When you decided to become a teacher, no doubt it felt like exactly the right move. Somewhere along the way, though, things changed. After all, teachers experience burnout at an incredibly high rate—nearly 40% say they’re very often or always burned out, and 77% report high levels of stress. What’s more, 85% of teachers feel underpaid, while 4 in 10 say they don’t get the respect they deserve. It’s no surprise many teachers are ready to move on. So how do you go about finding companies that hire former teachers?
Can Teachers Find Work Outside the Classroom?
Absolutely! There are a lot of terrific careers for those leaving the classroom behind. Your teaching degree and experience make you an excellent fit for all kinds of other work.
You may want to stay in the field of education, in which case you could pursue curriculum design and development, textbook writing and editing, or educational website development. Or you could leverage your leadership skills to work in occupational or corporate training. Find a big list of jobs that allow teachers to use their skills outside the classroom here. Plus be sure to learn how to make your resume stand out in the corporate world.
Ready to move on? Be sure to download our teacher resignation letter templates when new opportunities arise!
What industries hire former teachers?
Teachers looking to leave the classroom can find work in almost any industry, given their own subject matter expertise, skills, and passions. That said, there are several industries where teachers especially have a real leg up. Take a look at companies that hire former teachers for these types of jobs:
Note: Not all of these companies will have jobs available at any given time. Bookmark their employment pages and check back often.
Curriculum Development and Publishing Companies
There’s a huge market out there for curriculum and learning materials, and these companies often hire former teachers to help build quality products. Here are some of the roles former teachers might find at these types of companies:
Curriculum Writer/Creator: Informing curriculum is a great way to directly impact what goes on in the classroom without actually being in it! It’s a great opportunity to share your knowledge with other teachers. Average salary: $81,037.
Editor: An editor typically works with writers to develop content that fits within the editorial guidelines of an online or print publication. If you worked within a particular subject, you may find your knowledge is even more in demand for editorial work. Average salary: $72,362.
Curriculum Sales and Service Rep: Curriculum publishing companies often employ former teachers to sell and train educators on using the company’s products. Average salary: $76,321.
Working in curriculum development or publishing allows you to leverage teacher skills and knowledge like these:
Subject matter expertise
Written communication skills
Lesson plan development
Differentiated learning experiences
Learning standards and goals
The following publishing and curriculum design companies hire former teachers.
Amplify
Amplify
This curriculum-development company offers a variety of programs and content for grades K-12. Their offerings include Desmos Math, Boost Reading, and more.
This company offers products like i-Ready Assessment, Magnetic Reading, and Brigance Head Start, along with state-specific programs to meet local standards.
Teams of teacher-writers develop high-quality curricula in mathematics, English language arts, science, and more. Their offerings include Eureka Math, PhD Science, and more.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s learning platform encompasses curriculum solutions for K-12 subjects of every kind, with core instruction, supplemental practice, assessment, and professional learning.
This online curricula company offers courseware, supplemental and intervention materials, core curriculum, and virtual school services for K-12 students.
With a wide array of texts and ed-tech products, Pearson’s materials are geared toward higher learning. Their materials span a huge array of topics and curricula.
This curriculum company offers texts and online learning solutions in primary and secondary school subjects. Programs include enVision Mathematics and elevateScience.
Teachers, students, and families rely on digital learning resources more than ever before, and the field is growing day by day. Lots of these companies look to former classroom teachers to help design, build, improve, and sell their projects. Here are some of the roles former teachers are especially qualified to fill at these organizations:
User Experience (UX) Designer: A UX designer’s role is to make a product or service usable, enjoyable, and accessible—skills that teachers use every day. This role is particularly suited for teachers with strong tech skills. Average salary: $94,472.
Educational Technology Consultant: A consultant may work for a company or directly for a district, helping them choose and implement software and other digital learning experiences. Average salary: $93,827.
Curriculum Writer/Creator: Many websites provide online curricula or learning experiences. Former teachers can create those digital lessons and activities. Average salary: $81,037.
When you take a job in ed tech, you’ll be able to use teacher knowledge and skills like:
Subject matter expertise
Lesson plan and learning activity design
Self-paced learning opportunities
Differentiated learning experiences
Learning management system skills
The following top ed-tech companies and websites hire former teachers.
Actively Learn
Actively Learn
This site compiles texts and videos for ELA, science, and social studies with scaffolds and higher-order questions, plus tools for teachers to interact with students.
This is the parent company of sites like ABCmouse, Adventure Academy, My Math Academy, My Reading Academy, and others. Former teachers can develop content, review materials, and help design and build new programs.
This company’s suite of programs helps schools with admissions and enrollment decisions. They hire former teachers to work with schools—educational experience is required for some roles.
With companies that hire former teachers like Lexia, Learning A-Z, and Cambium Assessment, this website is a one-stop shop for lots of job opportunities.
The two divisions at this company are devoted to education, one focuses on K-12 and the other higher ed. They supply hardware, software, and other tech solutions to help their clients meet their goals, and hire former teachers as education strategists, consultants, and sales reps.
This site provides timely, relevant content, plus useful tools and resources to engage students and track progress as they learn about a variety of topics.
This is the leading digital reading platform for kids 12 and under, with a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world’s best publishers.
This venerable institution differentiates itself from Wikipedia by fact-checking every article. They also offer teaching materials like quizzes, videos, and more, which former teachers can help develop.
This company helps schools with cybersecurity, protecting students while they use tech as well as keeping school data private. Former teachers aid in the design process in a variety of positions.
Teachers everywhere use Khan Academy’s free online courses, exercises, and activities to help students learn a massive variety of subjects. Former educators may find work creating educational content for new and existing courses.
This smart site takes current news articles and presents them at a variety of reading levels, with accompanying review questions and activities, for use in the classroom.
Former math teachers, take note! Zearn offers free math videos, interactive online learning activities, and other visual strategies for teaching and learning math.
Online and In-Person Tutoring, Coaching, and Mentoring Companies
Teachers are uniquely qualified to tutor or mentor struggling students, or provide educational coaching to students, schools, or organizations. They can start a new career in positions like these:
Tutor: These gigs can vary from full- to part-time, online or in person. Tutors get the chance to apply their own personal knowledge expertise, helping students one-on-one or in small groups. See our guide to online tutoring jobs here. Average salary: $50,546.
Career Coach: These development professionals help people adjust and improve their career paths through one-on-one guidance and advising. Average salary: $67,752.
ESL Teacher: ESL (English as a second language) teachers instruct students in fundamental skills such as reading, writing, and speaking English. In addition, they may help newcomers to our country with customs and everyday-life questions. Average salary: $56,863.
These types of jobs are best for former teachers who:
Enjoy working one-on-one or in small groups
Are willing to accommodate the schedules of their clients
Have experience differentiating their lessons for different learning styles
Feel comfortable offering their knowledge and skills to guide others
The following companies hire tutors, mentors, and coaches.
BookNook
BookNook
This company pairs synchronous literacy learning by teachers and school staff with high-impact tutoring. Tutors work online with students to reinforce learning.
Paper helps schools connect students with tutors who can offer homework assistance, study support, or review and editing of written assignments and projects.
Formerly TutorMe, Pear Deck Tutor teachers work in their online lesson space, covering 300+ subjects. You’re paid both for actual tutoring and the time you spend writing up feedback.
This company focuses on preparing high school students to succeed on the ACT and SAT, though they also offer tutoring in math subjects like calculus and trigonometry. Their test prep curriculum is pre-designed, and they’ll train you in how to use it.
Your teaching license helps qualify you for work at this company. Qkids’ online ESL tutoring program uses a set game-based curriculum. Classes last 30 minutes, with one to four elementary-age students in each. Qkids handles all the parent communication, grading, and other administrative duties.
These tutoring centers work with kids both online and in person, helping kids improve their grades and school performance. Former teachers can work locally or apply for careers with corporate headquarters.
As you might guess from a site owned by the Princeton Review, Tutor.com focuses on test prep but also offers online tutoring jobs in a large selection of subjects.
Though changes to Chinese law affected the ESL tutoring programs at VIPKid, they’ve pivoted to offer their curriculum worldwide. Tutors use a pre-designed curriculum, so there’s no lesson planning or grading. Here’s our review of VIPKid with some tips for applying.
Though many former teachers find jobs at education-related companies, they aren’t the only ones who hire those with education backgrounds. In fact, many corporations need instructional coaches, trainers, educational directors, and other jobs that require a background in teaching and learning. Some jobs former teachers might take on at many companies include:
Educational Policy Expert: Be the change by becoming a policy expert, a person who has hands-on administrative experience with a desire to review and adjust policies within educational institutions. Average salary: $90,089.
Community Director: Who better than a former teacher to organize and facilitate educational and athletic programs and events for kids? Average salary: $68,714.
Corporate Trainer: Promote employee growth and development by training workers to develop their skills or create entire training programs used to teach and train employees. Average salary: $67,431.
Education Manager: Work within a company or organization to facilitate teaching and learning activities, organize educational programs, obtain funding, and more. Average salary: $59,462.
Disability Services Coordinator: Many companies and organizations support individuals with disabilities, helping them to live independently in the community. This can be a great job for those with SPED experience. Average salary: $52,311.
For jobs like these, look to organizations and companies such as:
Girl Scouts
Girl Scouts
Local Girl Scouts councils hire former teachers to plan, direct, and implement programming for scouts. Jobs might include education manager or community director positions.
This company assists corporations in helping their employees build skills, advancing their careers and benefiting the company they work for at the same time. They hire education consultants, career coaches, and more.
This family of companies creates and sells educational toys and activities for kids and families. They hire for roles like user-experience designers, content creators, and education sales consultants.
The New Teacher Project (TNTP) is a partner for change in public education. They train new and existing teachers in the latest instructional strategies, among other education initiatives.
