What happens if you still have a spot left to fill?
If you have a last minute hire to make, don’t panic.
The good news is, during the summer months, we still get over 60,000 candidates applying for roles each month.
It may feel like a race against the clock, but there’s still time left to find and hire quality educators.
Right now the best thing to do is to keep on actively reaching out to educators still seeking roles.
But to ensure you don’t end up facing the same problem next year, we’ve detailed some suggestions below to help you mitigate the risk of vacancies and consider applying to your recruitment strategy.
What happens if you don’t fill the position?
From larger classroom sizes to assigning more responsibilities to teachers already in positions, vacancies create a domino effect of issues.
The number of international schools that have opened in the past 20 years is astounding.
In 2000, there were about 2,500 international schools around the world. That number increased significantly to about 11,000 schools by 2019.
Filling vacancies before classes start in September has always had its challenges, but navigating “The Great Resignation” has thrown schools through a loop. According to a US survey by the Institute of Education Sciences, over 50% of vacancies were due to resignation.
Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, the industry has shifted to a teacher’s market. Globally, there are more teaching jobs than teachers despite the demand.
Schools are left with no choice but to ask teachers to double up on their duties, deal with larger class sizes, or to hire private contractors.
How to find qualified teachers
On average, international schools see a turnover rate of about 15-17%.
But those numbers are increasing, especially since the beginning of the global pandemic in 2020.
With in-person job fairs and pandemic-related shutdowns affecting almost everything, the process is made that much more difficult.
And so, how does one fill the positions with a smaller pool of candidates?
Reach out to recent graduates
Make yourself known to recent graduates with your online presence.
Gen Z is creating a new wave of teachers. Research shows that organizations will require a different mindset when it comes to attracting and retaining Gen Z teachers, so it’s important to be mindful of how potential candidates are searching for teaching career opportunities.
Create a strong network by posting your school openings on external job boards like college career forums pages, college open house bulletins, and social media.
Be sure to create custom landing pages to increase teacher applications.
Ask for referrals from current or former teachers
Current and former teachers are strong links to finding qualified candidates.
They’re able to share a first-hand account of their experiences with your school and will likely recommend peers who would be the best fit.
Create an incentive for current and former teachers to connect your school with the right references, and you’ll have a pool of high-potential teaching candidates.
Recruitment resources
Teach Away has decades of experience in the teacher recruitment space, both locally and internationally.
Recognized as the number one database used by job seekers, Teach Away can also support you in your recruitment hiring process while being mindful of your budget.
The user-friendly website brings in six times the amount of traffic, compared to other international education career sites.
Here are a few reasons why schools include Teach Away as part of their international teacher recruitment strategy.
Access to a large database of teachers
We have a diverse database of over 25,000 teachers, including local and international teachers.
This means that whether you’re recruiting in China, UAE, or Japan, teachers available to your school will be in volumes.
All of the teachers in our databases are highly qualified in their subject area and willing to travel around the world to teach in international schools (depending on COVID-19 restrictions).
These teachers know that Teach Away can help them find quality schools, like yours, where they can apply their teaching knowledge, helping their students excel in the classroom and beyond.
Also, if you are struggling to hire teachers for your school due to international travel restrictions, our online database is packed with local teachers in your area.
Unlimited job postings
Schools can post as many job postings needed to fill open positions.
While you may be aware of what positions you need for the fall early in the year, there can be last-minute positions that open up and will need to be filled even more quickly, ensuring you have all of your staff needs met.
Teach Away allows for unlimited job postings so that you can post those last-minute jobs and still find a quality candidate to place within your school!
This is also handy for those opening a new school or expanding their current staff.
When you post a job on Teach Away, you will be met with a lot of applications from prospective and highly qualified teachers.
The key is to choose the right candidate that you wish to move forward with the interview and the hiring process.
Teachers who are in the database choose to be there and want to hear from you! They’re always actively looking for a new position.
Online job fairs
Our online job fairs are where you can meet qualified candidates.
While COVID-19 forced much of the world to move to virtual platforms, Teach Away has been operating virtually for over 20 years, so we know how the online hiring process works for both the recruiter and the teacher.
Lastly, Teach Away makes sure candidates are ready for you and their new position at your school.
You don’t even have to worry about making sure their international paperwork is up to date. We’ll do that for you!
Year-round subscriptions
The recruitment subscription options are smart, cost-effective, and available to you year-round.
This allows you to find teachers outside of the January to March hiring season.
Many teachers in the United States don’t start looking for a new job until April or May. These are all teachers that could be added to our database after you are done with your hiring season.
With access to Teach Away’s database will ensure you avoid the teacher shortage. There is never a shortage of teachers who are looking for international teaching positions.
You can eradicate the stress from the hiring process and fill any open vacancies with a lot of grace and ease.
Filling open teaching positions
Teach Away is here to connect international schools to fluent English-speaking teachers.
There are over 25,000 visits to our job board daily, and we have over 70,000 new applications every month.
You can use our year-round subscription so you don’t miss out on any of the quality candidates waiting to enter your school and teach your students.
Whether you are a K-12 school, a language school, a Pre-K school, or offer online learning, we can make sure those vacant positions are filled well before your doors open in the fall.
Are you ready to let go of the stress and headache that comes with finding the right staff for your school?
Teach Away is here to help you with the hiring process.