Career Services

Self-Guided Orientation to Career Services for Teachers


Welcome to Career Services. To access our services and make your resume available to employers who seek to hire teachers graduating from MSUM, you must register via DragonCareers. Select the top link on the nav bar and follow the instructions provided. Allow two business days to activate your account after you have completed your profile online and submitted the signed authorization form to Career Services.


Job Search Strategy/Job Vacancy Sites 

We encourage you to plan a broad-based job search. If you are unable to do so for personal reasons, you will need to be proactive in contacting the school districts within your commuting radius so they know of your availability. Make an appointment with a Career Services Specialist by calling us at 218.477.2131 for job search planning.


Use the resources under Job Vacancies on the navigation bar to make connections online to job opportunities in states and/or school districts of interest to you. Click on the Pre-K12 link to find an alphabetic listing of links to the fifty states. If you are searching in Minnesota, be sure to watch EdPost and MASA Jobsite Online each week and more often during the peak hiring season. Remember that school districts hire for some positions in July and August after they have given their teachers a chance to transition to an internal opening and after they have their final enrollment figures for the school year. 


In addition, if you are seeking a teaching position in Minnesota, register with Minnesota Teacher Recruitment Center Job Bank which is linked under Job Vacancies and Education Jobs on Career Services web site www.mnstate.edu/career.
You may post your resume free so districts in MN seeking your licensure can find you. 


Early Deadlines—You may see early application deadlines in January or February as school districts may need to do a significant amount of hiring for the coming school year. Be sure to beat the application deadlines so you will be considered a candidate for these early opportunities. Many school districts are listing job openings and application information on their web sites. Bookmark the districts of greatest interest to you and check them regularly.

For a sampling of districts click here.

For additional Job Search Tips for Teachers click here. 


Education Job Fairs

Plan to attend a fair in the state in which you wish to teach. Be sure to attend the Minnesota Education Job Fair when you are a senior and will be licensed to teach by September of the year you attend the fair. Most of the states in the USA attend the Minnesota Education Job Fair.  Go to Fairs & Events at www.mnstate.edu/career  for information on education fairs. You may attend these fairs as an experienced teaching alumni also.


Applying for a Teaching Job

Rule to Follow—Make it as easy as possible for a school district to hire you. Keep this in mind whenever you are deciding on strategy regarding your job search. It is very important that you provide all of the application materials that a school district requests. If your final transcript, student teaching evaluation(s), and Minnesota teaching license (or license required by the state in which you are applying) are not available when you apply, indicate in the final paragraph of your letter of application—or in your email message—that you will send copies as soon as these documents are available or on request if they are not part of the initial application process. The application letter may also be called a letter of interest or a cover letter. If you are geographically restricted in your search, you may want to send a letter of inquiry or an email to express your interest in being considered for full-time teaching opportunities that become available in your licensure area. It is appropriate to send a resume and to indicate in your letter that you would be pleased to provide additional supporting documents on request.


References/Recommendations 

In addition to your final student teaching evaluation(s), it is important for you to have some letters of reference and/or to have people who are willing to support your candidacy for teaching jobs with a telephone reference. The people you select as a reference should be:

  • A professor in your major
  • Your supervisor in a recent or current job(s)
  • Faculty advisor to an organization you are active in on campus
  • Someone who knows of your capability with children in a teaching or
    after-school setting or volunteer, church, recreation, or child care capacity

Caution: Never list anyone for a reference unless that person has given you permission to use them as a reference in support of your job search. If they are providing a written letter of reference, agree on a date by which they will make the letter available to you. 
Keep the original and provide copies to prospective employers.

For more information click on the following: 


Official Transcript

You will be asked to provide an official transcript as part of the job search or after you have signed a teaching contract. Click here for directions on how to request an official transcript from the MSU Moorhead Records Office.


Teaching Resources

Visit CMU 114 Resource Center in the Career Services office to access the following books and reference to support your job search. This link, Teacher Resources, will give you a glimpse of what you will find.


Workshops/InterviewStream

Learn to write a resume that will market you effectively. Plan to attend a  Resume Workshop before you upload your resume into DragonCareers — our on-line site where employers can access you for full-time jobs or internships. 

Attend an Interview Skills Workshop before you have your first school district interview or job fair contact.  On Career Services home page under Announcements, select InterviewStream to schedule a time for a mock interview.  You will receive a link to your mock interview via your email so you can view it and have a professional, whose advice you value, review it with you.  Make an appointment if you wish to have a Career Services Specialist review it with you to help you evaluate the effectiveness of your answers to interview questions.

Click here to see the scheduled list of workshops under Fairs & Events on Career Services web site.