If you are involved in any way with recruiting teachers and other K-12 staff, then you know just how challenging and essential this work can be.
Some districts have finally found relief from the staff shortages exacerbated by the pandemic. Yet others are still struggling to fill teacher vacancies for the 2024-25 school year, with a few shifting to bold strategies that even involve recruiting teachers from abroad. Amidst these patterns, technology continues to evolve and impact the roles of both teachers and recruiting teams.
Which strategies work best to engage teaching candidates, and—more importantly—keep them in schools for the long haul?
Red Rover is sitting down with recruitment professionals in different school districts to learn how they are navigating the challenges of modern-day teacher recruitment. In this article, Mollie Dunn, Coordinator of Recruitment and Retention at St. Lucie Public Schools (SLPS) explains how the district leverages a mix of high and low tech to find qualified candidates and keep the incredible teachers they already have.
Retention is the new recruitment
In a competitive hiring environment, schools need to retain their qualified staff just as much as they need to find candidates to fill positions. As Aptitude Research writes, “Recruitment and retention are two sides of the same coin … yet only 41% of talent professionals consider retention during the recruitment process.”
For Dunn, however, this connection is a no-brainer.
Dunn reflected, “That’s why my title includes ‘retention’ and ‘recruitment.’ Why am I going to waste our resources on recruiting people if I can’t retain them, too?”
Anchoring into values
At SLPS, recruiting incorporates the spirit of retention in several ways. Even in the earliest stages of marketing an open position, Dunn concentrates on highlighting the district’s values. She recommends recruiters take an internal inventory of their organization and ensure they truly understand what information candidates need to know. The goal is to get candidates excited about not only applying to an open role but also about joining the district’s mission for its students.
“The goal is to get candidates excited about not only applying to an open role but also about joining the district’s mission and vision for its students.”
Conversational candidate feedback
Before a new hire starts, SLPS collects their feedback to make sure they feel supported and that they have their most critical needs met before they even begin. Dunn likes to take the “conversational survey” approach to help new team members feel comfortable sharing openly and honestly about their hiring and onboarding experiences.
And what has been the most eye-opening feedback shared by new SLPS staff?
- Appreciation for the upfront, consistent communication from Dunn’s team during the hiring and onboarding process.
- Positive experiences with the new mentorship program developed to set up incoming team members for success.
Dunn credits the mentorship program as a key contributor to SLPS’s strong retention rates. Each mentor works with new teachers for two years, acting as a resource for questions, guidance, and concerns as teachers find their bearings in a new school district. To Dunn’s delight, many mentor-mentee relationships continue long after those first years.
It’s clear that these and other intentional efforts around retention are paying off: SLPS saw a 97% retention rate last school year.
But Dunn is quick to point out that, even with this high rate, there is still opportunity for growth: “Just because we have that high retention rate doesn’t mean our work here is finished … all of it is retention-focused.”
SLPS is currently collaborating with Impact Florida, part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to continue focusing on ways to improve teacher retention going forward.
Engaging substitute staff
Recruitment and retention aren’t just about full-time roles. Substitute teachers are vital members of a district’s ecosystem, yet it can be challenging to keep them engaged.
Dunn restated the value of clear communication when working with current and prospective guest staff at SLPS:
“With Red Rover Absence Management, we’ve seen a huge difference in our substitute communication. Substitutes can easily pull up the app and find so many opportunities to cover different SLPS classrooms. It is incredible.”
SLPS again leverages feedback loops to understand what strategies work well to keep guest staff coming back to their campuses. Dunn highlighted a common thread from positive substitute input that points out how school teams “provide that immediate help as soon as they walk through the door.” Examples include:
- Offering guest teachers a welcome package of resources.
- Connecting them with a buddy teacher to walk them to their classroom and answer any questions.
- A warm welcome from front office staff.
The impact of technology on recruitment & retention
As digital tools evolved from the earliest forms of software to the internet to social media to today’s artificial intelligence platforms, technology has become a must-have component to successful recruitment practices, especially for SLPS.
Digital Marketing
Digital marketing helps districts broaden their reach and build brand awareness among candidates. For Dunn, it’s also non-negotiable: “Anyone in recruitment knows it’s not just about recruiting candidates but marketing to them, too.”
SLPS uses geofencing to connect with potential candidates across state borders. Dunn shared, “It's a different job market and a different housing market. You have to understand where people are migrating from and why.”
Geofencing involves targeting digital advertisements to specific regions or audiences. For example, SLPS may promote content to educators in states with severe winter weather, encouraging them to “teach by the beach.”
AI and modern recruitment
It’s hard not to talk about how AI tools are impacting schools and districts, including the recruitment of new staff.
Dunn uses AI resources embedded in platforms like Canva or Facebook as a creative resource for brainstorming new advertising ideas, social media posts, or other content that they can then use to market open roles.
“AI is our friend!” Dunn says. “I wouldn’t be able to get as much done as I do now without it.”
Having a digital “assistant” like AI reduces time and effort spent, allowing Dunn to focus her attention on other core parts of the recruitment and retention strategy for SLPS.
Staying responsive & collaborative in a Buyer’s Market
Technology may allow recruiters greater access to more teaching candidates, but the reverse is also true. Now more than ever, teachers have immense leeway to be selective about which roles and districts they consider. And that requires HR teams to stay consistent, responsive and laser-focused on candidates’ experiences during the hiring process.
“It’s a buyer’s market right now. Candidates can do what they want because they have the options. We have to be OK with that and be the district they want to come learn about.”
~Mollie Dunn, Coordinator of Recruitment & Retention at St. Lucie Public Schools
For SLPS, excellent communication provides that positive experience to their candidates, from initial contact through the onboarding process and beyond. Dunn described, “If I’m a candidate going for a job, and I hear crickets after receiving an offer, I’m probably not going to seal the deal! If a district cannot even communicate with me upfront, what’s it going to be like when I work there?”
SLPS also invests in cultivating school administrators’ understanding of their influence during hiring and onboarding. Dunn explained that principals have their entire school team available to help them set the right tone for potential or new hires from the start, from the front office staff who greet a new hire to the fellow teachers who will collaborate with them.
Dunn also celebrates collaboration beyond a district’s boundaries to stay innovative and uncover the most effective engagement strategies in a competitive market. She gathers monthly with other K-12 recruiters to swap updates, share resources, and ask for feedback, including how to leverage resources like Red Rover.
“Don’t be afraid to ask for help,” Dunn encouraged. “It’s not a competition between districts. We aren’t going to rob Peter to pay Paul. We all want students to learn and to have teachers in the classroom.”
Ready to level up your district’s retention and recruitment game? Learn more about how Red Rover Hiring can ease your workload while cultivating candidates’ excitement about your open roles!
