Speaker 0 00:00:00 From Romano Leadership, I'm Oscar Romano. This is Learn, reflect Lead Leadership and D E I A development for mission-driven individuals and organizations. This episode is titled to School Leaders with Vacancies to Fill. This episode is for you if you're a school leader with vacancies. You still have to film if you're a school leader who wants to stay ahead of any potential vacancies or if you're an inspiring school leader. Looking for tips on the hiring process. Today we're gonna talk about areas school leaders can focus on to address their immediate vacancies. Imagine reading something like this. You know, in, in an email, first thing in the morning. I regret to inform you, I've decided to resign from your organization. Effective immediately, I've decided to move on to other opportunities. Whew. One of the worst feelings as a school leader is getting that message. When you think you're fully hired, oh, oh wait, it can get worse.
Speaker 0 00:01:04 It gets worse with additional resignations that seem to keep coming in. As I say, when your brain ends up pour, you can quickly regroup after the first resignation, but each subsequent one causes your anxiety about the situation to creep in. There's a knot in the pit of your stomach as soon as you start processing what that means and all the steps you need to take to successfully, you know, get all these positions closed. You let yourself follow for a moment, but you know you need to act fast. Here's where school leaders might falter, right? The next steps after receiving a resignation are crucial, but many school leaders falter in these ways.
Speaker 0 00:01:44 The first way is they might rely on their district, HR office to do the hiring work. School leaders may overlook at the, that district office has goals to fill all the vacancies in the district, not just their schools. Those in that office will never be as focused as a school leader on filling their vacancies. The second way is they broadly share recruitment messaging out to the world. Unfortunately, social media algorithms don't always work in your favor. Don't leave yourself at their mercy. And a third way, they set recruitment and hiring aside in favor of more pressing matters. With so many competing priorities, it's impossible to focus on everything. If not, careful though, a vacancy can cause significant problems down the line. Here are six focus areas to fill your staff openings.
Speaker 0 00:02:32 Number one, know all the stories I'm talking about, your story, the organization story, and the school story, because they're gonna come up time and time again. It's essential during the recruiting and hiring process because of the messaging that you need to convey to others in an ultra-competitive landscape. This could set you apart from others. When people are trying to decide between the position at your school and the position at another, they're scrutinizing every aspect of both roles. Give yourself a leg up by having your story straight. Number two, be clear on what you're looking for. The first thing you need is a job description, but most org organization already have that prepared ahead of time. The job description should provide perspective applicants with a clear list of what the role entails. Apart from the job description, it would help if you had a clear picture of the character traits, mindsets, and values you're looking for in a candidate.
Speaker 0 00:03:25 AB known school leaders who quickly regretted hiring candidates without evaluating their mindsets. Number three, know what you have to offer per perspective. Candidates will immediately look for the standard items such as salary and benefits, so those must be established well ahead of time. Assuming that your salary and benefits are competitive with the market, you need to be able to stand out, think about everything you have to offer. For example, you aren't just looking for somebody to fill a role. You're looking for somebody who wants coaching and development. Career pathways to be part of a great culture, to make an impact, to unleash your creativity, to learn, learn a new skillset and and so much more. Number four, create your marketing materials. You have your stories, what you're looking for and what you have to offer. Now it's time to put it together into some marketing collateral that you can use repeatedly.
Speaker 0 00:04:19 There are three types of items that you need to prepare. Social media graphics are easy created using templates from sites at Canva, and these graphics can help your job posting stand out. Email templates are essential, so you can type in email addresses and hit sent, and flyers can help make it easier for others to spread this information via their own networks. Number five, focus on targeted communications instead of a broad messaging campaign. Aim to be more targeted. Start by asking your staff for referrals. There are tons of statistics about how much faster and smoother the hiring process is. When referrals are involved, send an email that you already created to five to 10 people with the request to assist to fill this vacancy. Think of your network connections with their extensive networks or specific networking organizations. Push your job opportunity on social media using the template you've already created.
Speaker 0 00:05:07 Focus on LinkedIn more than any other social media site. Work on your LinkedIn presence by engaging with other posts, creating posts, and making connections. Just five minutes a day can help expand your reach and make the right candidate more likely to see your post. And number six, craft a solid interview process. The job hiring process isn't done until the individuals hired and in the training process. Once you get somebody in for an interview, it's time to seal the deal if it's the right person. Of course, don't let your first impression be their last impression of you. Curate an excellent experience for the candidate that begins when they start receiving communications from you and extend throughout the interview process. Leverage systems for every part of the interview process so you don't have to come up with things on the fly. If it's your first time doing something, document it and save it for next time.
Speaker 0 00:05:52 Remember the narrative you're trying to convey and that you wanna enhance. With this hire, make easier for both parties to determine if it's a good fit. Ignore what you are determined to be looking for at your own peril. Great school leaders adjust to the circumstances. As Mike Tyson once said, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. And you know what? Receiving one or more resignations at any point during a school year can feel like a punch in the face, but it doesn't have to ruin your plans for a successful start to a school year. Own your process and be intentional with your approach to finding suitable candidates for your open positions. Run the process right and you can give yourself more time before you have to fill that position. Again, it's time to commit. Think about the focus areas we covered. Know all the stories. Be clear on what you're looking for. Know what you have to offer. Create your marketing materials. Focus on targeted communications. Craft a solid interview process. Which one of them do you need to work on? Do you have any other focus areas people should consider? Let me know and let me know how all this goes.
Speaker 0 00:07:02 Thanks.
Speaker 1 00:07:03 That's it for this episode of Learn, reflect Lead. Thank you for watching on YouTube or listening via podcast. If you're interested in more, you can find
[email protected] or connect with me on LinkedIn at Romano Leadership. If you like this episode, please share it with your friends. Subscribe and leave a review. I'm Oscar Romano. Until next time.
