Recruiting the 21st Century Teacher

Introduction

It’s no secret that the K-12 hiring landscape has transformed over the past few years. And as school districts continue to face the teacher shortage and high turnover rates, it’s not hard to see why trends have shifted drastically. In order to navigate the current hiring landscape, it’s essential for school districts to take a step back and reevaluate previous strategies. Gone are the days of linear hiring models, or passively waiting for candidate applications. To effectively recruit, hire, and retain quality educators in the 21^st century, recruiting efforts must evolve to match the modern-day employee (but you probably already knew that).

Below, you’ll find a rundown of how K-12 HR departments can position themselves for success for hiring a 21^st century teacher, explanation of why diversifying your recruiting efforts is critical, and 4 suggestions if you’re new to 21^st century recruitment.

21^st Century Recruiting & the Teacher Shortage

During the 2021-2022 school year, economic factors have affected recruiting efforts for K-12 leaders. Despite pandemic-related challenges, an uneven recovery, and uncertainty and inflation brought on by foreign conflict, indicators show that the job market reflects a robust economy.

A stable economy has correlated with teacher shortages in the past, and there’s no difference this time around. Add in the demands of teaching throughout the pandemic, and the effect has been widespread burnout among teachers who are finding opportunity elsewhere at the same time.

This perfect storm has led to the struggle school districts now face: dwindling applicant pools and classrooms that need to be filled with highly qualified educators.

By reevaluating K-12 recruiting strategies, school districts may be able to attract qualified teachers who are already in the applicant pool, place top candidates in classrooms to avoid interruptions to student learning, and ultimately foster an outstanding educational experience.

Afterall, what has the greatest impact on student achievement? Teachers!

Over the Years: Fluctuations of the Teacher Supply

Historically, economic stability and prosperity in the U.S. has correlated with teacher shortages, suggesting that when more high-paying, prestigious jobs are available, job seekers tend to choose industries other than education.

However, in periods of economic downturn, the teacher supply increases as people seek stable work.

The fluctuations in the teacher supply over the years shows the trend clearly:

A Look Back at K-12 Hiring Trends

Before we look forward and dig in to the how’s and why’s of effective modern recruiting, we have to look back! It is absolutely crucial to evaluate and understand how K-12 hiring trends have shifted and what the state of the labor market looks like today. Think of it as a data-based framework to help guide you toward successfully recruiting your next 21^st century educator.

The Trends

Case 1: Open Postings and Applications

The Frontline Research & Learning Institute recently conducted an analysis of recruiting and hiring trends in the K-12 landscape. The following data, aggregated monthly, represents the number of open postings per district analyzed. Typically, school districts have followed a “hiring season”, which falls roughly between the March and September timeframe. However, over the last few years in particular, the trends might just tell a different story.

Chart 1, Open Postings

Chart 2, Applications

When we look at the average teacher applicants per job posting, you can see the trend move downward toward the 4-4.5 range for applicants per posting in 2022. This number has been steadily decreasing each year.

To further demonstrate this trend, the National Education Association found that based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), “The ratio of hires to job openings in the education sector has reached new lows, standing at 0.57 hires for every open position.”

Case 2: The Hardest Subjects to Fill Open Positions

Hire Rate is defined as the proportion of job postings that were filled within 30 days of the posting date. The chart above shows the Hire Rate by subject area relative to the average. What does the data show? Vacancies for some teacher subject areas easier to fill than others. Business teachers have the lowest hire rate, which averaged 5% less, whereas technology teachers have the highest hire rate, 7% higher than the average.

Case 3: Overall U.S. Education Employment Rates

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, from 2019 to 2021, the K-12 public education employment decreased by 7.82%, with nearly 700,000 educators leaving the field.

The Summary

So we’ve analyzed a few key trends in the K-12 education labor market, what’s the summary of those findings?

One thing is certain: in order to optimize recruiting and hiring in the 21^st century, school districts must look beyond “seasonal hiring” to attract top talent and combat teacher attrition. Instead, districts need to adopt a proactive approach and a year-round recruiting model.

On our next stop in the 21^st century recruiting journey, let’s take a peek at why antiquated recruiting strategies aren’t exactly “top-tier” and why the move toward modern recruiting really matters.

The Challenges of Outdated Recruiting Strategies

We’ve already touched on the challenges districts face from the teacher shortage and the dwindling number of applicants to teacher preparation programs. But what are the challenges presented from using outdated recruiting strategies?

In the past, some school districts have followed a more traditional or linear model of recruiting and hiring: one where HR teams receive a paper application, select a candidate for an interview, hire the candidate, and finally bring the new hire on with paper-based onboarding. And when the next position opens up, rinse and repeat.

Though this model has surely garnered success in the past, the linear way of recruiting paired with such painstakingly antiquated processes likely causes districts to miss out on quality candidates. And as technology and recruiting software have advanced, this type of “manual recruitment” doesn’t exactly yield the candidate friendly experience that a 21^st century educator would expect. Not only that, but with such manual processes, HR teams are likely buried with piles of paper, faced with constant fires to put out, and forced to wear multiple hats.

Manual processes = time wasted, a poor employee experience, and HR struggling to focus on people instead of paperwork

What other problems can arise with outdated recruiting strategies? In many cases, Human Resource departments are siloed from other departments, such as Business, Finance, or Curriculum & Instruction, because it’s “just the way it’s always been.” But silos can lead to major breakdowns in communication that cost time and money. For example, maybe HR has dedicated precious time and resources to recruit and onboard for a position, but then later they find out the position has already been dissolved. If this scenario sounds familiar to you, you’re not alone. The truth is many districts out there are struggling with similar challenges.

Without visibility and transparency in (what could be) a cross-functional effort, it makes it harder for HR to focus on people instead of spreadsheets and paperwork. To take it a step further, scenarios like this often shift the candidate/new hire away from the center of the experience, making the notion of managing the employee “lifecycle” feel a little bit like a distant dream.

But with a more hybrid and collaborative-focused approach, like retention-focused recruitment, the employee is placed at the center and stays in the center. What’s more, your district won’t have to stress out about answering questions like: How do we find time to be proactive with recruiting? How are we going to staff all of our vacancies?

Siloed departments = a breakdown of communication, slow-moving data, and wasted resources

Who is the “21^st Century Teacher”?

It may be helpful for K-12 school districts to gain a bit of insight into the characteristics of the modern educator. Though these may vary based on the individual, getting a sense of common traits that typically define these educators is a good first step toward optimizing your recruiting process.

Here are 6 common traits of a 21^st century teacher:

1. Responds to various student learning styles with differentiated instruction
2. Works in digitized classrooms and is highly tech-savvy
3. Proactively seeks out forward-thinking, interactive learning to prepare their students for the global stage
4. Wants to continue their own education through continuous professional development
5. Values collaboration between students, teachers, and staff to promote a cohesive learning environment
6. Empowers student engagement with gamification in classrooms

As newer generations continue to enter the workforce, school districts may also benefit from understanding traits that specifically align with Generation Z and Millennial candidates. For example, in a world where information is literally available at our fingertips (thank you, smartphones!), Gen Z highly values instant feedback in their workplace because quite frankly, they’ve had access to instant information their entire lives. You may even consider applying this knowledge to their onboarding or professional development to create a more conducive employee experience. Ultimately, understanding these key characteristics can help you effectively market your school district to these prospective generations. Check out the infographic below for more resources on how you can support your multigenerational recruiting efforts!

Terms to Know for Recruiting the 21^st Century Teacher

The 4 Basics of Recruiting the 21^st Century Teacher

When it comes to attracting the most qualified 21^st century educators to your district, the key word is evolution. Based on the data and trends above, we know the old way of doing things just doesn’t cut it anymore. So, to evolve into modern recruiting for the modern employee, you must get creative. You know the saying… out with the old, in with the new!

The four basic tenants of a successful, modern recruitment plan are retention-first recruiting, a year-round recruiting plan, a walking culture, and personalized onboarding. Of course, when you extend your view past these basics, there are countless other moving parts involved, but these effective strategies and procedures are the roots of the 21^st recruiting tree that will support your efforts to increasing fill rates and attracting the most qualified and aligned candidates to your open positions.

Method 1

Retention-focused Recruitment

When you think of recruiting and retention, do you think of them as being interconnected? Or do you think of them as separate entities? Recruiting and retention are really two sides of the same coin. They are cohesive moving units, and they shouldn’t be treated as anything but! In our terms to know section, we mentioned “retention-focused recruitment.” Retention-focused recruitment aims to increase communication and transparency between departments (like HR and Finance) to place the candidate at the center of the recruiting process, in order to increase retention-rates for new employees. It is collaborative, employee-focused, and strategic. This retention focus is the main driver of a 21^st century recruiting strategy, so if your district isn’t focused on retention during recruitment, it may be harder to find candidates who align with your district’s mission.

STEP 1: COMMIT

Commit to facilitating a conversation between departments to ensure everyone is philosophically committed to your end goal. Ask questions like:

• How can we support district-wide transparency?
• How can we support outstanding education through collaboration?
• How can we work together to ensure budget before kicking off recruiting efforts?

After this conversation, if you are confident that your teams truly understand the benefits of bringing key district functionality together to improve the recruiting experience, you’re on the right track.

It isn’t just a talking game. Districts must commit to the human experience involved in recruiting. First, put on your 21^st century recruiting glasses and view your processes through an empathetic and people-first lens. Second, recognize that the human experience can’t just be a motto. This behavior must be modeled daily from the top down, starting with leadership. If district leaders can successfully, and meaningfully represent this ideology, it may increase departmental buy-in for change. Change is hard, but it’s a part of making evolution happen.

STEP 2: STRATEGIC PLANNING

When 85% of your budget is allotted to staffing, it’s important to get strategic! Strategic planning starts with laying everything out on the table that you have already in motion with your candidates and new-hires. What tools do you have today that are designed to support your candidates, new hires, and employees? This step will help to identify any gaps or grey areas that have been overlooked between departments. Next, identify cross-over opportunities between departments that are specific to recruiting. This step will increase visibility into people management, security, and budget-accountability. In turn, recruiting and hiring becomes more transparent and simplified, budgeting and payroll becomes dynamic, and the entire process opens the door for a candidate friendly experience.

STEP 3: IMPLEMENT EFFECTIVE TOOLS

Now that you’ve identified the gaps, do you have resources in a technological and supportive structure? Do they enable the evolution away from linear and manual recruiting? If the answer is no, it’s time to implement effective tools in your district. Think about this step from the perspective of the 21^st century educator. What was number two on the above list of common traits? That’s right, technology! These educators are highly tech-savvy, so if your tools don’t surround these new employees with streamlined, personalized, and modern resources, they may be less likely to retain their onboarding or buy-into the school culture.

STEP 4: DIVERSIFY

Your district should be in diverse in need, diverse in thought, and diverse in place. Can candidates truly come out of an interview and see that the district is a supportive, diverse space filled with meaningful interactions and learning experiences? You should confidently be able to say, “Yes, that’s us!”

Diversifying starts with wrestling with the perception of your district’s culture. What does it really feel like within the walls of your school’s building? How can you build upon areas that already feel diverse? What areas need a serious makeover? How can you commit to continually diversifying? These questions are a good starting point. But ultimately, if you take anything away from this step, it’s that a diverse culture engages, supports, and you guessed it, puts the employee at the center.

Learn how Human Resources and Instructional Growth can work together to implement a retention-focused recruiting plan.

Method 2

Year-round Recruiting

In the charts above, the data says it all. 21^st century recruiting needs to be year-round. We know the current status of the K-12 labor market, and we know it’s harder to find applicants and fill positions, so using all of your time and resources to recruit only at certain times of the year probably won’t make it easier to do so. However, year-round recruiting can.

Not only that, but it can help alleviate the pressure and stress that HR feel within a recruiting time-crunch. Another benefit of this method is helping to avoid teacher burnout. Remember, according to a National Education Association survey, “80% of teachers report that unfilled job openings have led to more work obligations for the educators remain” and “90% of educators are experiencing burnout.” With a year-round approach to finding quality 21^st century educators, districts can proactively fill positions through consistent engagement.

So, what does year-round recruiting actually look like? It may sound redundant, but you can’t recruit year-round without a retention focus, because cross-collaboration is key. Departmental alignment is the secret to this recipe. Afterall, we are stronger together than apart! If you can check that off your list, the next step is to continually market your district as a destination district by successfully appealing to 21^st century educators.

You may already have some outstanding programs in place, but here are two ideas to keep in mind when recruiting year-round:

Design-thinking is your backbone

To get creative with recruiting 21^st century educators, what better way to do it than design thinking? This innovative problem-solving process aligns very closely with our other strategies. Above all, it is a human-centered approach that focuses on people’s real needs with observation and empathy. Secondarily, it highlights areas for improvement (like technology)! Are you still using paper processes to recruit? If you have a system, is it disconnected? Design-thinking will help you successfully market your district and send you on the path toward destination-district status.

There are five steps to successfully implement design thinking:

1. Empathize: This is your chance to fully understand the 21^st century educator. Put yourself in their shoes and seek to empathize without judgement. The nationwide teacher shortage, paired with the pandemic, has created challenge after challenge for everyone in K-12. But make sure in this step, you’re empathizing with the specific challenges teachers and other instructional staff have experienced.
2. Define: You’ve made observations about the 21^st century educator. How do your processes align with their pain points? What are their needs at this time? Define their persona, and outline how these pain points align with what they may seek in a district.
3. Ideate: It’s brainstorm time! Where can you innovate your recruiting processes? This is a great opportunity to cross-collaborate between departments to explore possible solutions. In this step, the sky truly is the limit.
4. Prototype: You came up with some great ideas, how can you put them into action? Lay out your plan and commit to the change, with the understanding that change is fluid and will ultimately mold overtime with each new hire, so that your efforts are as successful as they can possibly be.
5. Test: This one is pretty straightforward: Implement, assess, review, revise, repeat! Don’t be afraid to identify pockets that weren’t as successful. Design thinking isn’t linear, and these steps can be revisited in at any time and in any fashion

Grow your own teacher pipeline year-round

You are likely familiar with this type of home-grown pipeline program, as 47 states already have grown your own (GYO) programs for high school students at the state/district level. However, not every state has direct funding for these programs. Grow Your Own programs train future educators from within a district’s very own schools through alternative pathways. There are also various pathways for college students, paraprofessionals, and other school staff.

There are major benefits of these year-round programs:

• Build a year-round new teacher pipeline
• Increase diversity within your district
• Fill classroom gaps for specific positions
• Increase teacher retention
• Remove barriers to entry

With a Grow Your Own program, you are actively building your own diverse pipeline of future teachers. Additionally, think about how this commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) frames your district to other prospective 21^st century candidates!

“Effective teachers are blind to color, gender, age, disability, language, and socioeconomic class. They see all challenges as opportunities, all barriers as stepping stones, and every student as unique, special, and full of potential. They love, they care, and they are committed. They know their job is more about teaching character than teaching content.”

Jason Olson, Director of Human Resources, Verona Area School District

Here are some real-time examples of Grow Your Own programs across the country:

1. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) implemented a year-round grow your own program in rural and small school districts to transition highschoolers, early college students, paraeducators, and long-term substitutes into teaching roles.
2. In Mississippi, there was a lack of elementary education majors. MSU-Meridian partnered with districts to transition paraprofessionals to full time teaching roles (who have higher retention rates once licensed).
3. With a high percentage of student diversity but only 4% of teachers being persons of color, Minnesota started a grow your own program to increase the number of teachers of color and American Indian teachers.
4. North Carolina’s GYO program, NC Teacher Cadet, was created as an in-state teacher recruitment program to beat the teacher shortage by generating a diverse pipeline of teachers year-round.

Method 3

Walking Culture

School culture isn’t something you just decide upon, though you may have goals you want to aim for, and it doesn’t exactly live within the concrete walls of your school building. School culture is brought to life with each new employee, and is nurtured by students, families, and staff alike. When a strong, positive school culture is tangible, it echoes throughout the community.

School culture walks, it does not sit.

There are five aspects, or “bubbles” if you will, of a walking culture: work policy, learning culture, training culture, change culture, and collaboration culture. There are also two lenses to this culture: the 21^st century educator, and the school district. If you had to take a guess, which of the five would you imagine a school district focusing on the most? Could it be policy? Or would it be training? Or are they weighed exactly the same? And what about your applicants? Every individual’s walking culture looks a little different. One person may heavily value a school’s collaboration culture whereas another may value training. When you think of this in terms of recruiting, it opens a world of opportunity for centering the employee throughout the process.

How can districts make these culture bubbles more cohesive when it doesn’t align to the employee?

Revamp your job postings to build your brand

With tough competition for limited candidates, it’s important for your district to stand out from surrounding districts. When an individual visits your career page, can they easily discern what your district’s brand is? Make sure your job postings are current, memorable, and that they put your best foot forward.

Address change through collaboration

Collaboration isn’t a line, it’s a circle. To stand out to the 21^st century educator, you must collaborate to align the five bubbles of a walking culture. If they value change culture or learning culture the most, show them how you’re committed to it. Without willingness for change, you may lose these candidates to other districts.

Method 4

Personalized Onboarding

It may be obvious, but it’s worth stating: 21^st century recruitment doesn’t simply stop after the interview. Be sure to focus on a strong, employee-focused onboarding experience to further the candidate’s positive relationship with their recruiting experience. Research shows onboarding has a significant impact on retention!

• Offer differentiated and personalizedOne of the common traits of the 21^st century educator, is that they support varied learning styles with differentiated learning. This idea should be applied to their onboarding for the most effective learning! Two ideas to help make this happen is to use technology throughout the onboarding process and get Curriculum and Instruction involved to bridge induction and educator growth. Personalized onboarding is an employee-focused process that will result in a more engaged educator.
• Cultivate your new hires through onboardingAccording to The New Teacher Project (TNTP), cultivating your new hires though personal outreach, social media, mentor programs, and instructional support can help show you are truly committed to them as an employee from the get go.
• Clarify and connectOf course, maintaining compliance is a huge part of onboarding, but to increase school culture buy-in, make sure you’re clarifying expectations, building a shared culture, and fostering connections.

How to Implement 21^st Century Recruiting Methods

New methods and small tweaks can help refine and optimize your recruiting practices — but that doesn’t mean it happens just like that. Everything you do takes time, effort, and heart. If implementing these changes and new strategies makes you unsteady, you can take a deep breath, because there are tools that can make the process a lot easier.

Here’s what you should look for in these tools:

21^st century recruiting tools to consider:

Applicant Tracking System

Applicant Tracking System: Streamline the process from start to finish

When you hire a new employee, you’re strengthening the entire organization. But too often the minutiae and back-and-forth of the hiring process make it easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. Applicant tracking empowers you to reclaim your time and gain insights that help you recruit and hire 21^st educators more effectively. It also modernizes the entire experience for candidates!

With an applicant tracking system, your district can:

• Easily sort and filter to find the best candidates – no more stacks of paper resumes
• Manage interview scheduling and move candidates through the hiring process in record time with automated workflows
• Get the insights your need with intuitive dashboards that showcase your district’s progress
• Benchmark your district’s recruiting and hiring data against national and state trends

“In Cabot, we’re all about getting the best teachers for our kids. Having an applicant software system that recruits some of those teachers from very strong districts, we’re able to recruit and retain quality teachers.”

Lisa Baker, Personnel Director, Cabot Public Schools

Online Job Boards

Online Job Boards: Proactively recruit to K-12 job-seekers

Are you still relying on your district website or the newspaper? If so, chances are job-seekers can’t find you! With online job boards, you can reach job-seekers across the country and fill the toughest school/district positions. With K12JobSpot, the top job board for K-12 job-seekers, over 1,000,000 teaching jobs have been filled (and growing)! That’s no surprise, because it only takes applicants 3 minutes to apply for a position.

• Gain access to unlimited education job postings.
• Advertise open positions more widely by easily sharing jobs on your district website, social media pages and more.
• Proactively reach out to qualified candidates with customized, automated recruitment campaigns.
• Search for candidates where you are or reach out to educators across the country who have shown an interest in relocating.

“As I post a position, not only does it go out to my state, but it gets posted on K12JobSpot, which goes out throughout the United States, and I think it has really opened the doors to allow more candidates to see us in my town of Des Plaines, Illinois.”

Paul Hertel, Superintendent, Des Plaines School District 62

On-Demand Interviews

On-demand Interviews: Improve the candidate experience and maximize your schedule

21^st century teachers are incredibly tech-savvy, some even digital natives, and can access unlimited information in the palm of their hand. Lean into modern interviewing with on-demand interviews! These interviews are one-way, self-paced, and asynchronous. Not only does this help make sure the right questions are asked every time, it also drastically improves the candidate experience.

• Give candidates flexibility and control with virtual, interactive interviews on demand (which they can watch back and even rerecord!).
• Empower HR to automate interview scheduling, rewatch live interviews to rate candidates, and score interviews in real time.
• Get time back from scheduling interviews, handling manual candidate information, and rallying your HR team together to perform assessments.

Applicant Screening Tool

Applicant Screening Tool: Identify candidates most likely to succeed in your district

If you’re looking to add greater depth to your applicant selection process, prescreening assessments can be an invaluable addition to your toolkit. High-quality assessments add structure to the hiring process and make it easier to choose the candidate most likely to succeed in their new role.

• Highlight top candidates with proven, job-specific screening assessments.
• Structure interviews and provide interviewers with questions based on applicant score.
• Ensure that the best hire was made with post-hire performance surveys.

With an applicant screening tool, it’s critical that it supports a fair hiring process. Check out this checklist to ensure you’re maintaining compliance and that district policies are followed:

“Having the ability to sort applicants by certain measures allows me to set up screening criteria. For example, in order to make it to a pipeline, applicants must have a score of six or above. They need a major area GPA of 3.0 or above, and they have to have the appropriate certification that makes them eligible for a job. I can very quickly move candidates to the pipeline so that they’re there for principals.”

Lisa Hatfield, Director of Human Resources, Raymore-Peculiar School District, Missouri

Your Path to 21^st Century Recruitment

Evolving your recruiting efforts to match the modern employee will ultimately position your district for success. Whether you’re growing your own teacher pipeline, or working to break down silos between department, your district has the right strategies to confidently begin the journey toward successfully recruiting 21^st century teachers!

Remember: Be proactive, go year-round with your recruiting, and always place the employee at the center of the recruiting experience.

Nearly 4,000 school districts use Frontline Education to engage, select and hire the right people. Ready to see how Recruiting & Hiring can help you?

“Frontline Recruiting & Hiring has assisted us in identifying high potential educators who have gone on to become master teachers in our district, furthering the learning of hundreds and hundreds of our students.”

John Skretta, Superintendent, Norris School District 160

After fully implementing [Frontline] Recruiting & Hiring in March 2020, even during a pandemic, the number of applicants increased typically by 25% than in years past, including hard-to-fill teaching positions. We also noticed a wider range of candidates from a larger geographical area, as well as a higher quality of candidate pool.”

Chris Sadler, Director of Human Resources, Sun Prairie Area Schools, WI

Additional Resources

• Case Study: Modernizing the HR DepartmentSuffolk Public Schools uses Frontline to recruit from outside of their immediate area
• Video: Hiring More Efficiently at Pearland ISDDr. Sundie Dahlkamp shares how Frontline helps her attract, hire, onboard, and engage new staff members