Faster Onboarding, Faster Contracts, Simpler Hiring

Summary

Fannin County School District (FCSS) sits in rural Georgia, with five schools and around 490 employees. Despite the smaller size, the district faced big challenges with paper-based hiring and onboarding. The central office staff spent more time than they’d have liked on administrative tasks, and new hires took longer than necessary to feel prepared and ready to work.

But they’ve changed all that with Frontline Recruiting & Hiring and Frontline Central. Today, Fannin County’s hiring process is faster, more transparent, and easier for everyone involved. Principals no longer lose hours sifting through paper applications, and newly hired employees no longer need multiple visits to the central office to complete a massive stack of forms.

By focusing on efficiency and improving the applicant and new hire experience, the district now has better visibility, a larger pool of qualified candidates, and happier team members across the board.

Background

Fannin County School District serves a rural area of Georgia. The district operates five schools and employs about 490 people. Although retention is extremely high in the district, during large retirement cycles they experience turnover in waves. “Last year was a huge retirement year for us. We offboarded and onboarded 60 employees,” said Amy Buchanan, Human Resources Coordinator for Fannin County.

With just a few central office staff wearing multiple hats, the district needed a method that allowed everyone to stay organized without drowning in paperwork. In a small district, it helps to be flexible and ready to tackle many duties at once. A focus on efficiency became a priority when new district leadership arrived, and going paperless was suddenly a real goal rather than a distant dream.

Fannin County has a strong sense of community and cares about making new employees feel welcome. “If you’re hired in Fannin County, we want it to be an excellent customer service transition,” explained Amy. “We want you to come work for us because you love our kids and you love our people. And if the process to get hired is crazy, then you’re going to think that’s how we operate in the classroom. That’s not who we are.”

They also want to find the best teachers early in the hiring cycle to ensure a great experience for students. “That’s why we offer contracts in February. If someone is considering retirement, a career change, or a life event, we want to know early so the best candidates for our students can be interviewed and hired. And by the way, you can’t do that in July.”

Challenges Before Frontline

Manual, Paper-Heavy Hiring

Fannin County once relied on a labyrinth of paper applications. The central office stored each one in multiple filing cabinets. “When a principal had an opening for a sixth-grade math teacher, they had to physically pull the files of candidates with teaching experience in that sixth-grade math,” recalled Amy.

This repeated sorting chewed up administrators’ time. Nobody had a simple view of who was in the candidate pool, which delayed decisions.

Onboarding Bottlenecks

The trouble didn’t stop there, Amy remembered. “[Onboarding] was just as challenging.” After candidates received an offer, new hires had to show up in person to get the required forms and instructions. They walked away with a two-inch stack of paper to complete at home. “And then a week later, we would make an appointment for them to come back. And it usually took 90 minutes or more to get them onboarded.”

Sometimes, forms got lost or remained incomplete, which meant new employees had to wait before stepping into their roles.

Lack of Visibility and Tracking

Hiring was also difficult for administrators, who struggled to see the status of an application or whether a new hire had turned in all their documents. Missing information created confusion and slowed down the process even more.

In Search of a Better Solution

Expanding from Absence & Time

Fannin County already used Frontline Absence & Time, which eliminated the old phone-based method of finding substitutes. That led to a 90% fill rate and saved a good deal of time each week. “Before we had Frontline Absence & Time, it was literally a matter of getting on the phone and trying to call a substitute yourself. I was on the other end of that at the elementary school — I was the one making the calls,” said Amy. “I could see where we really needed to get a handle on helping the teachers and administration get coverage in their buildings.”

They also used Frontline Absence & Time to export sick leave data into payroll. “That’s when we decided that Frontline was the best solution for FCSS. We took a week-long process — a 40- to 50-hour workweek for an individual — and turned it into a two-hour process.”

Amy thought, “We already have Frontline Absence & Time. Let’s investigate some of the other solutions.”

Criteria for a New System

Small staff numbers meant the system needed to be easy to learn. They wanted a tool that centralized data, ended repetitive tasks, and integrated with the modules they already trusted. The finance, payroll, and HR teams also wanted a consistent and logical data flow.

A change in administration brought new energy to move toward a paperless world. “‘Okay, efficiency is number one. Number two, we are not going to do things the way we’ve always done them just because that’s how they’ve always been done.’”

Ultimately, Fannin County decided to proceed with Frontline Recruiting & Hiring and Central.