Teaching builds instructing, social perceptiveness and coordination skills, and all three are prized well beyond the classroom. Among the 25 careers below, the closest fit for former teachers is Instructional Coordinators, with an 81% skill match and BLS May 2025 median pay of $77,440.
Updated October 2026 · Data: O*NET 31.0 and BLS OEWS May 2025 · How we match careers
Sorted by skill match.
| # | Career | Skill match | Median pay | Pay change | Extra education |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Instructional Coordinators | 81% | $77,440 | +16% | Graduate degree |
| 2 | Training and Development Specialists | 78% | $69,280 | +4% | None |
| 3 | Child, Family, and School Social Workers | 77% | $59,550 | −11% | None |
| 4 | Recreational Therapists | 76% | $61,960 | −7% | None |
| 5 | Health Education Specialists | 76% | $64,070 | −4% | None |
| 6 | Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors | 75% | $64,330 | −4% | Graduate degree |
| 7 | Music Therapists | 74% | $77,930Pay for the broader BLS group “Therapists, All Other” | Not compared | None |
| 8 | Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers | 74% | $60,280 | −10% | Graduate degree |
| 9 | Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists | 73% | $66,270 | −1% | None |
| 10 | Low Vision Therapists, Orientation and Mobility Specialists, and Vision Rehabilitation Therapists | 73% | $100,330Pay for the broader BLS group “Occupational Therapists” | Not compared | Graduate degree |
Compared with elementary school teachers, middle school teachers and secondary school teachers: employment-weighted median $66,847. Skill match is our estimate (0–99) from O*NET 31.0 skills, knowledge, work activities and interests, adjusted for preparation and big pay drops. Pay: BLS OEWS May 2025, national median.
How important each skill is in teachers’ work (O*NET importance, scale 1–5).
The gaps that show up most often across your top 10 matches.
Free and low-cost training: use the CareerOneStop training finder below.
Every school day you plan lessons, read a room full of different people and keep many moving parts on schedule. Those habits match what O*NET lists as most important in training, counseling and coordination roles. Trainers explain new systems to adults the way you explain fractions to kids. Counselors and social workers rely on the same patience and judgment you use with students and parents. The main gaps are business skills, such as operations analysis and managing a budget.
A concrete first step, the skills to add, and the hard parts of each job, from O*NET 31.0 education, training and work context data.
81% skill match · $77,440 · +16% pay
Management of Financial Resources · Management of Material Resources · Complex Problem Solving
78% skill match · $69,280 · +4% pay
Operations Analysis · Management of Financial Resources · Systems Evaluation
77% skill match · $59,550 · −11% pay
Operation and Control · Operations Analysis · Negotiation
If you want to stay close to what you do now, these roles are the nearest.
The closest matches by skills are Instructional Coordinators (81%), Training and Development Specialists (78%) and Child, Family, and School Social Workers (77%), based on O*NET 31.0 data. Training roles are the quickest move for many teachers, because 13 of the 25 matches need no more education than a teacher already has.
8 of the 25 matches pay more than the $66,847 median for the teachers on this page. Instructional Coordinators earn a median of $77,440, which is 16% more, and Training and Development Specialists earn $69,280, or 4% more, according to BLS May 2025 data.
Not always. 13 of the 25 matches usually need no extra education beyond a teaching background, including training, health education and recreational therapy roles. The other paths are steeper: 12 of the 25 usually need a graduate degree, such as instructional coordination and school counseling.
Across the top 10 matches, the skills that most often need work are operation and control, operations analysis, service orientation and managing financial resources. Your strongest skill, instructing, already rates 4.21 out of 5 in O*NET, so the gap is in business tasks rather than people skills.