Teacher Recruitment

Superintendents and principals throughout the United States are still under extreme pressure to find and hire quality teachers. In his recent state of the union address, President Obama spoke about his concerns and goals for public education. In my opinion, before we can achieve "Sputnik" outcomes, we have to provide as many quality teachers in classrooms across our nation. The general public is placing greater attention on the fact that students in our public schools deserve a caring, competent, qualified teacher in every classroom. This is certainly a challenge when systems throughout the country are demanding more outstanding teachers of math, science, special education, and foreign language.

Most new teachers in my Georgia school system have traditionally come from local colleges and universities in the region. These new teachers have studied and completed various specialized education programs. A quick visit to the nearest college or university has typically been the most common method, and for some districts the only method, of obtaining new teachers to a school system. The process generally takes place in the spring of the year in either April or May. A representative from the local school system contacts a college, schedules an on-campus visit, and distributes applications and literature to prospective teacher education candidates. In some cases, these actions might take place at a college career center or during the course of an education job fair. In most instances, it is the responsibility of the prospective candidate to visit with the school system representative, obtain materials, submit the application, schedule a visit to the system, and participate in an interview. More often than not, only a few institutions within a fifty-mile radius of the school district will be involved in the process, but it has become more competitive today. While this method generally provides enough exposure for a school district and achieves the goal of attracting the necessary number of prospective high-quality teachers to a school district, this is no longer sufficient in a competitive market that is seeking exceptional educational talent. Even in the current economic climate, school districts have to go beyond the college campus and utilize creative measures to locate and recruit high-quality educational talent to meet the needs of our schools.

Experienced teacher recruiters know there are unique keys to attracting the best teacher candidates at college teacher job fairs. First of all, most college candidates immediately want to know the location of the school district. While recruiters do not have control of the location of their school system, they certainly can be extremely aware, prepared, and efficient at answering questions regarding housing, community activities, cultural life around the location, and several aspects regarding relocation. In some instances, school systems send a new teacher or recent recruit back to the college environment in order to help share information concerning the new teaching opportunity. Next, recruiter behavior is an important component of teacher recruitment on a college campus. Teacher candidates respond extremely well and are greatly attracted to recruiters who display a positive attitude, appear interested in the candidate, are not distracted while communicating with the candidate, and come across as very well-informed. Likewise, honesty is always a great policy. Hence, a recruiter who talks to candidates in a friendly manner and has a positive demeanor backed up by knowledge of the school system tends to do well recruiting at educational job fairs.

Displays and exhibits are common at most college job fairs. Many displays contain pictures of students and schools, pamphlets, and provide large amounts of information detailing things such as salary, benefits, and other necessary knowledge concerning the school system. Some school system recruiters also provide trinkets and souvenirs to attract candidates. College recruiting can truly be a carnival-like atmosphere in some aspects.

Nonetheless, many applicants that I have spoken with remarked that colorful displays and gimmicks did not attract them or peak their interest during the college recruitment process. They indicated that recruiter behavior was the most important factor. Teacher candidates at college job fairs concluded that professional, friendly behavior was most attractive to them. They also noted that while location of the school system and salary was tremendously important to their overall decision in accepting an offer from a school system, a recruiter who failed to display a welcoming attitude, was not present at the designated display, did not make eye contact, and was not knowledgeable about the school system was terribly displeasing and did not attract their interest. In a nutshell, if you are seeking high-level teaching talent from a college or university, you better bring your A-Game.