To teach and become a teacher is the dream of many college grads. To realize this dream, you must have a couple of things in order, as competition for jobs heats up and salary levels going through the roof. To begin with, your grades through out your academic career must be more than impressive. But more importantly than this, your resume and cover letter combination is the instrument that will either get you the job interview or not.

First of all, if you are a new graduate having no real experience in teaching, you can compensate for this by taking up a substitute teacher's position so that you are able to mention this in the résumé and cover letter. This will come in handy when highlighting your accomplishments. Along with your academic merits, highlight classroom accomplishments, such as how students began scoring better grades under your instruction, or how you volunteered for difficult or unusual assignments.

Let Your Personality And Passion Shine Through

Your teacher's cover letter should reflect your strengths and your dreams of becoming a teacher. The more experienced you are, the better your chances are. Also, since teaching requires a love of the profession, you should be sure to project your enthusiasm and passion for helping others to learn. You should also include whatever teaching experience you have, including your stint as a substitute teacher and any overseas teaching experiences.

Follow The Format

Make sure that your cover letter is three paragraphs long, because breaking the letter into too many paragraphs without clear direction will disinterest and bore the reader. Open the conversation with the first paragraph introducing yourself and why you are applying for the job. This means making reference to the job advertisement or any reference through which you became aware of the job vacancy. Conclude the last paragraph on a positive note while stating your intentions to follow up later (and then do follow up!). This brings us to the all- important second paragraph, where you should speak about your credentials and why you think you are the best candidate for the position. Keeping the body of this paragraph short and to the point is crucial to hold the recruiter's interest. You make bullet points to highlight your accomplishments, but keep it limited. Your cover letter should mention your passion for helping others succeed.

Even more crucial in a teaching cover letter, than among cover letters for other professions, is to avoid typos, spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Think about it from the employer's point of view. If you can't avoid these mistakes in your own work, how can you teach it to others?

What makes the teaching profession different from all others is that your job is specifically to prepare others for the working world. Accuracy, intelligence, passion and job commitment are the keys to being successful in teaching. Make sure that these traits come through in your cover letter, and you are well on your way to landing that coveted teaching position.