You’re leaving the teaching profession but you’re not ready to enter full retirement from work altogether. You love to educate and influence others but you don’t want to work in a classroom setting anymore. The good news is that there are some cool non-teaching educational jobs to choose from. The key is to network with others like you through professional organizations, contacts with your former coworkers and education industry events. You’ll also need to prepare your resume in such a way that you are showing the hiring manager how the skills you gained as a teacher are transferable to the new position.

Scholarly Journal Writer 

If you worked as a college professor and looking for something challenging yet rewarding, start writing for scholarly journals. Find out what the submission requirements are and prepare multiple articles and query letters to mail to publishers. Look for journals that match your teaching expertise and areas of interest. Make sure that you abide by the formats required by the publisher such as MLA or APA. For your articles gather research from credible sources and use interviews in your work as this adds credibility as a writer.

Guidance Counselor

The guidance counselor works in a high school setting and his main responsibility is to ensure that the students have a workable plan in place to enter college or a thriving career upon graduation. Guidance counselors do this by speaking with student’s about how to find and apply for scholarships and student loans, discussing which collegiate majors best suit their skills and career goals, and ideas for employment for students who will not attend college. Guidance counselors also assist students with their personal problems and might recommend a therapist if necessary. You’ll need at least a master’s degree in counseling and possibly a license depending on where you live.

Employment Agency Manager

You can use your background as a teacher to manage an employment agency or start your own. As the manager you’re responsible for locating and maintaining contacts with employers of a variety of industries. This is important because you’ll receive plenty of job seekers with whom you can connect the employers with. The rewarding thing about this job is that you provide decent employment for the community. Some of your clients may start out as temporary workers but transition to full-time employment. You’ll need to research the current employment trends and find out which skills employers value the most in job seekers. Counseling job seekers is also part of the job.

Principal 

If you’re into the administrative side of education, you can become a school principal. The  principal is in charge of all operations at a school and his duties include hiring and managing staff, taking disciplinary action against students and teachers, setting academic requirements for the students that are in compliance with federal and state guidelines, holding regular staff meetings, attending conferences that help him in his duties as principal, provide teachers with study materials needed for students for standardized tests, meet with parents concerning students’ academic progress and create budgets for each school year. Generally you’ll need a master’s degree in education followed by some educational leadership or teaching experience. In conclusion, former teachers have several career options in the education field.