just learn how to translate what the job description is asking for into the skills that you probably already have. If you need help with that, reach out and give me a quick contact.  You can email me. We have a new email here at Teachers in Transition, although if you sent things to the old email, that Inbox is still monitored, but you can now email me at vanessa@teachersintransition.com  and I'll look forward to being able to answer your questions and help you out. You can go to my website at teachersintransition.com and you can sign up on the calendar for a virtual coffee chat or a discovery session that is completely free to you so we can see how I can help out -  if this is something that you're looking at exploring. 

Remember, it takes a while to transition out of teaching into a new career, and on top of that, nobody hires very quickly any more. I am still in shock that a job my son applied to in March of 2024 didn’t call about that application until January 2025. (seriously, what do those people think the rest of do all day??) 

If this is something that you were thinking of doing now is a great time to get started before we even get close to the end of the school year.  I’ll see you here next week and remember – you can do this.
 
 

That’s the podcast for today! If you liked this podcast, tell a friend, and don’t forget to rate and review wherever you listen to your podcasts. Tune in weekly to Teachers in Transition where we discuss Job Search strategies as well as stress management techniques.  And I want to hear from you!  Please reach out and leave me a message at Vanessa@Teachersintransition.com  You can also leave a voicemail or text at 512-640-9099. 

I’ll see you here again next week and remember – YOU are amazing!