Top 4 Jobs for Burnt Out Teachers

Are you tired of teaching? If so, you are not alone. According to Michigan State University's publication New Educator, the national cost of replacing burnt out public schoolteachers adds up to roughly five billion dollars per year. Good reasons exist for the country's high teacher turnover rate. While education can be an extremely rewarding profession, teaching also presents serious challenges, from mountains of paperwork to needy students to demanding parents. In some cases, the day-to-day stresses of teaching can even cause teachers to completely rethink their careers. So what should you do if you feel burnt out?

First, it may help to identify your frustrations with teaching. Once you have pinpointed your troubles, you can work toward solutions. Some of the most common problems teachers face include:

• Out-of-control classrooms: teachers may fix this setback by enforcing strict classroom policies. A well-structured classroom environment can help lessen behavioral problems, creating a safe place for learning to occur.
• Pesky parents: rather than avoiding your students' parents, you should try to draw them into the learning process. Ask parents to volunteer for field trips or in-class discussions and openly discuss their students' progress. Not only can parents' increased classroom participation lighten your job load, it can help parents build up their trust in you as an instructor.
• Overwhelming job responsibilities: though a large part of your teaching career involves counseling students, grading papers, and planning classes, you should also make sure to spend quality time with your family and friends. A balanced, satisfying private life can help teachers prepare emotionally for their day job.

In many cases, however, teachers discover that they no longer have the same passion for the profession that they did when they began, and no amount of in-service presentations or positive interactions with students can rekindle that desire. If you decide you no longer wish to teach, do not despair. Your teacher's training has likely provided you with valuable public speaking skills, important community connections, and useful interpersonal abilities that could translate into a number of different job opportunities. Let's examine four job options for teachers who wish to change careers.

Job #1: Instructional Coordinator
Want to use your education training in a more behind-the-scenes position? Consider working as an instructional coordinator. Instructional coordinators assess schools curricula, choose textbooks, train teachers, and ensure that schools meet nationwide quality standards for education. Coordinators also seek out up-to-the-minute electronic equipment, such as computers and high-tech media centers. If you are an instructional coordinator employed at the primary-school level, you may specialize in one area of curriculum development, such as art, English, biology, or math. If you work at the university level, however, you might focus more on building effective training programs for employees. To become an official instructional coordinator, you must first meet your state's certification requirements.

Job #2: Human Resources Manager
If you work as a teacher, you have probably developed strong interpersonal skills through your daily dealings with students, school officials, and parents. Try using your communication talents to earn a healthy salary as a human resources specialist. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the median yearly pay for human resources managers was a stunning $88,510 in 2006. Besides the attractive wages, the field of human resources can offer a clean, comfortable work environment and an excellent job growth rate through 2017.

Human resource managers come from a wide spectrum of educational backgrounds. While some employers prefer to hire human resources workers with bachelor's or master's degrees in human resources, other companies employ people with formal training in education, liberal arts, or communications. If you wish to improve your chances of landing a job in human resources, you can earn an advanced degree in labor relations. Master's degrees may be required for people seeking employment as mediators, arbitrators, or contract negotiators.

Job #3: Health Educator
The BLS reports that the healthcare industry should produce around three million new jobs between 2006 and 2016. If you want to enter this thriving field, you should think about a career as a public health educator. Health educators are tireless promoters of healthy lifestyles. They advise the public on topics such as disease prevention, exercise, and balanced eating habits. A health educator's job description usually depends on his or her employer. For example, an educator working for a medical center might provide one-on-one lifestyle counseling to help sick patients understand their diagnoses, develop healthy lifestyles, and work toward quick recoveries. On the other hand, an educator who specializes in high-school health education might visit classrooms or assemblies to speak about teen-related health issues, such as smoking, sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy, and alcohol abuse. Diverse training paths exist for prospective health educators, from internships with local public health departments to master's degrees in community health education.

Job #4: Real Estate Agent
Not only do teachers garner superior communication skills during their years of instruction, but they build valuable personal relationships with members of their local community. These connections could come in handy if you decide to pursue a career as a real-estate agent--after all, most people would love to have a trusted acquaintance help them with the sale or purchase of their home. The advantages of a career in real estate include:

• Relative ease of training: while licensing requirements may vary from state to state, real estate agents are not usually required to earn specialized post-secondary degrees. In fact, a community-college course in real estate may give you enough preparation to pass your real-estate licensing exam. If you want more training, however, you can earn a graduate degree in real estate.
• The ability to be your own boss: the BLS claims that around sixty percent of real-estate agents are self-employed, which allows for flexible scheduling and the freedom to develop unique business practices.
• A comfortable salary: in 2006, salaried real-estate agents made a median yearly paycheck of around $40,000.

Remember, if you are still struggling to find a job that you enjoy, you can hire a career counselor. You may research local career counselors either by contacting the National Career Development Association or by flipping through your home telephone directory.

Sources:
Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Education Administrator."
Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Educational Services."
Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Health Care."
Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Health Educators."
Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Human Resources, Training, and Labor Relations Managers and Specialists."
Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Instructional Coordinators."
Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Real Estate Brokers and Sales Agents."
New Educator, "Mentors Matter."