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More teachers and education professionals are asking the same question.
What does a career beyond the classroom look like and how do I even begin to make that transition?
The move from education into a more corporate environment can feel daunting. Job titles sound unfamiliar. Hiring processes feel opaque. Confidence can dip, even for highly experienced professionals.
Yet every year, thousands of former teachers successfully make this transition. Many of them move into EdTech, where their experience is not just relevant but highly valued.
Here are some practical steps educators can take to explore and prepare for that shift.
Upskilling is often the first thing people think about, and for good reason.
Many EdTech companies actively hire people with an education background who have built additional skills alongside their teaching experience. This includes technical, commercial, and product focused roles.
For example, companies like Google for Education regularly hire people who understand classrooms, curriculum design, and how students learn, but who have also invested time in learning new tools or systems. The same applies to organisations hiring for roles such as solution engineers, implementation consultants, product specialists, or learning designers.
The good news is that you do not need to go back to university to upskill.
There are many high quality, free or low cost resources available, including:
The key is to choose skills that sit close to what you already know. Educators often do best when they build on their strengths rather than trying to reinvent themselves completely.
Many teachers underestimate how valuable their day to day experience with education technology really is.
If you have used tools like learning platforms, management systems, collaboration software, or classroom technology, you already have insight that many corporate teams do not.
Tools such as Google Classroom, Microsoft platform, or systems like Arbor are all part of the EdTech ecosystem. So are infrastructure and networking providers like Cisco.
One powerful but underused step is to reach out to these companies directly.
Many EdTech organisations run educator communities, ambassador programmes, or user groups. Well known examples include programmes run by Canva and Google, where educators collaborate, share best practice, and support product development.
Smaller EdTech companies often do this on a smaller scale, but they are usually just as open to hearing from educators.
By engaging with these communities, you can:
This is often how educators get their first real insight into corporate working environments without making a full career jump immediately.
Working closely with EdTech organisations, even informally, can act as a bridge between education and corporate roles.
Educators who become ambassadors, contributors, or community members often find that they:
Importantly, this helps demystify corporate life. It stops feeling like a black box and starts to feel navigable.
This pathway is common across primary, secondary, and higher education. Many former teachers and lecturers I speak to took this route before transitioning into roles in product, customer success, partnerships, sales, or learning design.
One of the biggest barriers to transition is not skills. It is perception.
Educators often struggle to see how their experience translates into corporate environments. In reality, education develops some of the most transferable skills there are.
These include:
The challenge is learning how to present these skills in a way that resonates with corporate and EdTech employers.
This is where guidance and support can make a real difference.
Career transitions are rarely linear. Having someone who understands both education and corporate environments can help you move faster and with more confidence.
I work with educators who are exploring this transition, helping them:
If you are curious about what options might be open to you, or how your background could translate beyond the classroom, I am always happy to have a conversation to explore those possibilities. Feel free to book a call with me.
Moving out of education does not mean leaving your impact behind. For many, it is simply a different way of contributing to learning at scale.
Hey, I'm Emilia. I have spent over a decade inside education and EdTech as a teacher, principal, founder, recruiter, and commercial leader. I speak with founders, hiring managers, and senior decision-makers every week. I see what gets attention, what gets ignored, and why strong candidates are often overlooked.I have built and sold an education business, hired and supported commercial teams, and worked across sales, customer success, partnerships, product, and go-to-market roles within EdTech organisations across the UK and Europe.I help experienced Edu and EdTech professionals position themselves clearly, confidently, and commercially so they stop feeling invisible and start getting traction.This is not generic career coaching. It is practical, market informed guidance built on real hiring conversations and real outcomes.RecruitHer exists because job searching in this market can feel isolating and confusing, even for experienced professionals. You do not need more information. You need clarity, positioning, and a strategy that reflects how hiring actually works.
