If we want to know about Recruiting and Retention…. Let’s look to the experts!

Nobody knows more about recruiting, selection, induction, training, and retention than… PROFESSIONAL SPORTS!

Does success like this just happen?

Is success like this an accident?

Do athletes like this walk in off the street?

Staffing by design The process in professional sports is refined, honed, polished, streamlined, and CRYSTAL CLEAR IN ITS FOCUS. The recruits are scouted, observed, tested, tried-out, specifically chosen to fill a need, hand-picked, nurtured, trained, corrected and rewarded.

So if we want to improve our tryout process and our pool of recruits…

Let’s steal all we can from Pro Sports The Hawks do NOT let all comers come to a tryout. The Mariners do their homework—they scout carefully and invite certain high quality players who fill the team needs. They don’t get a catcher when they need a left-handed pitcher. The Sounders run a training camp where the recruits can be screened and evaluated. The WNBA Storm nurtures and trains their recruits to help them grow.

First, we want to clarify our goals in being at Job Fair……. 1. To use our time wisely and well at Job Fair, investing it carefully in only the people we think will be superior candidates for hire. 2. To take advantage of the candidates’ time line. They are present and eager on the day of Job Fair, have their resumes in hand, can interview, and can meet many of us. They are also being recruited by other districts during that period. 3. To grab and commit excellent candidates for hard-to-fill positions. 4. To cut down on “mistakes” in hiring by doing more active pre-screening. 5. To assemble the top 5% for a Candidate Day ten days later.

Let recruits know who we are and what we need… Posted visibly will be the certificates and endorsements needed by the Sumner School District. Sumner information will be given to all the lookie-loos. No applications will be given out. All resumes will be received.

Sumner Information Is targeted at Generation X. Has diversity represented in its design. Has key info about benefits, pay, PRR, and professional development—the things X-ers want to know. Has info about how to look for postings and apply.

Role: The Hawkers Hawkers spot the lookie-loos, make contact, and ask them if they meet the needs of our district (politely). Hawkers refer to the Checker the lookie- loos who say they qualify. Hawkers are trained to gently and graciously move along any lookie-loos who are not qualified. Hawkers represent our desired diversity.

The Checker

The Checker is the guard at the entrance to the booth. The Checker uses her deep knowledge of certifications, highly qualified, and endorsements to screen applicants for district needs. If an applicant has the correct qualifications, she lets them enter the Inner Sanctum.

The Inner Sanctum Inside the booth are two or three separate interview stations. Each station will have two administrators and one applicant. The administrators have been trained in the interview questions and in scoring candidates. They will interview for the district, not for a school. The administrators take notes on the back of the resume, then give the scored resumes to the Debriefer. If the applicant does well at Station 1, s/he goes to Station 2 for a second interview.

After Two Interviews A Debriefer takes charge of the applicant and visits with him/her about his/her success in the interviews. If the applicant feels strongly that s/he did not interview well, the Debriefer lets him/her come back later to interview again with a different administrative pair (Station 3). The Debriefer will give some candidates an invitation to Candidate Day, based on information from the interview teams.

Reference Callers We can make reference calls during the day on candidates for hard-to-fill positions, if we would like to offer positions.

Out-of-Staters and Hard-to-Fill One objective for the day will be to snag excellent Out-of-Staters and Hard-To-Fill candidates on the spot (to NOT make them return for Candidate Day). If they get through the two Inner Sanctum interviews, then they will be referred to Station 3 with another administrator pair. References will be checked via cell phone. A conditional Letter of Intent could be offered same day (pending more thorough reference checking).

The Debrief and Invite After the two interviews, the Debriefer sorts the applicants: Schedule an interview again later—for those who felt they did poorly, or are Out of State or Hard to Fill. Give written invitation to Candidate Day 10 days hence. If the candidate was not a 1 or 1+, gently and with dignity thank them for their interest in SSD and move them on. The Debriefer keeps a list of all candidates invited to Candidate Day.

Between Job Fair and Candidate Day HR, with the help of any and all administrators, gets busy. They do the reference checks on the candidates ASAP. If necessary, they call candidates and UN- invite them based on reference checks. By the time candidates get to Candidate Day, they have been screened for certificates and endorsements, background checks, and references.

Candidate Day Objective: –Market the SSD to all who come. –Make sure candidates know who we are and what they are getting themselves into. –Get administrators together with the cream of the crop (pre-screened) candidates. –Let building teams interview for their openings. –Hire (conditionally) on the spot when possible.

What will be different for administrators at Job Fair? You will be helping us discover top talent early in the hiring season. You will have a focused role: Hawker, Reference Checker or Interviewer at a particular station. You will be helping other administrators interview for the district, not each person interviewing for their own building.

Within a couple of years.. We could use Candidate Day as a Career Fair for ALL jobs in the SSD. We could advertise heavily for our Classified needs and try to hire on that day, as well. We could build up our reputation as a desirable, top-notch district.

GO, TEAM!!!!