It has been a few years since I have reviewed and updated my resume. It is not always easy to translate a project or accomplishment onto paper. But doing so allows us to recognize our own achievements, something most of us do not do enough.

I have been teaching undergraduate and graduate classes for six years, yet I had never written a Teaching Philosophy. I had to do a little research to determine what a teaching statement/philosophy was and review some samples so that I could write my own. What I found is that a teaching statement is a fairly formal document approximately 1-2 pages in length. At first I thought it was going to be impossible write more than one paragraph, but found my words flowing effortlessly on paper.

A teaching statement or teaching philosophy is used as a hiring tool by colleges and universities. It allows the hiring managers to assess the applicant to see if they have similar philosophies on what the classroom experience should be for students. This can be both bad and good for the applicant.

The more I think about the teaching statement, though, the more I like it. If a college hires me as an adjunct faculty member it will be because they agreed with my approach to teaching. In the long-run the use of the teaching statement during the hiring process should help establish a good fit between the faculty and the school.

Could a tool like this be used for traditional hiring for a business? Would prospective employees be honest in their essay about their work ethic and expectations from the employer? Such an exercise would weed-out the candidates who are not really serious about working for YOUR company. You would have to check with your HR department to see if this is a tool you could use during the hiring process. Or if you cannot use it during hiring, maybe have your staff write a paragraph or two about what their expectations are for the next 12 months and how they plan to help your company achieve it’s goals.