26 Jobs for Teachers Outside of the Classroom

There are a variety of career opportunities for teachers that don't require you to teach a class of students. If you're interested in alternative employment to teaching, your skills and professional history can give you an advantage in a variety of jobs besides teaching in a classroom environment. Learning more about what careers might be an option for you could help find a fulfilling job that suits your background.

In this article, we list 26 jobs for teachers outside of the classroom, including typical responsibilities and average salaries.

Transferable skills for teachers

When making a career change, reflect on the skills and knowledge you've gained and used as a teacher to better refine your job search. Doing so can also help you develop a pitch for potential employers to explain why your teaching experience is relevant to the job you're targeting. Here are teaching skills that can be valuable in other industries:

• Organization and planning: Teachers plan and pace assignments and balance a wide range of tasks. The ability to coordinate classroom activities, schedule meetings with administrators, other teachers and parents and arrange school trips and extracurricular activities requires organizational skills that could be beneficial in fields like business and administration.

• Adaptability: Teachers continually adjust their plans to meet their students' needs and address unexpected challenges and circumstances. Many employers appreciate candidates who can make wise decisions quickly and stay flexible to meet changing goals and resolve unanticipated problems.

• Creativity: It's important that teachers devise new activities to engage students, so former teachers are often innovative thinkers who enjoy brainstorming and pursuing new ideas. Conceptual skills and creative thinking could make you a competitive candidate in many industries.

• Empathy: Teaching requires you to show compassion to students with unique backgrounds and needs. This vital interpersonal skill could help you in jobs that require relationship-building or client interaction.

• Knowledge of teaching methods: Many careers outside the classroom require you to train others, develop individualized learning plans and track others' progress. A teacher's in-depth pedagogical knowledge could make them a fit for jobs in education administration and corporate jobs that involve learning and development.

It might also help to think about what you hope to gain from a new career, such as higher compensation, more growth opportunities or work that better aligns with your interests and passions. While a teaching degree and classroom experience may qualify you for many careers, note that some roles that leverage teaching skills might also require additional credentialing or industry-specific training.

For example, careers in health care, engineering or trades typically require licenses. To deepen your skills in a new field, you can also consider going back to school to upskill or reskill for a new field.

Related: Top 6 Teaching Skills That Employers Look For

26 alternative jobs for teachers outside the classroom

If you have teaching experience and want to leverage your existing skills, consider these alternative career paths. For the most up-to-date salary information from Indeed, visit indeed.com/salaries.

1. Tour guide

National average salary: $32,294 per year

Primary duties: Tour guides lead tours for visitors to cities, historic sites, museums and attractions. They may give various types of tours, such as bus tours, boat tours and walking tours. Tour guides share historical facts, answer guests' questions and research relevant topics to offer educational, entertaining experiences for tour groups.

Related: How To Become a Tour Guide in 4 Steps (With Skills)

2. Life coach

National average salary: $40,622 per year

Primary duties: Life coaches work with clients to empower them to reach personal and professional goals. They teach clients goal-setting and self-assessment techniques and share methods for regulating emotions and overcoming personal challenges. Life coaches track clients' progress and help them build clear, actionable plans for improving their lives.

3. Personal trainer

National average salary: $40,680 per year

Primary duties: Personal trainers help clients achieve their health and fitness goals. They typically assess their clients' fitness levels, create customized exercise plans for them and guide and supervise clients' workouts at home or at gyms.

Related: 12 Tips for How To Be a Successful Personal Trainer

4. Academic advisor

National average salary: $45,029 per year

Primary duties: Academic advisors help students in schools, colleges and universities select the right courses so they can successfully complete their degree programs. They typically process class transfer requests, outline requirements for different academic programs and ensure students are on schedule to graduate on time.

Related: How To Become an Academic Advisor

5. Camp director

National average salary: $45,114 per year

Primary duties: Camp directors oversee the programs for seasonal day camps and sleepaway camps. Camp directors lead camps, handle escalated matters such as injuries or conflicts between campers, set and enforce safety guidelines and communicate with parents. They also select counselors and staff members, create schedules and lead training sessions on discipline, leadership and safety for counselors.

6. Youth director

National average salary: $45,380 per year

Primary duties: Youth directors create and implement events and activities for children and teens at recreational facilities, religious institutions, schools and community centers. Youth directors are responsible for developing youth programs that meet the requirements and vision of their employer, training staff and securing resources.

7. Program specialist

National average salary: $45,999 per year

Primary duties: Program specialists plan and execute programs for universities and nonprofit organizations, typically within a particular school or department. They manage the program budget and secure necessary resources, train employees and volunteers and support the creation of grant proposals. Program specialists familiarize themselves with program policies and guidelines and ensure their implementation.

8. Admissions advisor

National average salary: $46,032 per year

Primary duties: An admissions advisor reviews applications to an educational institution, makes decisions to admit or reject candidates and helps prospective students with the application and enrollment processes. An admissions advisor might arrange campus visits, provide information about financial aid and recruit new students by attending recruitment events and college fairs.

Related: How To Become Admissions Adviser (With Salary and Tips)

9. Career counselor

National average salary: $47,413 per year

Primary duties: A career counselor helps high school and college students choose a suitable career to pursue and develop an action plan to reach their goals. Depending on their employer, career counselors could also work with adults seeking guidance to refine or change their career path.

Related: How to Become a Career Counselor in 5 Steps (With Tips)

10. Project specialist

National average salary: $47,689 per year

Primary duties: Project specialists oversee projects and help teams organize their efforts to deliver products or deliverables on time. These specialists track progress toward goals, monitor project budgets and develop well-paced timelines to ensure team members complete project components on time to reach deadlines. They also report on project progress to clients or managers.

11. Nanny

National average salary: $48,129 per year

Primary duties: Nannies supervise children while their parents are out of the home. They typically develop a schedule of enriching, educational and healthy activities for children, like reading, outdoor playtime and social activities. Nannies can work with children of any age, including babies, toddlers and school-age kids. Other duties of nannies may include transporting children to and from school and activities and helping with light housework like cooking and cleaning.

Related: How To Find Nanny Jobs Using Listings and Agencies

12. Preschool director

National average salary: $48,285 per year

Primary duties: Preschool directors oversee the operations of a preschool. Their core duties involve establishing educational standards, managing relationships with parents, supervising teachers and assisting in their development. They also monitor the school budget, hire staff and procure equipment and supplies to facilitate learning.

13. Tutor

National average salary: $51,871 per year

Primary duties: Tutors help clients with their schoolwork and provide private lessons to deepen their understanding of various school subjects. They adapt their teaching methods to address students' individual learning styles, help them develop efficient study habits and guide them through homework assignments.

Read more: Learn About Being a Tutor

14. Guidance counselor

National average salary: $53,466 per year

Primary duties: A guidance counselor helps students meet their academic goals and process personal issues that may affect their schooling. They meet with students individually or in groups, coach them in developing effective coping skills and study habits and guide them in making decisions for the future, such as selecting colleges to apply to or a career to pursue.

Read more: What Is a Guidance Counselor?

15. Residence hall director

National average salary: $53,771 per year

Primary duties: Residence hall directors manage student housing facilities on college or university campuses. They work to develop a safe, welcoming environment for residents by enforcing rules, planning social events and helping students adjust to campus living. These directors also supervise student employees such as resident assistants (RAs) and front desk attendants, process paperwork when disciplinary incidents occur and develop emergency response plans.

16. Librarian

National average salary: $56,024 per year

Primary duties: Librarians help patrons find the books and information they're seeking in public or school libraries. They order new books and resources for library collections, organize shelves and process transfers and loans with other libraries.

Related: Librarian Job Requirements: Education, Skills and Experience

17. Marketing specialist

National average salary: $57,211 per year

Primary duties: A marketing specialist helps create and manage marketing campaigns. Often they specialize in an area of marketing, such as social media or event marketing. Marketing specialists research demographics to determine the target audience for a campaign, monitor campaign performance and report campaign data to clients.

18. Editor

National average salary: $57,977 per year

Primary duties: An editor makes corrections to written material and guides writers in the conception and development of articles, blogs or books. Their work may entail proofreading for spelling and grammar mistakes or making more comprehensive edits regarding content and tone.

Related: How To Become an Editor

19. Human resources specialist

National average salary: $58,137 per year

Primary duties: Human resources (HR) specialists provide focused support for a specific area of HR, such as benefits administration or recruitment and hiring. Their duties might involve performing market research to learn about competitors' approaches, revising company policies and reviewing business operations for compliance.

20. Writer

National average salary: $60,012 per year

Primary duties:  Writers craft news stories, blogs, articles, books or advertisements on a full-time or freelance basis. The core responsibilities of a writer include researching the topics they write about, creating outlines, crafting content that suits their clients' requirements and working with editors to revise their writing.

Related: 38 Common Writer Interview Questions

21. Corporate trainer

National average salary: $60,115 per year

Primary duties: A corporate trainer develops and executes educational programs that develop the professional skills of corporate teams. Corporate trainers' responsibilities include assessing skill gaps, building training schedules, creating educational resources and facilitating training sessions.

22. Educational consultant

National average salary: $62,030 per year

Primary duties: Educational consultants advise school boards, school districts and administrators on how to make decisions that serve students and achieve the best learning outcomes. Their core responsibilities usually involve evaluating school policies and recommending improvements, reviewing standardized test scores and strategizing to develop curricula that address student needs.

Related: How To Become an Educational Consultant (Plus Salary Info)

23. Instructional designer

National average salary: $68,474 per year

Primary duties: An instructional designer creates engaging and interactive courses for higher education institutions, online learning programs or private businesses. Instructional designers' duties can vary depending on whether they work in higher education or corporate environments. Their core responsibilities include performing needs assessments to determine the goals of a course or program and creating high-quality learning materials such as guides, decks, demonstrations, videos and manuals.

24. Curriculum leader

National average salary: $71,509 per year

Primary duties: A curriculum leader, sometimes referred to as a learning specialist, is responsible for coordinating academic programs and curriculum design. Their tasks might include creating lesson plans for teachers or designing the curriculum of an entire academic program to meet mandated goals and align with institutional values.

25. Director of education

National average salary: $72,594 per year

Primary duties: A director of education oversees the development and integration of an educational institution's curriculum, such as a school or school district, museum or corporate training company. They select training materials, such as textbooks or guides, schedule lectures and activities and work alongside administrators or managers to gain approval of curricula. Directors of education also ensure all selected material is appropriate for the subject, age and skill level of learners.

26. Principal

National average salary: $105,772 per year

Primary duties: A principal is a top-ranking administrator at a school. They ensure the school meets quality standards, strategize to increase test scores and enforce school rules through discipline. Principals also monitor and manage teachers and oversee school budgeting and resources.