Instant Interviews: 101 Ways to Get the Best Job of Your Life

Chapter 23. Teaching a Class

Where else can you get instant prestige, free advertising, and new contacts—like that?

Many adult-school classes are taught for only a day or weekend. The longest ones are about eight weeks. Be creative, and you could have a new pool of offerors in no time.

One jobseeker taught an eight-week class. She was good at it, so developed a cadre of people seeking her services and inviting her to speak. Although she started out thinking being an instructor was just a good PR move, she fell in love with it. So she continued doing it for the joy of helping others and to know the fascinating people who enrolled in her classes.

Teaching the right subject in the right place will explode your potential!

It also leads to after-hours income and benefits that can be quite amazing.

My CPA started teaching evening tax courses at a community college, and even if he didn't like it so much, he would have stayed for the pay and tenure benefits. My dad taught ethics at a law school in his (very) later years, and he regretted that he hadn't done it when he was still practicing law. He was a modest person (I was the only one who knew he never lost a case). But I caught him using "Prof." on his magazine subscriptions.

These stories are typical.

There's not much better on a resume or cover letter than mentioning a teaching assignment. It's instant credibility. The class subject doesn't have to be mentioned if it's not relevant.

There are four basic sources of teaching jobs.

University Extension ...