Exploring the Current State of HR in K12 School Districts – Fireside Chat Recap

“If it were not for my 3rd grade teacher, Miss Arnat, seeing the potential in this troubled little kid at 8 years old, I wouldn’t be here today,” Ron Wilson, shared as he sat down to chat with Greg Dietz, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources, Maine Township HS, District 207 on May 7, 2020. 

Ron and Greg chatted for a bit about how things are going for HR teams in K12 school districts and below is a quick recap and some sound bites from the full discussion.

Perspective on the Current State of Interviewing in US Schools

Many people remember a teacher that greatly impacted their lives, and children today need to continue to feel the impact of great teachers. K-12 districts are currently in the midst of the perfect storm. Demand for teachers is high while the supply continues to be lower than needed. Districts are still constantly competing with each other to obtain the best teaching candidates. 

Innovation is necessary, now more than ever. Greg shared that “video interview usage has increased 67% across the nation in response to the COVID-19 crisis.”  interviewstream was the first interviewing technology company to step up and offer free access to help keep the hiring process moving forward and that approach is the right one for companies to take in a situation like the one we’ve all found ourselves in suddenly. 

Greg has used his full set of tools, including interviewstream to create a new concept for the K12 world, the “new NCLB” (aka No Candidate Left Behind).  This allows his district to interview 80-95% of people that apply, so that they don’t miss out on any rock star candidates. He also takes advantage of interviewstream technology to conduct exit interviews, “stay” interviews and now during the current crisis to teach students how to interview well.

As the conversation continued, Ron shared that one of interviewstream’s core values is to “Keep it Simple.” To that end, with 83% of millennials actually having stopped applying for a job because the process was too long, school districts and companies alike need to think about how candidates today have higher expectations of technology usage. Everyone, including school districts will need to continue to embrace new technologies to remain competitive.

What’s Coming Next for interviewstream and Our K12 Community

Ron shared that interviewstream is continuing to improve our platform based on feedback from districts like Greg’s and that the team is also working to provide deeper interview insights and data to measure ROI for our customers and is launching a fully updated training center later this year.

Final Thoughts: Greg’s Top Three Tips for U.S. Schools Working to Adapt Right Now

At the end of a great discussion, Greg shared his top tips for all of the districts he’s chatting with regularly right now.  

Tip #1 – Expand your knowledge of video interviewing technology. Video interviewing, especially in the current climate, allows districts to streamline the interview process and by taking full advantage of all its capabilities, they can source the right candidates to place the best  teacher in the classroom.

Tip #2 – Get more bang for your buck. Make it a goal to use your tech to its fullest extent. A few examples include: let students practice their job interviewing skills, have students create “video resumes” that they can send to employers (or next year’s teacher) on their background, do your “stay” interviews with teachers using the tool. The sky’s the limit.

Tip #3 – Go virtual. Participate in virtual job fairs to source talent, organize your own virtual job fair with a vendor, or create your own using online interviewing technology. Set up an evergreen virtual experience that sources talent 24/7/365 like a video resume creation station. 

To close it out, Greg said, “Maybe doing things a little bit differently is not a bad idea after all and I can guarantee that video interviewing will be one of those aspects.” At interviewstream, we can only agree, after all- we think hiring is simply more efficient when you use our tools. 

To check out the full fireside chat, #podcast style, click here.

About The Author

Monique Mahler is the CEO of interviewstream. She is an avid researcher of facts, a self proclaimed marketing geek, and an equestrian in her spare time.