Let me set the scene for a moment…

The interview committee at a well-respected, very competitive, high-paying school district has narrowed down their huge list of 500 applicants to the final three. 

The finalists would all make great additions to the school, but the interview committee can only hire one so they decide to "Google" each of the candidates.

Here’s what happens…

The search results for candidate #1 come up with nothing, just a bunch of links that have nothing to do with the person being interviewed (the most likely scenario). 

For candidate #2, however, it is quite a different story.  This candidate’s search leads to several links to various myspace accounts with pictures of lots of drinking, partying, and scantily clad women. 

Finally, the committee “Googles” candidate #3 and the search results lead to something very interesting. It turns out candidate #3 has written several teaching related articles and they’ve been published all over the internet. Candidate #3 is all over the first pages of Google!

So…which candidate do you want to be?

Obviously, you want to be candidate number three.

Guess what? This is easy to do! 

First, let me explain that this idea came to me after participating in  “teacher interview discussion panel” that was held last spring.  Each administrator on the panel admitted that when they finally narrow down their search to just a few candidates they always make sure to Google each one.

Now, this it got me thinking…

What if I told you that there is an easy way for you to get your name all over the first pages of Google…that anytime someone searched your name they would find links about you AND all of them related to teaching.

What if I told that this will cost you absolutely nothing AND that you most likely have everything you need already.

Well, that is exactly what I am telling you.

All you are going to do is submit teaching related articles to article directories on the internet.

Hold on, don’t worry, this is very easy…in fact, you probably already have the article written and saved on your computer.

Here are the steps…

1.  Simply go back through your college and/or graduate work related to teaching.  Find all those papers you wrote about student motivation, Bloom’s taxonomy, teaching students with disabilities etc.  Basically, ANYTHING you have written on the subject of teaching will work.

2. If necessary, break apart your own work into several different articles.  Each article should be roughly 450-550 words.

3. (Optional) Reformat the article so it is easier to read on a computer. This is not necessary, but helpful – anything that is written to be read off the computer is usually spaced differently – just take a look at the spacing of this article – every couple of sentences is a paragraph.

4. Create a resource box.  A resource box is simply the “author’s bio” at the bottom of the article. Now, internet marketers use this resource box to link back to their website where they try to sell you something…take a look a look resource box of this article for an example.  However, you do not have to do this…your resource box will simply be a few lines about you.

For example, “John Smith is a father, husband, and first grade teacher at such-n-such elementary school.  He has a passion for inspiring students to learn and reach their fullest potential.”

5. Submit your articles to article directories on the internet.  Article directories are free to join and there are many to choose from, but I will save you some time here...  By far the best article directory on the internet is www.ezinearticles.com. Yes, there are countless others, but ezinearticles.com is well-liked by Google and will get you ranked the quickest.

Here are two more I suggest…GoArticles.com and SearchWarp.com.  You can submit the same article to all three those directories if you choose, but definitely submit to ezineartciles.com

That’s it!

Try to submit as many articles as you can…I would suggest 5-10 to start, but the more the better. Before you know it your name will be all over the first page of Google.

Then the next time an interview committee decides to "Google" you, they will be extremely impressed.

However, you don’t have to stop there…

Here are some more tips for taking this strategy a step (or two) further…

1. Once you have submitted several articles you can also use this same strategy to help you land the interview itself.  You see, each article directory will have an “author’s page” with links to all of your articles.  Why not provide the link to your “author’s page” in you cover letter.

2. Don’t forget to mention your author’s page DURING the interview as well. Let the interview committee know where they can learn more about you.

3. How about the post-interview follow-up?  Everyone knows that you must follow-up on the interview if you expect to get the job.  Why not put the link to your author’s page in your follow-up as well.

4.  Set up your own simple web page.  The web page can be all about you and your passion for teaching.  You can post pictures, sample lesson plans, examples of projects etc. Then in the resource box of your articles you simply place a link back to your web site.

5. Now, if you really want to take things an extra step you can pay to use an article submission service such as SubmitYourArticle.com.  They will submit your article to hundreds of article directories (including ezinearticles, GoArticles, and SearchWarp).  This will really put your name out there.

Let me stress here that these last couple of tips are not necessary.  You can get started very easily without spending a penny and could have ten articles submitted to the three major directories in a matter of a day or two.

Why not let all that hard work you did to get your teaching certification pay off.  Submit your work to articles directories and you will separate yourself from the competition and establish yourself as an expert in your field.