Why Finding the Right Talent Is Still a Challenge for Schools - Episode 1
Why Finding the Right Talent Is Still a Challenge for Schools - Episode 1
A school posts a teaching vacancy. Ten CVs become fifty within days.
It looks like the school has options until shortlisting starts.
Great qualifications, no classroom experience. Strong experience, wrong fit. The perfect candidate... who lives four hours away.
The problem is not the number of applications.
It is finding the right talent.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll explore some of the challenges schools face when recruiting education professionals, and what schools can do differently.
But we’re not going to give them all away just yet.
Let’s start with the first one.
Episode 1: Attracting the Right Talent
A highly qualified educator comes across a school's vacancy.
On paper, it is exactly the kind of role they would want.
They read it once. Then they read it again.
Then they close the tab and keep scrolling.
Nothing was wrong with their qualifications. Something about the opportunity itself simply did not pull them in.
Qualified professionals have choices, and that changes the dynamic. A school is not just picking a candidate. It is also being evaluated by one.
Compensation plays a part, but it is rarely the whole decision. Education professionals are also weighing the working conditions they will step into, the opportunities for growth, the quality of leadership, the workload, the learning environment, and the support they can expect once they are in the role.
OECD's TALIS 2024 findings reflect this. Teachers' decisions to stay in or leave the profession are shaped by more than salary. Their day-to-day experience matters just as much.
There is also a quieter barrier: location.
A highly qualified educator may genuinely want the role and still not apply, simply because relocating feels too difficult or too expensive.
The right candidate is not always unavailable.
Sometimes they are just outside the school's immediate reach.
The Solution
This is why schools need to look beyond advertising a job title and a salary figure.
It means identifying what actually makes the opportunity attractive to the kind of educator they want, and saying so clearly, rather than assuming it speaks for itself.
For schools outside major urban centres, it also means addressing relocation head-on. Making the practical side of moving easier. Being upfront about the support available. Rather than letting distance quietly filter out great candidates before they even apply.
Attracting the right talent starts with building an opportunity worth choosing, not just a vacancy worth posting.
But attracting the right talent is only the beginning.
A school can create an attractive opportunity and still struggle to find the right people if the vacancy never reaches them.
If attracting the right talent is one challenge schools face, what do you think will be the next challenge?
We want to hear from you.
Take a minute to share your thoughts through our short form. Your response could even help shape the conversation in the coming weeks.
And we're keeping track of the people who follow, participate and engage throughout the series.
Follow along, make your predictions, and see if you can guess what challenge we’ll uncover next.
Share your guess here: https://forms.gle/XgDsinrHuahAVviv9
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