Claire taught in a classroom for 4 years. This month, she signed a CSM offer at an ed-tech company with a $120K OTE!

She didn't get a certification first. She got a translation.

Most teachers I talk to think they're starting from zero. So they go hunting for a certificate, or they apply two rungs below what they can actually do.

That's not the gap.

Hiring managers don't reject teachers. They reject untranslated teachers.

Look at what a school year actually is:

30 students plus their parents = stakeholder management across a book of business
Designing curriculum = building onboarding programs
Tracking student outcomes all year = monitoring adoption and account health
Parent-teacher conferences = hard conversations with unhappy executives
Differentiated instruction = segmented customer strategies

A teacher who tracked outcomes for 30 kids across nine months has more account-monitoring reps than most junior CSMs.

It just says "communicated with parents" on the resume. So nobody sees it.

Two moves this week:

1. Write down 10 things you accomplished as a teacher. Raw, no polish. Then rewrite each one using the right-hand language above.

2. Pick 15 ed-tech companies. That's the one arena where your old life counts as experience instead of baggage. You were the user, the buying influence, and the power user of classroom software for years. No outside candidate can fake that.

Claire did both. She didn't hide the classroom. She picked the place where it counted double.

If you know a teacher who says "I'm done" every single June and then goes back anyway, forward this email to her. August is the right month for her to start.

I wrote the whole thing up, including the full translation table and what a former teacher should actually put on a CS resume: Teacher to Customer Success: Your Classroom Was a Book of Business

Gozde

P.S. The realistic timeline for my students is 8 to 16 weeks of focused effort. Translate your resume in August and you're interviewing before the leaves turn.

Talk Soon!

Gozde Gorce

Your career coach in your corner! 💪🏽

One more thing.

Last week I presented to 200+ veterans considering a move into tech, and the full recording is free right below 👇

If you know a veteran transitioning out of the military, or a friend still job hunting with a 2024 playbook, forward them this email.

It might save them months.

Access the recording

Tired of applying to CSM roles and hearing nothing back?

How to Break Into Customer Success is the same resume, LinkedIn, and interview playbook Gozde uses in 1:1 coaching, packaged so you can work through it at your own pace.

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