Attracting the Millennial Educator

It’s the end of June, school is out, kids are on summer vacation and schools are seemingly “shut down” for the summer.

If only that was really the case.

I’m in the middle of leading a workshop when a Principal’s phone starts to buzz and dance across the table. She quickly picks it up and quietly slips outside. After about 10 minutes, she walks back in shaking her head.

“I lost another one!” she says in a defeated voice, “I really thought this one would work out, she has taking a job in another district.”

This is a scene I would witness countless times over the coming week. Different Principals from different schools going through the same emotional torture of trying to find and hire qualified educators.

Go ahead and do a Google News search for Teacher Shortage, it will bring up a list of current news articles on how different states and districts are trying to address the growing teacher shortage. The Huffington Post has a host of articles on the Teacher Shortage as well.

If we agree that finding and hiring qualified educators is a key factor to learning, then school administrators need to know how to attract the next generation of educators.

The Millennial educator, those under the age of 35, are a generation that wants and expects something different from their employers. Schools need to understand this generation (and their needs and wants) if they are going to attract and retain good teachers for years to come.

What does the web say about your school?

The first thing school leaders and human resource departments needs to know is how is their school presented on the web? This generation will do their research to find out about an employer a.k.a a school before applying or accepting a position. When I was applying to schools when I first started this meant the schools website. Today it means a whole lot more.

Try this:

• Google your school
   Look past the results that lead back to your school or districts website and find what other links Google pulls up about your school. Where is this information coming from? Who wrote it? What does it say about your school? Knowing what is out there will prepare you for questions that might come from new hires during an interview.
• Search your school’s name on Youtube
   We think Google because most of us were raised in a text based world and so think text first. The Millennial Educator was raised in a media rich world and often goes to websites like Youtube first. When you search your school what do you find? Is your school a sports school? A music school? Who is uploading the videos? What do those videos say about your school? I had a person in the human resource department of a school do this recently and the top result was a cell phone video of a fight that broke out during an assembly. Knowing what is out there helps schools not only know what to expect but then start producing content in those areas to balance the good with the bad.
• Search Social Networks
   Search Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest or whatever social network you have heard of lately. Make sure not to forget LinkedIn. One school found that their logo and school information was connected to a school and address in a different state. Their teachers, who where on LinkedIn, had been following the LinkedIn page of the school…that…wasn’t the school.

Knowing what is “out there” about your school will help you not only know what they are seeing and hearing, but allows you then to also create content that talks to the Millennial Educator.

Create a video for your school

If the Millennial educator looks for content, especially media, online what is your school producing to tell your story? To let educators know what you are about and where you are headed.

Enumclaw School District in Washington State created this video to highlight the work they are doing, the training that teachers are getting, and the changes happening in their classrooms.

I showed this video to some pre-service teachers at Whitworth University during a technology class I was teaching. When I asked who would want to work for this district…..and…

Every hand went up.

Here’s another video by the International School Bangkok

Who wouldn’t want to teach at that school?

Does your district have a video? A video, much like both of these above not only attract educators and help to tell your school’s story but also help the community get a feel for what your school is about, what your school’s focus is, and what to expect.

If your district has a video like this please share it in the comments. If it doesn’t, what would it take to get a video created?
 Do you have a video class or club at school that could produce it for you?
 Could you afford $500 of the communication budget to create one?

What steps will your school district take to attract the Millennial Educator?

Originally published at www.edurolearning.com.