We us a combination of methods to recruit applicants, depending on the reason for the opening. If the opening is due to expansion or resignation of an instructor, we always ask current faculty and staff for recommendations. If this doesn't yield successful results, we turn to posting the opening on careerbuilder.com and if applicable post the position at the local university.
We recruit from the moment they become students. Always keeping our eyes open for who would make a good teaching assistant.
Angela,
What characteristics do you look for when identifying potential teaching assistants?
Jeffrey Schillinger
We use two ways, predominantly, to recruit teachers: one, referrals from our current faculty, and two, graduates of our program. We "bookmark" students as they graduate and keep in touch with them, with the intention of interviewing them after 3 years in the field. These methods have brought us better success rates with new hires, I believe because of the familiarity with personalities and campus culture.
We are not opposed to other methods, but have had the most success with these.
Thank you for sharing this, Terri. One needs to guard against hiring too many faculty members from a single institution, whether it is their campus or from another, in order to ensure diversity of perspective and experience.
Jeffrey Schillinger
We advertise via major internet job resource companies, although not as effective as our more success "word of mouth" approach, we find the internet is broader and will attract future prospectives from all over the nation
Our school uses several methods to recruit instructors, internal postings and CareerBuilder.com. We are very carful to make it so that it is not generic. If you have a generic written instructor ad it can generate too many unqualified applicants.
Krikor,
Does your school have a program to reward employees who refer a successful peer?
Jeffrey Schillinger
We use a lot of recommendations from other instructors, industry people (ex. clubs) and administration. We also get people who 'cold call' and ask for any open positions.
Carolyn,
Do you have a system whereby employees who refer good employees are compensated? We provide a bonus if someone we refer stays for six months.
Jeffrey Schillinger
Traditionally, our most common recruitment method has been word of mouth/referrals from inside the campus. This has been from current instructors, administrative staff or graduates. We have a large pool of graduates who would like to teach here so they stay in close contact. This has been a good method for hiring people who know the curriculum and the educational culture but it does have a few challenges. One challenge is that it takes a while for these prospective instructors to get appropriate training in educatinal pedagogy, which is difficult if we have an immediate opening. The second challenge is connected to the first and it is that the majority of interest comes from people who have experience in the field but not in the classroom. We have recently begun to explore the use of internet recruitment and this is beneficial for finding people with classroom experience. Using a mix of sources is great for creating a dynamic mix in our faculty so this is one area we will continue to grow in.
Our time "honored" recruiting strategy is Craig's List which focuses on the internet. I have found two things that do not work with this method: 1. the ad does not really reflect KSAO's, having been written by a sceretary who's job it is to post, and 2. resumes cannot be down loaded at times, causing vital information to not be available prior to contact with the applicant. These need to be changed immediately!
Julie,
Thanks. We have worked with out HR department to draft language we use in recruitment for consisten,y and completeness.
Jeffrey Schillinger
I agree! Referrals are the best source for candidates. This has worked very well for us too.
The most common way of recruiting applicants for instructor positions at our school is word of mouth via current employees, graduates, and our Program Advisory Committee. The method can be improved by keeping consistent across all sources with our KSAOs.
Crystal,
Referrals tend to be the best candidates. Does your institution have a referal bonus program whereby current employees receive a financial reward for recommending new employees who are hired and stick?
Jeffrey Schillinger
We use a combination of instructor / student referrals, former graduates, people that we know from the professional community, and internet advertising. We could improve by plugging into local professional organizations.
Theodore,
Some terms compensate existing employees who refer qualified applicants who get hired and stay with the company for six months.
Jeffrey Schillinger
I am aware that there are some incentives for organizations to refer qualified applicants who get hired. I think it is a great practice.
Most of our applicants come from a recruiting agency or from word of mouth from instructors in our program or from other programs offered on campus. The recruiting agency may use a variety of internet job search sites to attract potential applicants.
