How do I get a Job Teaching in a College?

There are a number of ways to get a job teaching in a college, based on the type of job you want, and the amount of education you have. In general, anyone seeking a position as a professor at a college will need to have a master's degree at the very least, but many colleges will require all professors to have doctoral degrees. One way to get experience and start teaching in a college earlier is to get a graduate assistantship; some of these programs allow graduate students to teach lower level courses to freshmen, or to work as teaching assistants.

Be sure to do your research if you want to get a job teaching in a university. Local and community colleges, for example, can be great places to start a career teaching in a college. This is because these institutions are often willing to hire individuals with just master's degrees, if they also have additional experience in the field that they want to teach. Applying at a community college can be a great way to get your foot in the door, and can help to boost your resume, making it more likely that you will be hired at a more traditional college or university down the road.

Requirements for teaching in a college or university can vary based on the type of institution it is, and the way they usually recruit new professors. It is reasonable to expect that a doctoral degree will be needed to get hired as a professor at these locations, and it will almost certainly be necessary in order to get tenure. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, and it never hurts to check job listings, submit your resume, and meet with the department in which you wish to teach at various colleges to see if there are any potential opportunities.

It is also possible to get experience teaching in a college while you are still a student. A graduate fellowship or assistantship may offer graduate students the opportunity to teach introductory courses in his or her field, generally to freshman students. A teaching assistant (TA) might also occasionally teach undergraduate classes, or may simply grade assignments and tests, or lead study groups. Any of these things can look good on a resume, however, and can make it easier to get hired in an actual teaching position once you have obtained a master's or doctoral degree.