What You Need to Know to Improve Your School’s Hiring Process

Hiring to fill open teaching positions can be stressful, particularly if these openings occur in the middle of the school year. However, a carefully planned, thorough hiring process ensures that the best teachers are in place as quickly as possible in that school. If you’re looking to improve your school’s hiring process and recruit better, more passionate educators, here’s what you need to know:

Get detailed about your job description

You may think that a detailed job description isn’t necessary. After all, if the individual has taught fourth grade in another school, for instance, they should understand what it’s like to teach fourth grade at your school. However, providing plenty of information about what is expected in the role is important. The nuances of teaching vary from school to school. Get specific about what you’re looking for, and about what a teacher can expect should they come to your school.

Be competitive

When you want to attract the best teachers, you need to be willing to get competitive or risk losing them to other educational institutions. Put together strong salary and benefits packages. Explain to them exactly why teachers love your school’s community. You need to sell your school, your staff, and your students.

Go beyond the resume

It’s great to have experienced teachers, but if you truly want to get the best people teaching at your school, you must be willing to look beyond the resume. Sometimes the most enthusiastic and eager teachers are those who don’t have the experience of more veteran educators. Be willing to take a chance on a younger teacher if you think they have the drive and the knowledge to add something positive to your school. Having a positive impact on students goes far beyond how many years you’ve spent in the classroom.

Spend time recruiting

Most businesses understand the importance of recruiting, but many schools struggle in this area. It’s important to focus efforts on recruiting talented teachers year-round, even when there aren’t open positions. This way, instead of having to scramble when positions do become available, you’re able to quickly plug in high caliber educators.

Don’t get too hung up on how it’s always been done

Some schools get too caught up on the processes from years past and refuse to innovate. This can hurt your ability to bring new teachers on board, and ultimately has a negative impact on your students. Utilizing new technology, for instance video interviewing services, makes it easier to find and hire new teachers. Be open to these kinds of technology and you’ll continue to streamline the hiring process.

How are you improving the hiring process in your school? Share with us in the comments!

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