Could HR Tech save America’s public schools before it’s too late?

• • Hundreds of thousands of teachers leave the profession each year, costing the government an estimated 2.2 billion dollars annually.

• • Enrollment in teaching programs has dropped 10 percent since 2005.

• • Teachers cite negative work culture as primary reasons for leaving.

• The US is no longer among top-performing countries on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA).

“We’re not leaving!” shouted thousands of educators occupying the Oklahoma state capitol building. It was the second day of a statewide teacher walkout, one that would inspire similar protests across the southwestern United States in the following months. Punctuated by rhythmic clapping, the chant on April 2nd held an uncomfortable irony, however, in that teachers are leaving. And in droves.

The exodus of certified K-12 teachers in the US  – at a rate of about eight percent annually – has become as much of a back-to-school routine as buying a new backpack. And though the teachers’ nationwide median attrition rate – twice that of Finland and Ontario, Canada – makes the news cycle for a brief moment every autumn, the root causes have yet to be adequately addressed.

“We’re set to fail from the beginning,” says Jocelyn Good, a second-grade teacher in Northern Illinois with five years’ experience, “with countless assessments assigned without the tools, time, or support to reach the expected goals.”

While Good says she plans to carry on into her sixth year and beyond, about 40 percent of American K-12 teachers won’t make it past year five.

“I wish people had an idea of what it’s really like on a daily basis,” reflects a former high-school teacher from eastern Washington. She asked to remain anonymous, so let’s call her Joanne. “I can think of no other job scrutinized to the same extent, and with very little support from the system it serves,” she says. “After two years I decided I couldn’t continue in a classroom full-time, simply because of the bureaucracy and nonsense involved.”

Now a high-school, college, and career specialist focused on working with high school students from low-income and first-generation families, Joanne recalls the constant pressure to prove one’s worth, often through required courses, to be paid for, out of pocket, by the teacher. She’d look at her acquaintances outside of teaching; people, like herself, graduates of four-year university programs and certified experts in their fields. These people seemed to be treated with respect and valued by their employers. Joanne’s husband for instance, an engineer, never had to foot the bill for government-mandated continued-learning courses, or purchase supplies for his employer with his own money.

Teacher attrition costs American public schools about 2.2 billion annually. To replace one teacher in an urban school district costs around $20,000 in recruitment and training alone, not to mention the emotional toll the constant turnover takes on the staff.

The Learning Policy Institute found that students perform better, and log fewer absences when instructed by an experienced teacher. Not only that, but new teachers perform better when they have more experienced colleagues. And yet, as of last September, 100,000 classrooms across the country were staffed with an under-qualified educator.

So how much experience is enough? The same Learning Policy Institute report indicates student gains are most significant in a teacher’s first three years, but continue to grow steadily over their career.

Thus far, the overwhelming response to the teacher shortage has been reactionary. US schools have started hiring from the Philippines, or alternatively-qualified teachers nearby, just to fill the gaps. While the hustle is laudable, it’s not a solution. Most of the foreign teachers aren’t eligible for long-term visas, and uncertified instructors are 25 percent more likely to leave. Schools stop-gapping like this are bound to find themselves in the same position the following year, only worse.

It’s not entirely low pay that’s pushing educators out of the profession. Though teachers make an average of 11.1 percent less than their peers in other industries (up from two percent in 1995), The Learning Policy Institute lists compensation as fourth on the list of why teachers quit, behind inadequate preparation (as in teachers who are uncertified or inadequately trained), lack of support for new teachers, and adverse working conditions.

The tech industry has heard the distress call, and platforms for monitoring group interactions have been popping up everywhere, from Slack bots that flag microaggressions, to AI that susses out team dynamics. In fact, the Human Capital Management market, as a whole, is forecasted to grow by almost thirty percent in the next five years, from $14.50 billion in 2017 to $21.51 billion in 2022.

“We are in a really interesting era for workplace culture, how it’s defined, and how it’s managed,” says Sarah Wilson, head of people for SmartRecruiters. “Technology has replaced so much of the ‘technical’ job requirements in so many industries that we are now, more than ever, relying on personal values and empathy as key attributes for success. As such, many companies (including ours) are spending time and energy in analyzing their company cultures and subcultures.”

Outside Topeka, Kansas, a district of just over 5,000 students is making great strides.

Brian White, Executive Director of Human Resources and Operations in Auburn-Washburn for the last six years, decided it was time for a change, so he switched their legacy applicant tracking software to SmartRecruiters a little over a year ago.

“Statistically, I’ve increased my applicant flow,” he notes, “and anecdotally, I’ve received positive feedback from teachers, who say it’s much easier than other districts to which they apply. The teacher talent pool in the United States is shrinking, which makes recruiting teachers a more competitive process. You don’t want to create barriers to completing an application.”

That’s not to say candidates in their pipeline are any less vetted than other districts, it’s that the initial buy-in is easier. From that point, the recruiters ask what they need and when they need it, thus engaging the applicant without overwhelming them with asks.

“Last decade technology” is how White describes his district’s old ATS. “It wasn’t mobile-friendly, and the interface wasn’t intuitive or easy to us.”

That description is sadly emblematic of most tech in public schools, where clunky software makes applying for open positions more difficult than it needs to be, and on the recruiter side, outdated tech makes it hard to get input from teachers and stakeholders from within the school.

“In the education application process,” White continues, “you have to provide a lot of information up front. You’re asked to upload references, letters of recommendation, transcripts, evaluations, resume, and cover letters. It can take up to three hours, whereas our initial application takes 10, 15 minutes, max.”

Hiring well is an important first step to creating a culture of respect and trust between teachers and administration. A collaborative process ensures that veteran teachers feel their input is valued when it comes to the recruitment of new staff, and a positive candidate experience ensure that workers feel respected from the beginning.

“I think building a sense of community among the teachers would help,” says Jocelyn Good, of her experience entering the world of public schools. “When you’re new, coming into a building of teachers that have worked together, sometimes it’s hard to be welcomed and you can feel like you are alone and have no support.”

And community is precisely what’s next on the agenda for White. “We are already looking at different ways to engage in the communication process more,” he says. “Right now there’s a negative stigma on teaching. So we have a challenge to change that perception of education as a profession to something positive. Teaching is something you should want to get into.”

Hear more from Brian at  Hiring Success 19 – Americas, February 26-27 in San Francisco. Check out last year’s highlights below!

This recruiter wants you to know: he’s not an external headhunter, and he’s not afraid of being “tech-augmented”, either.

As if HR Tech wasn’t moving fast enough, hiring for an industry that’s changing equally quickly is no small task. Ahead of his imparting wisdom in these shaky media times at Hiring Success 18 Europe, we sat down with Sergej Zimpel, senior recruiter at ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE, founder of Purple Squirrel Society for HR, and editor-in-chief of the blog for hardcore recruiters, Dinosaurs Will Die, to pick his brain.

What does hiring success mean to you?

As a recruiter, you are somewhat in the middle between hiring managers and candidates. For me, success means both sides are happy with the outcome.

Why recruiting?

I did a couple of internships as a student, and my first job in HR involved recruiting. I liked it so much that I became a recruiter in my job after that.

In hiring for your specific industry, what is the most unique, or most specific, skill you need a candidate to have?

The digital industry is very dynamic, so candidates have to be very tech-savvy, open to change,  and curious about new stuff.

What has changed most about your job since you came on board, for better and for worse?

I got even more responsibility, which is definitely a good thing! 

How many people do you hire in a year?

About 50-70.

Do you feel what you do is given the value and credibility it deserves?

I think we have to work for a good standing with our hiring managers and managing directors. I think I can say that most managing directors I work for understood the crucial role of recruiting.

What is one thing people tend to misunderstand about what you do?

Some people think I’m an external headhunter. And some people think recruiters have to be really tough and mean in interviews.

What is one thing you’re proud of having accomplished in your current role?

My network! It feels good when I can fill a role two weeks after the briefing because I have the right candidates in my network.

You are obviously not a Luddite when it comes to tech. What can you do now, thanks to tech, that you couldn’t before?

I think tech helps us with a lot of boring admin stuff – and I hope it will help us with even more automatization of administrative tasks in the future (interview coordination, I am looking at you!). Another field where tech helps us is of course direct search. I can’t imagine how I would find a Senior Javascript Developer without Linkedin and Github.

What are you most looking forward to as tech plays a bigger role in recruiting?

I like the concept of a “(tech) augmented recruiter” – I think/hope that tech will be able to support us with admin tasks and longlists, then we can focus even more on networking in the future.

AI, good or bad?

Good! Recruiters should be the first movers with these technologies.

From his popular HR in Mind blog, to our stage at Hiring Success 18 Europe, Robindro Ullah’s past informs his present, and even though he admits the future isn’t always clear, he’s not one to shy away from a dive into the unknown. In fact, he wants to take us with him.

What does Hiring Success mean to you?

Hiring Success is not only filling a position but making someone’s life more complete. Work is such a big part of life that having something which fulfills you is incredibly important. During my first recruitment job at Deutsche Bahn, someone reached out to me once and said thank you. I could hardly remember the person, so I asked what for. She said that ever since she heard my speech at the recruiting fair at her university, she thought Deutsche Bahn might be her employer of choice. And now, based on this very first thought she signed the contracted a year ago and was proven right. That’s Hiring Success from my point of view.

What drove you to start HR in Mind? What were some unforeseen issues while setting it up?

The first impulse came from my former colleagues, who asked me to sum up the latest recruitment news from the internet. They knew that I was constantly online searching for new ideas, so I started a weekly report which ended up online. After a few months, I got the feedback that my summaries were nice, but my opinions were more of interest. That was 2009, after I launched the first Twitter Career Account in Germany, for Deutsche Bahn.

What sort of things do you want the blog to accomplish?

The blog is my tool for clearing things up. HR is full of misunderstanding, and there’s a huge shortage of knowledge about digitization. It’s not one of those finger-pointing blogs, it’s a window to one likely version of the future.

Innovation is a word that gets thrown around a lot. What does it mean to you?

For me, there are two categories: the first one is about inventing something new out of nothing. The second is creating something new by bringing existing things together—which is the one I am good at. Even bringing people to the right position for them could trigger some innovation.

Why did you choose to write books, and why do you think that medium is effective for your message?

I think the question should be: why did you authorize your books to be printed. To write a book is quite obvious for a blogger. I agreed on printing it because the target group is still very used to content on paper.

If you had one message overall, what would it be?

Embrace the future and participate in determining it!

Who is your target audience?

HR Managers all over the German-speaking countries.

Tech has improved HR and destroyed publishing. Thoughts?

I don’t think so—tech has improved everything and destroyed outdated mindsets. With the right modern mindset, publishing can still be successful—even in these tech-driven times.

Where do you see HR in 2020?

Ohhhhhh in 2020—no one can see that far. But what I would love to see evolve are people’s old-fashioned mindsets. And that’s exactly what I think I can help with.

For this Indian HR leader, Berlin-based Zalando has proven the perfect place for her to grow her skills, and the company.

Manjuri Sinha leads the technology talent acquisition team for Europe’s Leading e-commerce platform, Zalando SE. She possesses international experience in Tech business Partnering and Talent Acquisition for mid- to large-size organizations such as Accenture, and has worked and lived in India, the Czech Republic, and Germany. She also wears other hats, like speaker, mentor, and blogger. Before her session at Hiring Success 18 Europe, we asked her how her past has shaped her present and what’s on the horizon for the future.

How did you come to work at Zalando? Where were you before Berlin?

Before Zalando, I was working with Accenture, as a Lead Tech Business Partner in India. My team of BP’s managed employees across North America, Germany and Brazil. I was on sabbatical in the Czech Republic when I was approached by Zalando, and then moved to Berlin in 2014.

What attracted you to the company?

The strategy and the early success. Zalando is a fairly new business, yet has an exponential growth story.

What have been the biggest challenges since coming aboard?

Scaling the organization, and hiring a huge number of quality-tech-talent to continuously build the organization.

What are your next big goals?

As a Tech Talent Leader, my goals is to move towards more process automation, and take my team to the next step of being Talent Acquisition advisors.

What is something about your process you think needs to change?

To look at processes and pick out the repeatable tasks, and automate as much as possible.

How important is tech to the HR industry now vs when you started?

Very important, be it for assessment, attraction, and selection. Tech is everywhere, today technology helps us make better decisions, such as scheduling tools, CRMs, and video interviewing tools.

What will your job look like in a few years?

I would like to see it to be more strategic. Talent Acquisition is still considered an operational activity, and I would like to change this mindset.  

What would you tell your younger self before getting into the industry?

To have Patience, pick your battles, that you don’t need to tackle everything at once.

What would you have done differently?

Nothing much, actually. I am where I am because of my unique journey and would not have done it differently. Maybe on the personal side yes, I would have loved to give more time to family.

What does Hiring Success mean to you?

For me, success is not only closing numbers but bringing quality onboard, adding value, aligning talent strategy with business strategy, building an organization and keeping it sustainable.

After a decade in the industry, SmartRecruiters’ Head of People, Sarah Wilson, shares why she still never misses a conference.

Sometimes I walk away from an event and think, “That was pretty good, I am glad I went,” and sometimes I skip out of the room thinking, “Holy shit I love my industry!” Our Toronto Hiring Success breakfast definitely fell into the “holy shit” camp. It was an early morning, a time of day that pairs poorly with jet lag and Toronto humidity. The struggle was real getting out of bed. Though the hotel was moments away from the venue, by the time I reached the slightly muggy room, I was already thinking, “This is going to be a long one.”

“HR is the coolest job, you get to impact everyone in the company.” Sarah Wilson @SmartRecruiters #RecruitingAutomation pic.twitter.com/ObMc8rKgmu

— RAS (@RAS_SF) June 14, 2018

Moments later, a few of my favorite Torontonians walked in – equally blurry-eyed – and that amazing thing happened when you remember why you love something. HR has always been about the people for me. The people we serve, but also our peers, our exhausted fellow practitioners who can make an early morning conference session fly by with insight and enthusiasm, and I wanted to share some of the top takeaways that sent me back to San Francisco still skipping, even after 10 years of doing this whole HR thing – and in ascending order:

5. Think of marketing and recruiting like peanut butter and jelly.

We’ve been talking about Marketing and Recruiting intersecting for several years, but now it’s really happening. The consensus from the room was that marketing (for now anyway) belongs inside the Talent function (ask us again in a year or two and see whether we change our minds), but we have a lot to learn from our marketing counterparts. At the top of the list is how to be data driven when we think about reach, response, and investment. The key to having a business case for marketing spend is built upon solid data. If you aren’t sure how to do that, don’t be shy about asking your friends in marketing.

4. Just tell the truth.

Not every candidate is going to get hired. In reality, 99 percent of the candidates you meet may never work for your company.  What’s important to them is that you keep them in the loop. Let them know if you aren’t going to hire them – gently of course – because all they really want is the truth from you. One of our panelists talked about rejecting a candidate over the phone because there wasn’t an open opportunity, but offering to chat casually with a few colleagues so the candidate would be top-of-mind when a position comes up. Taking accountability:   Making the candidate feel special:

3. Help hiring managers more.

Listen to their needs, learn from them, and lend them your expertise so they can pick the best candidates.

2. Never feel alone!

Every story prompted a chorus of nods. When we opened to questions from the floor, there was continuity in the flow of ideas. My a-ha moment that morning wasn’t so much a tactic I could take away and implement tomorrow,  it was that I felt a sense of community. Which leads me to my final takeaway…

1. Get together more often.

Talent Acquisition is a team sport. It’s an industry that gets better by sharing. Yes, the war for talent is real, but that doesn’t mean we can’t work together to win it for the industry as a whole. Of course we are a competitive bunch, but we are also a group of “people people” who gather energy from everyone around us. The people I meet at conferences inspire me, and push me to be better – and I know I can do the same for them. Who’s with me?

Join SmartRecruiters for Hiring Success 18: European Edition, being hosted September 19-20th in Berlin!

Sometimes working as a recruiter is a thankless job where the search and job requisition load never ends.  That requisition load is growing with Fortune Magazine reporting that the 100 Best Places to work have over 150,000 jobs to fill.  What makes a good recruiter is important as they can anticipate needs and use their network to find top talent making the job look easy.

• Good Recruiters Ask Questions.  Good recruiters ask questions about the role they are looking to fill.  Good recruiters realize that a job description isn’t always a comprehensive list of the job responsibilities or serve as a laundry list of qualifications. Good recruiters ask questions of the hiring manager as well as the candidate.  They dig deeper and take pride in their work.

•  Good Recruiters Experiment and Take Risks.  One of the things I love about social media recruiting is how innovative and exciting it has made the industry.  Good recruiters take the time to hone their skills and try new and experimentally things.  Equally important, a good recruiter knows when to walk away.

•  Good Recruiters Build Relationships.  Whether it’s with the recruiter, hiring manager or new hires, good recruiters focus on leveraging connections and building new contacts that lend results in the long term.  They are deepening their connections from online platforms such as LinkedIn by making phone and in person contact.

•  Good Recruiters Focus on Efficiency.  Good recruiters are numbers driven and look at hiring metrics like cost per hire or time to fill.  They understand that the economics of hiring demands the highest quality candidates at the least amount of cost. A good recruiter should be able to explain while this candidate is a fit and why the cost and time to hire is a great market rate.

• Good Recruiters Take Pride in Their Job.  Good recruiters take failure personally, looking to learn from their mistakes and improve their quality of hire and procedures.  Recruiting is an art as well as science that takes a combination of traits and talents in which to excel.

Good recruiters are thankful.  They’re humble and willing to learn. Good recruiters juggle the tasks of talent sourcing and candidate management to make great hires in a timely manner.  Collaborating with good recruiter could be the difference in your talent acquisition strategy.

Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR is a workplace and technology strategist specializing in social media.  She’s an author who writes at Blogging4Jobs.

SmartRecruiters is the hiring platform with everything you need to source talent (including a recruiting agency management feature), communicate with candidates and make the right hire.

In this week’s release, we made it easier to manage the branding of your Careers Page, as well as provided an option to remove the “posted by” section per user on the job post. In addition, we improved our user experience by posting notifications in HireLoop of duplicate applications by a candidate while continuing to maintain the candidate’s profile for only one job.

We have also implemented a backend enhancement to automatically clear the cache for every user with each new SmartRecruiters product release.

You can now consistently manage your company logo on the Company Information section of the Admin page.

To add it to your Careers Page, you can select this option now on the Banner tab when configuring your branding options.

Also, when you post a job to your social networks, you now have the option to deselect the posted by identification section on the job ad. Users can manage this feature on each job that they post.

We are also making it easier to see when candidates apply to multiple jobs in your HireLoop feed on the homepage in your account. The notification communicates that the candidate also expressed interest in a second job that is currently posted in your SmartRecruiters account. However, we do not duplicate the candidate profile for additional job applications and will only maintain their profile on the first job to which they applied and are still active.

To share your feedback, please check out our customer support community  or give us a shout at support@smartrecruiters.com and 415 508 3755.