recruitment: a comprehensive approach

Leadership, Jan, 2001 by Jim O'Laughlin

School leaders at every level -- from the board to superintendent to site administrators -- must be committed to a comprehensive recruitment plan that increases the pool of candidates.

Recruiting for the education community is most often seen as searching the available pool of candidates when the need occurs. The problem with this approach is that it does nothing to increase the pool, and often results in stealing candidates from another district or school. The search for quality educational professionals to fill the tremendous need for teachers and administrators will not be met until the education community takes aggressive steps to increase the pool for California. Everyone needs to be part of this effort. This can happen if every district in the state has a comprehensive recruitment plan that is aggressively implemented.

The need for leadership

With everyone so busy it is easy to assume that the personnel department should take care of recruiting. The reality is that the personnel department can only do part of what needs to be done. District and school leaders need to be committed to establishing a plan and seeing that it is implemented. If it is not a priority at the board level, the superintendent level and the site administration level, there will be no systematic implementation and no solution to the growing shortage.

A comprehensive plan

The plan needs to systematically focus on encouraging people with good potential to consider educational careers. This can start in middle schools and extend through retirees. There needs to be a focus on diversity. Everyone in education should be the recruiter and anyone not in education with potential should be the recipient of attention.

The comprehensive plan should have at least the elements listed as follows. The elements are also spelled out in the program audit in the chart at right.

* Leadership: Leadership must set the priority and clarify the expectations within the organization so that the plan is developed and resources are allocated for implementation.

* Increasing the quality and quantity of candidates: A set of strategies to aggressively seek out potential candidates within schools, districts, universities and the population in general need to be developed. Selling the profession is essential if the best and the brightest are going to consider education as an attractive career choice.

* Contacting the candidates: In addition to traditional recruiting methods, technology needs to be maximized to contact candidates anywhere in the world in an efficient and cost effective way. This can greatly increase the size of the pool that has traditionally been accessed.

* Selling your district: Districts should have a wealth of information available for any candidate from any location. The Internet makes this possible at virtually no cost to the district or the candidate. Well-informed candidates will make for less turnover. Candidates who may have never considered certain locations due to a lack of information can become top candidates if a district does a good job of presenting the advantages of working there.

* Facilitating the application process: It should be easy for a candidate to apply for a position. Online applications and acceptance of standard applications such as those from Calteach.com and USTeach.com make applying easier.

* Screening the candidates: Technology can facilitate the screening process so that it is efficient and timely. Video interviewing makes it easy to hire candidates from any location who would never be available otherwise.

* The employment process: Districts need to streamline employment processes to make them efficient and candidate-friendly.

* Induction into the district and profession: A high level of support for new teachers has proven to reduce turnover in districts and provides for higher retention in the profession. Support programs need to be flexible to meet the needs of individuals and should not become a burden for the new teacher.

Recruitment plans need to be specific to local situations. There is not one right plan for everyone. But if no one has a plan, school districts will continue to steal from one another and wait for someone else to address the shortage that we all complain about. Use the audit to assess where you are and to plan your contribution to solving the recruitment problem.

RECRUITING AND HIRING PROGRAM AUDIT

For each item, indicate whether the program element exists, needs improvement or does not exist.

1. Leadership

* The school board and superintendent provide leadership in developing a district recruitment plan.

* Site administrators actively support site-based recruitment efforts.

2. Increasing the quality and quantity of candidates

* There is a local plan and allocation of resources (including technology) to recruit the best and the brightest into the teaching profession.

* There is a local plan that focuses on recruiting a diverse population into the teaching profession.

* A pre-collegiate focus in middle schools and high schools results in programs in every school to recruit the best and brightest into teaching.