Welcome. We’re glad that you’re interested in becoming a New York City public school teacher. Our 77,000 professionals work every day to enrich the lives of over 1 million public school children throughout the city, but they didn’t get there overnight. The New York City teacher recruiting and hiring process is one of the most rigorous in the country, ensuring that we have great teachers in our classrooms.
Before diving into the application, conduct research to make sure you are a good fit for NYC’s public schools, you have the materials and certifications required to teach, and you are ready to complete our comprehensive application. As part of the application, you will provide your resume and written responses so that we get an accurate picture of your potential for teaching.
Once you’re ready, begin working on your application. Be thoughtful in your responses and essays, and know that every application we receive is reviewed by a Department of Education staff member who rates the quality and then makes recommendations to school principals.
If your application meets our quality screen, you will be admitted into the New Teacher Finder. The New Teacher Finder serves not only as a database of eligible teachers for principals to consider for openings, but also as a portal of resources that applicants can use to make themselves more marketable and prepared for teaching in New York City public schools.
Our office helps make hiring recommendations, but job interviews and hiring decisions are made individually by each of our almost 1,700 school principals. Once your application is complete, it’s time to begin your job search. We offer online tools, recruiting fairs, and other forms of support to help New Teacher Finder members connect with the principals who will hire them. However, ultimately the success of your search depends on you.
Once a principal decides to hire you, there’s still work to be done. You will need to ensure that you have a valid teaching certificate from the New York State Education Department, get fingerprinted and undergo a background check, provide any additional information needed to calculate your salary, and take advantage of new teacher orientation and development sessions offered to you.
We have prepared a Guide for Career Service Centers to help the college and university staff who support new applicants in becoming professional teachers and conducting a successful job searches.