The quality of teachers in an educational institution is a major factor in driving educational improvement. When the appropriate teachers are attracted and recruited, schools are able to build progressively and provide the best possible teaching and learning. Every student, regardless of age and ability, deserves a high-quality teacher. It is incumbent upon everyone involved to recruit the best teacher possible.
Finding teachers that fit your school culture and needs the best can be a difficult task. You will find here useful tips to attract high-potential candidates.
Recruiting
PERSONAL CONTACT
Although the world is becoming more and more online, personal contact is still irreplaceable.
We know you have more important tasks on your to-do list but sometimes it can be beneficial to engage in education-relatedevents or workshops in your area. This can become an abundant source of recruitment.
You should also consider hosting or organizingsuch events in your school or directly visiting universities and campuses of your preference and recruit on-site.
Personal contact is definitely the best way to get to know potential candidates –it is also crucial in order to verify whether they are agood fit for your school’s culture or not.
In case you are thinking about headhunting or recruiting via recommendations, opt for personal contact. Showing real interest is the most convincing factor – instead of e-mailing your serious candidates, call them directly, and schedule one-to-one meetings.
PRINTED MATERIALS
Printed materials are very handy especially for building brand awareness. You can use it for virtually any school function. Consistent use of similar visuals (logo, colors,etc) is very pleasing and effective. Most importantly, this is still necessary to work with, and very easy to create.
One, you still needto create a lot of informational materials for all kinds of purposes –from annual reports, school news to flyers about the Christmas students’ performance. Making them impressive is only a bonus.
Two, this is not hard to do –there is already a myriad ofeasy online tools and editors you can use to spice up any of your materials.It is advised to conduct proper expectation management though –always know what your goals are and how exactly are you going to use what you have prepared –so that instead of just lying somewhere on the table, your materials are circulating and are actually being used.
BRANDED MATERIALS
It is already known that schools which have a certain name in the community have better prospects in attracting quality candidates. Brand building is a serious issue and schools that do not take it lightly reap most benefits. This is also vital for your school’s internal culture –making everyone (students, teachers, parents) feel as part of one cool team.
Branded materials such as pens, mugs or sweatshirts make the school look professional and united. They additionally make lovely (and handy) presents for your visits or supporters. Last but not least, when being used, they directly showcase your institution. For example, if a child is wearing such a T-shirt, they directly represent your institution – they are practically a walking advertisement of how cool the students in your school are.
ONLINE JOB PORTALS
Every country has its own top job portals with constantly updated offers for job applicants – involving them in your strategy not only makes it thorough but increasingly effective.
It is also probable that your country has already implemented certain regulations concerning these job portals (i.e. a public job offer must be published on such public portal). The greatest benefit of all is obviously the fact, that with these techniques your offer will be seen by most of the applicants with basically zero costs in an extremely short time – so do not forget to make great use of it.
EMPLOYMENT AGENCY
Every single state has an employment agency (a public institution) designed to assist people in finding jobs. They have two serious benefits one should keep in mind:
First, they usually work really well with candidates’ qualificationsand they have complete information about them(schools do not need to focus that much on validating them, they can just rely on agencies’ materials).
Second, they have usually good information on applicants within a given region -in terms of education, this will always bean important factor.
One last note: In case this is a private employment agency, make sure to check the fees and conditions. It is possible that such costs could not justify the end result.
NETWORK
The power of your network is directly linked to the pool and quality of contacts you can attract. It is also the best way to get references and feedback. The professional network and community you are part of are a very good source of peer-to-peer learning and helping to achieve the goals even in recruitment.
Get to know similar organizations, create alliances and partnerships. Join leading groups and forums onyour topic. The professional contact (ideally on a regular basis) shall secure you with access to innovation and current trends.
Keep in mind that networking is a skill that can therefore be learned. There is a ton of literature and online sources (TEDtalks, LinkedIn, etc) right at your disposal
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