(Pulse) By Kevin Organisciak—
I do a fair amount of recruiting for Educational Service providers. Most of the recruiting is, as you might have guessed, test prep, tutoring, or admissions oriented. Although there are plenty of talented candidates, finding a perfect fit can sometimes be daunting.
Recruiting tutors, in particular, has become quite competitive. In the age of the “tutoring marketplace site” identifying qualified tutors and is no easy task. After having interviewed thousands of candidates it seems to me, anecdotally at least, that many good prospects are drawn first to those tutor marketplace-sites before considering something more substantial.
Additionally, an increasing number of tutor candidates seem to have one or more of the following: their own tutoring practice with their own following, at least a passing knowledge of a “non-compete,” and a willingness to “contract” rather than become employed. . In essence, the supply of tutor-candidates may appear to be diminishing in an age when there are arguably more tutors than ever!
So the environmental pressures have reduced the practical supply of quality tutoring candidates yet the tutoring business cycle has not changed much. That is to say, small companies still need tutors around the same time every year, only now the effort to recruit, interview, and onboard these folks has become more difficult.
To compound things, many of my clients are “owner-operators”–a broad term which means: chief tutor, chief administrator, and chief human resource specialist. Therefore, time is especially precious and hiring efficiency is key. The good news is that a little intentional planning can go a long way when it comes to efficiently managing human resources.
Here are some tips which may help with efficiency or at the very least, limit the “bottle-neck” to which owner-operators unwittingly contribute:
1. Have a standard position posting ad. Check it periodically to ensure it accurately reflects the position. Get out of the habit of making a new ad each time you hire.
2. Have a standard set of requirements for the position. Do not engage candidates who fall outside of those requirements. Exceptions do exist but most require due diligence that extends the timeline to hire.
3. Create a short email questionnaire designed to surface additional details not captured in a resume or through the position description. Send this out to candidates who meet the initial criteria. Look for timely responses as an indicator of position fit.
4. Consider a short phone screen for viable candidates. Use this to appropriately set expectations, to ask questions about the resume, and to get a preliminary sense of personality. Note strengths and weaknesses.
5. Don’t delay. Viable candidates often have more than one option. Follow up quickly, communicate clearly, and be punctual with regard to any next steps communicated.
6. Build a sample employee or contractor file. Have a checklist of items required to collect during the interview, regrets, hire, and on boarding process.
7. Avoid losing good candidates already in the hiring queue by setting clear expectations:
- Say what you mean and mean what you say regarding timesheet, travel time comp, prep time, training, payroll etc.
- Define key performance indicators, benchmarks, or milestones associated with the position.
- Have documents and forms that reinforce those words and the company values and explain what documents you will required of them.
- Have a career-pathing strategy including reviews, observations, and compensation discussions.
- Remember that modeling behavior will transcend words and documents. Treat interactions as if you are on stage.
Sometimes business demand exceeds even the most efficient processes. If that dynamic emerges–great–that is always a good problem to have! At that point though, it will be important to know the average cost per hire and begin to scale that human resource function.
