Fast-Track Teacher Recruitment - human resource administration in successful hiring and retention of teachers

School Administrator, Jan, 2001 by Franklin Dean Grant

Before extending a job offer, the personnel office can fingerprint a candidate using a scanning device, without the need of ink. The fingerprint scan can be sent via the Internet to the state crime information center and the FBI with a response possible within seconds. Because 99 percent of the teacher job applicants have no criminal record on file, this technology expedites the employment process.

A New Age

What these measures in total amount to is the dawning of a new age in a school district's human resources operation. Traditional approaches no longer will be good enough in this time of critical teacher supply and need.

School districts with a Renaissance human resources director, a pledge toward customer service, a well-conceived strategic plan and state-of-the-art equipment will be able to fill teacher vacancies rapidly with the best candidates available.

Dean Grant is the executive director of staff services for the DeKaIb County School District, 3770 N. Decatur Road, Decatur, Ga. 30032.

Web-Based Recruiting

JAMES S. HEAD

Often after I have finished a presentation on using the Internet for teacher recruitment, a school district administrator will come up to say, "We are in the planning stages on our teacher recruitment Web site." A year later, if I encounter someone from the same district, I'll probably hear the same refrain.

All the while that school district plans, it is passing up the chance to use an essential teacher recruitment tool. There was a time when teachers primarily searched newspaper classified sections for job openings. No longer. Teachers today, especially those at the beginning of their careers, often start their job search on the World Wide Web.

If your Web site is not designed to serve your personnel needs, you are simply not in the candidates' line of vision.

A Fast Track

To get your district's teacher recruitment Web site on-line, I have devised a five-day work plan that includes "Roadblock Alerts." These common obstacles prevent districts from making progress in their on-line recruitment.

* Day 1: Organize resources.

Determine how your Web site will be published. This means identifying your Web server, a computer hooked to the Internet, which allows you to distribute Web pages.

Roadblock Alert: Most people get hung up trying to organize local resources to do this. If you aren't currently equipped to do this, contact a local Internet Service Provider. The provider will take care of the rest. A simple page or two should be inexpensive. Tell your ISP you need to be online in five days.

Identify relevant staff. This includes people involved in recruiting, any staff interested and/or skilled in Web development and technical staff, if you have them.

Roadblock Alert: Staff will be inclined to make this complicated. Tell them right away that this is a five-day plan to get a recruiting site on-line and keep reminding them of that.

* Day 2: Organization information.

Identify contact information to be posted on your new recruiting Web site, including names, title, phone numbers, e-mail and mailing addresses.