How to Find and Hire the Best Educators for Your School – 8 Strategies

An analysis reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that 1.9 million teaching job openings will be available between 2014 and 2024. That includes preschool all the way to post secondary school. If your private school is currently hiring for teachers, then its vacancies are a part of that 1.9 million job openings. That’s kudos to you for providing opportunities for unemployed educators out there.

How to Find and Hire the Best Educators for Your School – 8 Strategies

Now the challenge is to bring the best ones under your employment. Your school needs excellent teachers if it’s to deliver quality education, right? So, if you’re looking for ideas on how to find them, we got you covered. In this blog, we’ll show you eight strategies to find and hire the best educators for your school.

Build Your School’s Online Presence

In starting a school campaign, most educational institutions announce them through social media pages and their official websites. Well, that’s a good promotion strategy because many of their audiences are active online. That said, announcing your teaching job openings online is undoubtedly a good place to start. So make sure to build your school’s online presence as soon as possible.

Your school’s social media pages and official website will help your recruitment marketing tactics. Teachers are also active online users, and they most likely look for job opportunities on the internet. So, there’s a great chance that many of them will come across your job opening announcement. Plus, this is also a good way of introducing potential job candidates about your school’s history, culture, and other reputable attributes. You can post photos, videos, and other interesting content to encourage potential candidates to apply.

Advertise on Reliable Online Job Boards

Aside from social media and your school’s official website, an online job board is another excellent platform to announce your teaching job opportunities. According to a study by Clutch.co, 41% of newly hired employees nowadays found their jobs in an online job board. That’s good enough evidence of how impactful online job boards are in recruiting employees.

The process of advertising your job openings in an online job board is simple and easy. You just have to write a detailed description of the teacher role, a short overview of your school, post them, and that’s it. Probably in a few hours or a day after, you’ll receive emails from interested applicants. But, know that you need to make room in your budget for featuring your job ad. It’s not that expensive, though, and it’ll be worth it because there’s an assurance that only qualified candidates will apply.

Participate in Job Fairs for Teachers

If you want to meet potential teachers right on the spot, then participating in job fairs should be on your objectives checklist. Job fairs for teachers usually take place in the latter months of a school year and during summer breaks. You can check out if there are any upcoming ones in your area. The good thing about job fairs is that you can interview, assess, and hire candidates in one stroke. There’s no need for calls, texts, and emails to inform a candidate about his or her application’s status.

If there isn’t any job fair coming to your area soon, you can organize one yourself at your school premises. Yes, it requires funding, but it’s the best option if you want to hire highly-competent educators fast. Other than that, organizing job fairs will also help in boosting your school’s branding and popularity in the local community. So, you should consider including job fairs in your business plan at times.

Ask Help from Your Veteran Teachers

Your veteran teachers are well aware of your school’s standards and culture. And, because of their longevity as educators, they know many other teachers that can adapt to your school’s requirements well. In that case, you can ask referrals from them. To encourage them, you can tell them that they’ll receive bonuses if their referrals are successful candidates. As you may have realized, this is a case of networking to find the best employees.

However, you can also reach out to former teachers and colleagues for more references, especially those who left your employment on good terms. Don’t limit your options by requesting referrals from current teachers only.

Target Fresh Graduates

Fresh graduates are the most eager and passionate job applicants out there. So, if you want enthusiastic candidates, fresh graduates should be your primary targets. Don’t get skeptical of their competency because of their lack of experience. Their open-mindedness, raw knowledge, and drive will more than live up to your expectations.

Some schools even made agreement settlements with universities to reinforce their faculty staff with fresh graduates. You can do the same strategy if you’re well-acquainted with a higher education institution. It’s also one way of establishing a strong network for your school’s workforce.

Know the Benchmark About Educator Salaries

Attracting the best teachers will become more likely if you can offer a decent salary, especially if it’s way above the minimum rate. For that to happen, you have to know the benchmark of educator salaries in the education industry. There are many sources where you can find credible data about them. Most notably, you can refer to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Once you’ve come up with a handsome salary rate for your future teachers’ quotation, make sure to emphasize it in the job description.

Devise Enticing Benefits and Incentives

Other than a good salary, applicants are very particular about benefits and incentives. So, as much as possible, devise enticing ones that can encourage potential teachers in applying. The practice of granting benefits and incentives has long been an HR strategy for most businesses in various industries. And yes, it helped employers attract employees and keep them for longer periods. So, when you present a job ad or proposal, make sure to include details about the benefits and incentives you’ll provide.

Assess Candidates Thoroughly

Of course, part of the selection process in hiring teachers is to assess candidates thoroughly. You have to ensure if they can truly manifest the right skills of an educator. You can let a candidate do a quick demo to get a glimpse of how he or she conducts lectures and manages classrooms. That’s the best way to measure a candidate’s competence as an educator. If your assessment of a candidate shows good results, you can offer them a contract to make his or her employment official.

Educators are the backbone of every educational institution. The reputation of a school rests primarily on their contributions. Without educators, you can’t even call your school an official educational establishment. So, apply the eight strategies we’ve shared with you in finding and hiring the best educators. In doing so, your school will soon boast an all-star faculty team.

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