DEVELOPING A RECRUITING STRATEGY TO FIND THE RIGHT DIRECTOR

DEVELOPING A RECRUITING STRATEGY TO FIND THE RIGHT DIRECTOR

The process starts by understanding what you need to offer as a company and whom you are trying to recruit. Recruiting for the director position takes time. You will need a carefully crafted action plan to attract the candidates you are looking for. Attracting the attention of directors is especially challenging, as you are most likely trying to recruit directors with experience working for competitors or who are moving into your area.

 

Step 1: Create a Profile of Your Ideal Candidate

 

Creating an ideal persona is a method practiced by marketing teams to identify patterns and common characteristics of the customers they most want to reach. You can use a similar technique to develop an ideal candidate persona, which will give you a clearer understanding of who might be the right cultural fit for your company. Also invest some time in creating negative personas—the candidates whom you wouldn’t consider hiring. This process takes research and planning, as it requires you to consider the different perspectives of candidates, customers, employees, and management, but it is worth the time and effort.

 

From the candidates’ perspective, think about questions such as, “What problems could they be facing?” “What are their goals likely to be?” “Why would they want to quit their current jobs?” To learn answers to your questions, practice social listening; join professional organizations, such as the NAEYC, the Division for Early Childhood (DEC) of the Council for Exceptional Children, and Zero to Three; and attend local events for directors. Your research will reveal patterns and common characteristics for directors, as well as their challenges, goals, and motivations.

Start by building the profile of a director whom you know and respect. In the profile, include information and answers to four main questions: who, what, why, and how. As an example, I am using a profile of my friend and colleague, Misti Castner.

How?

»  What does your director value?

» What are her biggest accomplishments? challenges
What inspires her?

Step 2: Develop a Recruitment Strategy

Attracting the attention of targeted individuals is difficult because they might be working for a competitor or they may be passive job seekers. Therefore, pay attention to your branding recruitment messages, networking strategy, and culture.

Before recruiting for the position, determine the requirements of the job to effectively delegate the responsibilities. Traditional job descriptions list activities in specific categories that can help you create your job description.

Once you have determined the job requirements for the position and created a profile of the ideal candidate for the director position, you are ready for the next step of the process: developing a recruitment strategy, a formal plan to recruit the best talent to fill the position.

Tips to recruit directors include the following:

Create a sell sheet. The starting point of a recruiting strategy is to understand your selling points as an employer. Determine your compensation and benefits (such as vacation days) before listing the intangibles of working for your company. You could list, for example, a great culture, empowerment, the philosophy of your program, and your mission. Your sell sheet explains why candidates would want to come to work at your school and is important in helping you craft a recruiting message.

Research the main challenges directors face. Another important strategy is to understand the main challenges that directors face in your community. During the interview, offer solutions and start building bridges of understanding with the candidate. For example, if directors in the community are struggling to recruit certified teachers, consider offering a solution such as allocating a training budget to develop teachers.

Establish relationships with local community colleges and high schools.

 

Educational programs that train teachers or offer child-development associate (CDA) training are good places to find ideal candidates.

 

Join professional organizations. Use what you learn to understand patterns and common characteristics for directors, as well as their challenges, goals, and motivations.

 

Connect with prospective employees via LinkedIn or other social media. Companies have begun experimenting with recruitment strategies on social media with sponsored stories, using professional sites such as LinkedIn to offer the job opening to targeted individuals. This is becoming increasingly important as candidates follow potential employers on social media to learn about job openings and the employer’s culture. According to an article by Tressa Richards for Rally Recruitment, a Glassdoor study revealed that 79 percent of candidates use social media when searching for their next opportunity, and according to LinkedIn research, almost 50 percent of them follow potential employers on social sites to stay aware of available roles. Microsoft, for example, uses social platforms to highlight employee stories. By highlighting a new team member or providing a glimpse of what it is like to work at the company, Microsoft connects with its ideal candidate on a consistent basis.

 

Seek referrals. Employee or family referral is one of the most powerful and commonly used methods as a source for finding potential job candidates. Referrals of prospective candidates bring attention to your job opening and
get the attention of directors who might not be actively looking for a job. For start-up schools, networking in your community through community colleges, directors’ networks, and government agencies might provide a great source of