Last reviewed: 27 October 2026

A TEFL CV with no teaching experience should lead with your TEFL qualification and its hours, then reframe what you have done, such as coaching, tutoring, customer service or volunteering, as evidence you can explain, plan and work with people. Keep it to one or two pages, show your language levels clearly and tailor it to each job.

Key takeaways

• Put your TEFL qualification near the top, with the number of hours, the level and the provider.
• You have more relevant experience than you think. Coaching, grinds, camps, babysitting and retail all show skills schools want.
• Describe experience with verbs and results (“planned weekly sessions for 12 under 10s”), not duties.
• One page is ideal for a first TEFL CV, and two is the limit. Send it as a PDF.
• Photo and personal details expectations vary by country, so match the norms of the place you are applying to.
• A free template is below. Copy it, then tailor it for every application.

What should a TEFL CV include?

A TEFL CV should include your contact details, a short profile, your TEFL qualification, any teaching or teaching-related experience, your other work, your education, your language skills and two references. The order matters: put the things a school cares about most, your qualification and anything involving teaching, explaining or working with people, in the top half of the first page.

Language schools and recruiters read a lot of CVs quickly. They are looking for three answers. Are you qualified, usually with at least a 120 hour TEFL certificate? Can you stand in front of a group and keep them engaged? Will you be reliable? Every section of your CV should help answer one of those questions.

Write the profile last. It is three or four lines at the top that say who you are, what you are qualified to do and what you are looking for, tailored to the job. “TEFL qualified graduate with three years’ experience coaching under 12s, seeking a young learner teaching role in Madrid from September” says far more than “hardworking and passionate team player”.

How do you show experience when you have never taught?

Show experience by translating what you have already done into the skills a teacher uses: explaining things clearly, planning ahead, managing a group, being patient and adapting to different people. Almost everyone has done some of this, even if the job title said nothing about teaching.

The trick is to describe it in teaching language, with numbers where you can. “Coached a team” becomes “Planned and led weekly training sessions for 15 players aged 9 to 11”. “Worked in a shop” becomes “Explained products to customers from many language backgrounds and trained four new staff members”. Both are true, and both now read like evidence.

Be honest. An interviewer will ask about anything on your CV, and our guide to common TEFL interview questions shows how often those questions start with “tell me about a time when”. A modest example you can describe well beats an impressive one you cannot.

A free TEFL CV template you can copy

Here is a one page TEFL CV template for someone with no formal teaching experience. Copy it into a document, replace everything in square brackets, delete anything that does not apply, and tailor the profile and order of sections to each job.

If you are applying in continental Europe, the European Union’s free Europass CV builder produces a format employers across the EU recognise, and you can create versions in different languages from one profile. Either format works. What matters is that the content is clear and tailored.

How long should a TEFL CV be, and what format works?

A first TEFL CV should be one page if possible and two at most. Recruiters skim, and a tight page with your qualification near the top beats two pages of padding. Save it as a PDF so the layout does not shift, and name the file clearly, for example “FirstName-LastName-TEFL-CV.pdf”.

Describe your language skills using the Council of Europe’s CEFR levels, from A1 to C2. Schools understand them instantly, and “Spanish B1” is far more useful than “conversational Spanish”.

Expectations about photos and personal details vary by country. In Ireland and the UK, CVs normally leave out a photo, date of birth and marital status. Many employers in Asia and some in southern and eastern Europe expect a professional photo and sometimes nationality, because visa rules depend on it. Check job adverts in the country you are targeting and follow what they ask for.

This graduate’s story shows the next step after a good CV: turning a TEFL qualification into a first teaching job in France.

What mistakes get TEFL CVs rejected?

The mistakes that most often get TEFL CVs rejected are typos, a missing or vague TEFL qualification, generic text that could be sent to any job, and claims the candidate cannot back up. For an English teaching job, a spelling mistake on the first line is especially costly.

Other common problems include listing the TEFL certificate without its hours or provider, burying it on page two, leaving unexplained gaps (a line such as “Travelled in South America, 2024” is fine), describing languages as “fluent” without a level, and using a CV built for an office job without changing a word. Read it aloud before you send it, then ask someone else to read it too.

What else strengthens a CV with no teaching experience?

A few small additions can lift a CV with no teaching experience. If you want to work with children, complete child safeguarding training: Ireland’s Children First guidance, explained on gov.ie, comes with a free Tusla e-learning module that many organisations recognise. Add volunteering with a conversation club or a local language exchange. Record a short, friendly video introduction for online platforms. And consider a specialist course in the area you want to teach, such as young learners or Business English.

If you have no degree, be clear about the countries and jobs that are realistic for you. Our guide to the best TEFL qualifications without a degree explains your options, and our step by step guide on how to become a TEFL teacher shows where the CV fits in the wider process. Summer work is another quick way to add real experience; see our guide to summer TEFL camps in Ireland.

Ready to put a TEFL qualification at the top of your CV?

The single strongest line on a first TEFL CV is a recognised qualification. Our accredited 120 hour TEFL course meets the entry requirement for most first teaching jobs, and our Level 5 TEFL course goes further for roles that ask for a higher qualification. Both are studied online.

Frequently asked questions