Adapting Recruitment Strategies to get the People you Need

We are starting to see job postings for the next school year.  How do you communicate with and attract the people you need? 

First, think about the competencies, the patterns of thinking, feeling, acting, or speaking, that help people be successful in the job.  Think of what competencies your top performers have.  Do they value teamwork?  Are they flexible?  Do they have a drive for achievement? Inform applicants of the competencies expected within the language of the recruitment advertising. 

Target your recruitment to sources where candidates with these competencies are likely to be found.  Ask your top performers.  Do they go to a certain gym or coffee place?  Is there a college or district that produced successful hires? If you work with a specific college, do their instructors know the competencies you want and do they work to develop these competencies?  Do your top performers have friends that they could recruit?  High quality educators usually know other high quality educators and they can pick out the people in their graduate school classes that would be successful in your school. 

Does your recruitment advertising or posting share enough about the competencies, knowledge, and skills that would help candidates be successful and possibly earn performance compensation?  Is there a link to your evaluation system so that candidates can self-select out if it looks too rigorous?  

Finally, does your posting share your brand and values?  What makes employees love working at your site?  What makes you special and different?  Communicate this in your recruitment materials.

These strategies can help you attract candidates that will be a match for your needs.  Next month, we will focus on how to select from your pool of candidates.