Recruitment for Education: A Lesson Plan

Education institutions however, have been woefully slow to make necessary changes or to follow proven contemporary recruitment strategies. Even though teachers are the single greatest in-school factor having a direct effect on academic achievement, it is a frustrating fact that too few schools and districts fail to translate this importance into a vigorous, systematic and unapologetic effort to recruit top talent into the profession.

For example, a recent survey of over 100 nationally representative school districts in the U.S. asked participants to describe how they recruit new talent, choose who they hire, induct new teachers, develop additional skills, and several other areas of importance. The findings show that a significant majority of districts have quite simply not kept pace with recruiting innovations and best practices of other fields. Some of the study’s key findings include:

• School Districts recruitment strategies are hyperlocal, untargeted or even nonexistent.
• The average school district has only 1.8 employees assigned to recruitment.
• Only 30% post openings on social media networks.
• Less than half of districts surveyed visit colleges or universities to recruit at job fairs.
• Of the districts that do recruit at external job fairs, only 22% look to attract candidates outside their own region.
• Districts do not provide new teachers with mentoring or onboarding opportunities to build new skills that are critical to their roles.

School districts throughout North America compete with companies that have more innovative and contemporary recruitment systems. As a result, these districts face ever-growing obstacles to recruiting and retaining excellent, diverse talent.

Powerful tools like Cegid’s Talent Acquisition solution, may help education institutions streamline recruiting and sourcing efforts, and give recruiters new online power to find the right candidates and manage them throughout the entire talent lifecycle. They provide a strategic advantage to recruiters, through the use of process automation, talent analytics and the most contemporary sourcing options.

Growth Opportunity

Millennial educators rated the opportunity to “learn and grow” as extremely important aspects of any job to which they might consider applying. In a recent Gallup poll, eighty-seven percent said that “development” was an important part of any worthwhile job. Organizations have responded by upping the amount of feedback, professional development opportunities and support provided to employees, and leveraging modern talent management software to foster employee engagement at scale.

For example, the Cegid Learning and Development solution provides essential tools to manage, deliver and track employee learning success. It also integrates with the Performance Management software to harness valuable employee data that help develop personalized learning programs. The built-in communication, personalization and collaborative tools deepen employee interaction while the manager features effectively track individual progress and learning paths.

Homework for Educators

Talent management systems are crucial parts of building a successful organization. This especially holds true in the field of education, where great teachers are crucial for the success and performance of students. Ongoing research shows the impact that great teaching has on students. To attract and retain these exceptional teachers, education institutions must modernize their human capital systems, i.e.; recruitment practices and technology. District after district across North America have shown that by making changes in both the way they recruit educators and how they do it, they can improve the efficiency and effectiveness with significant benefits for both teachers and students. If your organization has not made these changes yet, you’ve got some homework to do.