A Strategic View of Recruitment.

The start of a calendar year beckons us to reflect on what we've accomplished during the last 12 months and what remains to be done. This is a season when we think about our dreams--those we've achieved and those we may have set aside--and develop our goals for the future. We ask ourselves how we can bridge the gap from what is to what needs to be.

Many school districts use this time of year to review and update strategic plans, goals and objectives. Your district's review sessions probably look at both immediate and long-term goals in such areas as increasing student achievement, enhancing the science and math curriculum and involving parents and community members in district activities. All of these are worthy goals and well worth pursuing. But as you discuss specific actions designed to help you achieve these objectives, do you ask yourselves what role your recruitment activities can play in this process? Do you, for example, think strategically about teacher recruitment?

This question is not as simple as it seems. It's not just about aligning vacancies and budgets nor is it simply about filling gaps in your current curriculum.

Strategic recruiting means taking a long-term view of what you want the education in your district to look like in five, 10 or 20 years; examining the gap between where you are and where you would like to be; determining what skills it will take to get you there; and then recruiting for those specific skills. If you were an architect designing a brick house, wouldn't you bring in masons instead of carpenters to build it?

Strategic recruiting also allows you the perfect opportunity to engage your students' families and your community members. If you align your recruiting efforts with your school improvement plans and those plans include community involvement, then involve your community in the planning and recruitment process and listen to what they have to say. Your community partners may care more deeply than you can imagine about finding the right teachers for your schools. These are the people who send children to your schools, hire your graduates and pay the taxes.

These partners can bring value to your visioning process by helping you take a fresh, creative look at what kinds of teachers you need to recruit. These partners also can help you define what the future could look like, where the gaps are between what is and what needs to be, and what skills your teachers will need to bridge those gaps.

Your community partners also may be able to help you move beyond the traditional newspaper ad and job fair approach. Research centers, hospitals, engineering firms and software developers can help you search for math and science teachers. Community colleges and universities can work with you to create provisional degrees and professional development programs. Chambers of commerce can provide transportation and hotel accommodations for prospective candidates.

Strategic recruiting also allows you to do a better job of explaining to applicants who you are, which in turn can improve the quality of applicants you get. In a competitive environment, the better the job we do of projecting who we are to prospects, the more likely we will be to interest high-quality people who are attracted to our mission and plans and who will be the best matches for our unique needs.

If approximately 85 percent of school district budgets go into employee benefits and wages, it makes sense to spend this money effectively. We must think about what our children need in the future and then build our capacity to provide it? The success of our efforts affects the futures of millions of young children.

So I ask you again: Do you think strategically about teacher recruitment?