Teachers come with a toolkit of skills. Working with children and their needs is just the most obvious. Teachers also present information in a clear and logical way (i.e. teach), schedule activities over a 9-month period, and deal with difficult and demanding people. If you’ve earned a Master’s in Education degree, you’ve added quite a bit more to that kit.
As a Master’s in Education graduate, you’ve acquired writing and research skills and studied teaching methodology in depth. Chances are you began your graduate work in education with an eye to becoming a school administrator, testing consultant, or curriculum developer. But don’t limit yourself to school-related fields when searching for a career. You’re well prepared for any job requiring the ability to ferret out and systematically present information, address and direct large and diverse crowds, schedule effectively, and communicate data in a clear and logical way. Here are 5 jobs that require those skills.
Theater Manager
Theatrical companies travel. They present a play in one locale for a given period of time, then move on to the next venue. The person who arranges for their housing, meals, transportation, and special needs, along with scheduling auditions, interviews, and press releases, is the theater manager. Without him or her, the show can’t go on. And as a Master’s in Education graduate, you’ve got the scheduling expertise along with people skills and crowd management savvy to deal with all situations.
Technical Writer
Technical writers are the people who write instruction manuals, project plans, online guides, any document that contains instructions. They must present information clearly and concisely, in such a way that the reader can follow and learn. Scientists, medical professionals, product developers of all kinds are just a few of the people who need technical writers to help them communicate with a wide audience (http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Media-and-Communication/Technical-writers.htm) . As a Master’s in Education graduate, you’re adept at breaking a complicated process down into simple steps.
Facilitator
Companies hire a facilitator as a kind of professional listener. The facilitator’s basic task is to organize and run meetings, to insure that each person there has the opportunity to participate fully, and to summarize and restate points that come up in the course of the meeting. A facilitator cannot actually contribute to the meeting: that would run contrary to his or her function. The facilitator makes the clear and civil exchange of ideas and insights possible, and by so doing saves the company time and energy and reduces stress and tension. If you’ve earned your Masters in Education, you can see the connection with your skills set: listening, evaluating, encouraging others to express themselves, and staying clear of personal involvement.
Life Coach
A life coach helps people achieve their personal goals. The career isn’t quite this simple, as many people who hire a life coach don’t know what their personal goals are yet. Through listening and discussion, a life coach can help clients hone in on what makes them happy and fulfilled and what doesn’t. When clients have attained this much self-knowledge, the life coach helps them focus upon specific goals and facilitates their achievement.
Tour Director
Tour directors guide travelers as they journey to exotic places, presenting mini-lectures on site and answering questions about the places visited (http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes397011.htm) . A lot of skills go into this job, and not just the ability to teach. Tour directors schedule events, deal with crowd dynamics, and negotiate unforeseen circumstances: all part of a teacher’s daily world.
As a Master’s in Education graduate, you’re qualified to pursue a career in teaching, school administration, and related fields. But why stop there? You’ve acquired valuable skills and useful information that can take you far in a number of exciting and unusual directions.
