Our graduates are ideal candidates for teacher employment. However, we do require they gain some industry experience first (hopefully 2 yrs). They usually come back to us understanding how their education was beneficial to their career, and are eager to share these experiences with new students. They also have a strong grasp of how our curriculum is designed and why it has a specific lay out. Some graduates who return to teach also bring great ideas for improvement. We continually evaluate our teaching practices by surveying employers of our graduates. When we hire some of these graduates as teachers they often know what is expected for success, and hopefully can effectively pass this info on to our newer students.
We use criagslist primarily and usually get a good response. We also have used employee referrals with bonuses. For some reason in our last referral campaign we received zero results, when in the past it proved to be one of our best sources of new talent. One other avenue we have considered is the professional affiliations as the community we work with is pretty small. The only issue I have with this is that if you get a ‘bad’ candidate and reject them, then the person who referred them will question you and it may tarnish your relationship.
I think that our internet advertisement can be improved utilizing the deal breakers in the ad. Currently we get many applicants who are not qualified for the position and it can be difficult to weed these people out.
The most common way of recruiting at our campus in the internet. Unfortunately, we know that this is the most inefficient way of recruiting because for every qualified posting there are 25 nonqualified postings.
We had two academic positions posted for a couple of weeks that resulted in over 150 resumes with various credentials being posted on the web site. Fortumately, we had several other administrative positions open on the campus and after two group interviews, we were not only able to fill the academic positions we also filled the administrative positions.
Going forward, in order to narrow the field and recruit more specifically qualified candidates, we posted a more detailed job description and revised the job analysis to include more KASOs and deal-breakers. This modification to the process had a very positive effect on the type of candidates applying for the academic positions and was extreamly helpful in reducing the field to a more select and workable group of qualified candidates.
Excellent, Aaron.
We have also had great success with a referral bonus. Taking the 10 minutes on the phone is a great way to help identify those that may be right for the position a well as those that may not be.
At our school we use a mixture of recruiting efforts but the two most effective ways are referrals and internet sourcing. On the referrals we find that our instructors already have a base of potential candidates and we also offer a referral bonus. So, if their person gets hired and stays active for 6 months, the person who referred will get a bonus. I have also had very good luck with internet leads but I had to develop a screening mechanism where I can call the candidate talk for about 10 minutes and determine if I want to bring them in for an interview. Mainly this deals with hours, expectations, and where the campus is located.
Generally, if they do not meet our qualifications for adjunct faculty, I will not continue the hiring process. I will thank the individual for the referral, but will continue to seek out candidates that fit our culture and have the necessary qualifications. If I must place the candidate, I will carefully review their resume, interview them and seek other opportunities such as: teaching assistant, curriculum developer, or project coordinator. My ultimate goal is to have a win/win situation -- place the candidate in a position where they will be successful as well as the school will benefit from their contribution.
Thanks, Andri. Referrals are easily the best way to find qualified candidates who should fit in with your school's culture. What do you do if you interview a referral that you do not feel will be a good fit?
Referral is the most common way of recruiting applicants. This process can further be improved by making sure candidates thoroughly understand our culture, needs and KSAs.
Our campus typically use various methods for recruitment. From referrals from current employees, to internet ads and also recruiting through our advisory boards, we were able to have instructor applicants that not only satisfy our accreditation requirements, but also come highly recommended.
We can better improve this process by constantly interviewing to build a pool of candidates so that we can steer clear of last-minute hires.
We have a very detailed hiring process that include several interviews and a teaching demonstration to help us select the best candidate.
Thanks, Yan.
The practice teach is a commonly practive among career colleges. Knowing the subject does not guarantee that an individual knows howto teach it. The ability to effectively plan and conduct a lesson is as important as knowing the content.
Some schools ask the candidate to prepare a full lesson while others ask for only an introduction to a unit or a short presentation.
The greatest need for improvement is we not only have to hire somebody with required education and experiences but also the teaching skills should be taken into consideration. Very often, we notice there is a big difference between knowing something and something they are able to do. We have found that demonstration class is essential before we make the final decision and sitting through the whole session from the beginning to the end is important.
Yan,
Thank you for your post to this discussion forum. I look forward to interacting with you in other discussion forums.
You are fortunate to have employees, alumni and students willing to recommend you as an employer. That certainly is a sign that you are doing things well.
Where do you see the greatest need for improvement in your hiring processes relative to KSAOs?
Mainly we recruit our instructors through recommendations by employees, alumni and students. So far we have never had walk-in applicants due to our unique field, which limits the number of applicants. However, we do have out of state or even overseeas candidates to apply for the vacant position. We need to take all the aspects regarding KSAOS for further improvement.
James,
Thank you for this discussion forum post. One of the best things a school can do is to always be recruiting qualified faculty members. That way, "immediate needs" do not become "emergency situations."
I think your classmates will find your success with job fairs interesting. What process do you follow when preparing for a job fair? Are there any subject areas for which this strategy has been more or less effective?
Actually our school has had the most success recruiting at one of our local bi-annual job fairs. One of the practices that we do regardless of the current needs, continue with interview processes staying on the look out for talent.
Suzzane
We get referrals and applicants throughout the quarter - even for areas that we may not have a current need. It is important to ensure we hang onto those as our needs change on a regular basis and we may have a need for that potential candidate the following quarter.
Tony
Billy,
It may be worth it to you to contact members of your Advisory Board to let them know that you are always looking for good faculty members. They can be a good source for you.
You may also want to work with other campuses in your company that are near your location.
Tony,
I think thats wonderful that you have that connection with the culinary community. Connections like this puts you in an ideal position. I also agree that the KSAOs is a good way to find what you are looking for within the realtive community. Having that system of rapport makes it easier to implement the KSAOs and find what you are looking for becasue you are looking for the best in a poole of qualified candidates.
I have limited experience with this. From what I have seen we send the information to DeeDee and she posts the job on the company website and other employment sites?? It seems to be very effective because everytime we send her a request we get lots of resumes. However we have had some difficulties finding coding instructors. I do agree that employee referals is a very effective way to find instructors. I will probably speak with medical instructors and medical program coordinators about keeping a network of potentials in the field. Building that rapport I think could be very productive.
Thanks, Cissi!
There really is no better way to identify good instructor candidates that to use the recommendation of your faculty. Many companies. including yours, provide incentives to employees that refer candiates who are hired and who stay with the company for a designated period of time, perhaps six months.
