Running a business in childcare can be rewarding, knowing that you are molding extremely delicate young people into future responsible adults. The hardest part is finding just the right kind of teachers and retaining them for the long haul.
Staff turnover is such a common scenario in almost the entire childcare industry. Such incidents, when they do happen, can be quite disruptive, even incapacitating, because in this case, you are dealing with very young children who can become attached to their teachers. It is why you need to look for the right people with the right skills while using several mechanisms to retain them.
We have compiled some techniques you can use to get the right teachers for your business.
1. Employee Referral System
Referrals from your staff can be a great way to find the right teachers. They know the persons they recommend and if they have the right attitudes towards the job. You can even offer attractive bonuses for your referral, which encourages them to find only the best.
When good employees refer friends and family members to your company, they're not only helping themselves; they're also giving back to your workplace community. For example, a part-time teacher in the school can recommend some of their classmates they think are well-fitted to work in such an environment.
If you ask your employees to refer candidates, here are some tips to ensure you hire quality employees
- Ask them to only recommend individuals who meet specific criteria (e.g., experience, skills)
- Make sure you clearly define these criteria when you ask your employees to recommend candidates.
- Don't forget to thank your employees for referring candidates. This shows them that you appreciate their recommendations and encourages them to continue recommending top performers.
- Finally, ensure you give your employees feedback after each candidate interview. This helps you identify strengths and weaknesses in each applicant.
Bonus tip: Ensure your referral program is communicated to your employees. Employees should understand exactly what they need to do to qualify for the reward.
2. Utilize Churches and Community Job Boards
These are excellent spots for people looking for various jobs, including childcare. Again, these centers possess robust policies and offer an environment that draws some of the best candidates. Some candidates looking for jobs in such places already have a calling for specific kinds of work.
3. Offer Attractive Remuneration
Remuneration is all the compensation an employee receives for services rendered, both monetary and non-monetary.
According to several surveys, many childcare teachers' critical reasons for high staff turnover are low pay and difficult working conditions. However, you can counter this kind of presumption by willing to offer not only a good salary but also favorable working conditions for your teachers.
For example, you can ensure flexible working hours and personal and professional development opportunities such as additional education or leadership title besides pay. Offering discounted or free childcare for their child could also prevent employees from leaving for other opportunities.
If you want to retain top talent, give them a reason to stay. Give them a reason to be proud of working at your company.
How to Interview Potential Teachers for Your Childcare Business
The interview process needs not be intimidating to push away potentially good teachers. All the same, you can use the following simple techniques:
- Do a screening interview by phone or a brief face-to-face. You can ask the candidate some open-ended questions to establish certain behaviors, traits, and suitability of the individual for the job.
- Have your selection team interview the narrowed-down list.
- You can then test them in a real work situation to see how they react to challenging work situations or problematic little ones.
- Also, check them to see how they interact with parents and other people coming into the school.
Conducting Proper Employee Orientation
Teacher orientation is crucial in overall motivation and teacher retention strategies. Some of the best methods of keeping teachers include:
- Showing them around the whole facility.
- Communicating with them about childcare policies and guidelines.
- Providing a database, including names, ages, and any developmental needs of those children under their care.
- Elaborating on any other strategies, especially those concerning parent-teacher communication.
- Communicating health and safety policies of your facility, including emergency procedures.
Eliminate the least suited individuals
Change your mindset from looking for the perfect employee to eliminating the wrong person for the position. This will leave you a qualified candidate that you can train to be a rock star teacher.
As daunting as hiring teachers can be, the examination of extra traits of an individual can help you decide if you are hiring the right person. For instance, you can stress the fact that you need teachers who are energetic, compassionate, calm, and with a specific training background. You can go beyond this and ask applicants to send resumes and cover later. Ask them to write a detailed cover letter explaining why they are interested in the job and what personal motivations make them want to work in childcare.
Doing so helps you to eliminate the least suited individuals. The least suited and those not interested cannot go to a great extent, trying to explain themselves. Finally, you are left with just about a few you can interview to get the best.
Recruiting and keeping the right type of teachers can be quite challenging. So you need to use the correct procedures and trust your intuition during selection. Orientation, which includes proper training and communication, helps your new staff to begin on the right note, with lots of confidence, which is also critical for business success. After hiring an employee , you need to have a stress-free onboarding and payroll system.
