Your school website is charged with serving many functions, particularly that of providing information to prospective and current parents of children in the grades your school serves. But, another important role is to recruit quality staff.
When you are looking for qualified teachers, for example, you want to find teachers who appreciate and seek to work in a school with your values and services. Evidence shows that one of the first steps job seekers will take when they learn of your job openings is visit your school site to get a feel for what your school offers. They are looking for examples of what your school values, what your students aspire to, and what’s in it for them. Does your school site provide that?
Where to begin
You can begin by simply making sure you post jobs on your school website. Include both your classified and your certified positions. The job postings should be easy to access from your home page, and each posting on your site should include a job description that describes what values your school desires this person to fulfill. Teacher website recruitment is an affordable and effective way for school districts to not only to find quality applicants but to attract those with personal goals that support those of their schools.
As an example, your school might include having every child reach their highest potential. So, your school would desire to hire qualified candidates who also value that goal. By including job-appropriate values in your job postings, you are more likely to attract candidates whose education and personal goals match your school’s mission.
With a bit of thought, this can be applied to every job posting. Some schools, on their job boards, call this area of the job description the “personal attributes,” which defines what they are looking for. Be sure to include personnel aspects that reflect values that support your school’s mission and goals.
Oh, and don’t forget to include links to teacher job sites where you’ve posted your openings on your social media. Make it easy for parents in your district’s schools to share open job positions with their family and friends who might be interested.
Human resources website focus
We recommend that school websites, particularly district websites, include an area for human resources, where they post job boards or open positions with attached job descriptions. Include an area that describes what your schools value along with your mission statement and goals.
Provide evidence
Provide evidence that these goals aren’t simply nice-sounding words painted on the wall by the office but are successfully applied by including testimonials from students and staff. Along with those teaching positions, include testimonials.
For example, if your mission is to provide students with an education that prepares students for success in society, interview alumni and have them tell you how the education they received from your staff helped them succeed in their career goals. Include these testimonials throughout your site but especially with your open job postings to validate that your mission and goals are more than just talk—but they are lived by your staff.
Assure support
If you are targeting recent college graduates, include descriptions to assure them that they will be mentored and given career advice from experienced staff to help them succeed and positively impact their students’ futures.
Make it simple
Make the process of applying for a job in your school or district a simple one by putting everything online. Let them post resumes as an attachment. Create an application that can be completed online. Let them upload recommendations or other application requirements right from your district and schools’ websites.
Download our FREE eBook: A Crash Course in Public Relations for SchoolsYou can use online programs that streamline the application process, making it simple for the applicant and the HR staff. But, if you are a smaller school with an even smaller budget, you can still put everything online through your school website, making the whole process simple for job seekers as well.
Outline requirements
Some of the online requirements may include:
- Eligibility requirements (by job)
- Teacher or job experience
- Requirement documentation
- Education, Certification, licensing, or degree requirements
- Resume/cover letter
- Copies of transcripts
- Letter of recommendation
Questions candidates might ask
Give job seekers the answers they need regarding your hiring process. This may include questions like:
- How long will I wait to hear if I’m being considered?
- What is your interview/hiring process like?
- If I’m out of state, will you consider an online interview?
- What state or other requirements apply to this job?
- What benefits (if any) are included in this job?
- What career advancement opportunities are there in your school/schools?
Does your site reflect your values?
Look long and hard at the areas of your schools’ websites that will be visited by prospective staff. Do they reflect the types of values for which you are trying to hire? Do you provide examples of these values in action in the staff and the students and even the community? If not, upgrade the site content to better represent your highest goals for your recruitment/hiring processes.
Finally, expand your reach by getting your jobs posted on job search sites, job boards, and teaching jobs sites. For classified positions or part-time roles, consider classified ads in both online and print publications locally. On your human resources pages, include links to job search companies where you regularly post your teaching jobs.
Culture matters in recruitment
Beyond job descriptions and pay scales, potential staff is concerned about the working culture they will immerse themselves in for most of the day. In fact, a survey done in 2019 by Glassdoor shows us that 56 percent of working adults say that a strong workplace culture is more important than salary. 77% percent of those surveyed said they would consider the culture before they would even apply for a job there. I would guess that if this survey were done by those in the education sector, these numbers would be even higher.
How can you reflect your school’s culture to recruit staff? Basically, it boiled down to marketing your staff, students, successes, programs, and activities. It also includes keeping your school website current and informative. Here are a few tips:
Highlight existing school staff regularly
Does your staff know your school’s mission? Do they regularly try to implement those education goals into their jobs daily or weekly? If so, how? Can they share examples of how they do that? These examples can be wonderful stories to turn into brief video testimonials for your human resources page and for information to share with prospective staff during the recruitment phase.
Using your website as a repository for these glimpses into the stories of your staff is a cost-effective human resource tool that will help in recruiting efforts as well as invaluable for staff morale. Consider video interviews, written or video testimonials, photos, and site reviews that reflect successful staff experiences and the education programs they are proud of.
Alumni success stories
Don’t forget about those alumni either. You are likely to have community members who have gone on to fulfill the dreams that began while they attended your school. Gather that information and stories and share them as testimonials on your site and in your recruitment marketing materials.
New employees
We’re all looking for great teachers and staff, right? The trick is to stand out from the crowd so that those talented and dedicated folks choose your school (or schools) over all the others who are recruiting. And trust us, everyone is currently recruiting.
Staff intranet
Create internal processes where new employees are mentored and welcomed into your school culture warmly. Add a section on your intranet (secured employee site) where new staff can become familiar with how things are done at your school.
Your teachers should access your intranet site daily to find things such as announcements, scheduled functions, success stories, and honored and valued traditions; and be sure to use it as a place to highlight and introduce staff on a regular basis and to support all of your schools’ employees.
We’ve got your back
Of course, as always, just reach out to School Webmasters when you need help with developing a website and social media to put all of these ideas into practice. Get a quote or call us at (888) 750-4556 and talk to Jim Leedy to learn how we can help!
Bonnie Leedy, CEO, School Webmasters, LLC.