The Two New Rs in Education: Recruiting & Retention
How to find and keep the best K-12 teachers and staff using a custom year-round recruiting and retention plan built on the Career Fair Plus platform.
Key Results
Public Schools
130,000+
Private Schools
Available
Attrition Rate (2021)
148%
Format
Virtual / In-Person / Hybrid
"Your system is still going to be my go-to for any future career fairs as it is easy to navigate for students and employers..."
The Traditional 3 Rs vs The 2 New Rs
When Sir William Curtis mentioned reading, writing, and arithmetic in 1795, he unintentionally defined the core of a good education. Today, school administrators are struggling with two new Rs: Recruiting and Retention.
Reports of extreme K-12 staffing shortages fill our screens. Many of the United States 130,000 plus public and private schools are actively recruiting again. They’re searching for instructional aides, specialists, substitutes, bus drivers, food service, and especially teachers.
The Challenges
The traditional K-12 recruiting method is broken. Hosting your own events in the spring while participating in university-hosted career fairs isn’t delivering enough qualified candidates to meet record demand.
Hiring managers who respond too slowly can’t keep aspiring teachers in their funnel. Without an immediate offer, preferred candidates will likely find work elsewhere. Furthermore, attrition rates in educational services skyrocketed to 148% between January and November 2021 (nearly 1.35 million resignations).
Figuring out how to recruit and retain qualified school teams is like walking up the down escalators. Static resources like time and money conflict with dynamic problems: rising demand, weak district branding, the need to find passive candidates, and the struggle to accelerate the hiring process.
The Solution: A 12-Month Plan
Step 2 is embracing a big idea to solve a big problem: design your custom year-round recruiting & retention plan of virtual events built on the popular Career Fair Plus (CF+) platform.
Whether you plan virtual, in-person, or hybrid recruiting events, CF+ allows you to customize almost any program:
- Specialized/Targeted Career Fairs: Organize by school or specialty. Connect with more candidates faster.
- Retention Events: Meet district employees interested in changing positions and showcase growth opportunities.
- Open Houses/Networking: Establish personal connections and engage passive candidates in topical discussions.
- Large Career Fairs: Move high numbers of candidates through the process and easily share branding material before the event.
Why CF+?
If virtual is your choice, CF+ technology mimics face-to-face experiences with video interactions, encourages preparation with advance access to profiles, and customizes interactions with 1-on-1 and group meeting options.
If you’re all in on in-person, trust your CF+ technology to encourage walk-up conversations with an interactive map, display digital resumes submitted in real-time, drive traffic with announcements, and encourage time management with the Meetings function.
Build Your Calendar
Combine the types of events with available formats into a year-round recruiting and retention calendar! Keep your schools top of mind before, during, and after spring/fall fairs.
For example:
- Spring: Host specialized certified career fairs ("Just in Time" events), open houses, and attend association-hosted events.
- Summer: Host networking events for certified positions and specialized classified fairs.
- Fall: Host targeted college recruiting events and large classified career fairs.
- Winter: Take a breather in November, then plan for the next year!
Ready to Transform Your Event?
Join hundreds of organizers who trust Career Fair Plus. Schedule a demo to see how we can help you.