Small School Districts Turn to Automated Systems to Streamline K-12 Hiring Processes
1.13.2010 - PRAIRIE VILLAGE, KS
SchoolRecruiter applicant tracking and hiring management system allows smaller districts to gain faster access to highly-qualified applicants and reduce the effort to hire the best candidates
As the economy forces school systems to slash costs and positions, human resources departments are being flooded with applications for a dwindling number of job openings. While many large school districts use sophisticated software systems to automate human resources management, smaller districts have had to make do with cumbersome paper-based systems or spreadsheets. As two Missouri districts illustrate, however, even smaller districts can now take advantage of sophisticated technology tools to work smarter and drive results.
Lebanon R-III School District in Lebanon, Mo. and Smithville R-II School District in Smithville, Mo. implemented SchoolRecruiter™ to help their staff attract a larger pool of qualified candidates while decreasing the amount of effort that goes into processing and hiring the best fit. Developed by Netchemia LLC, SchoolRecruiter is a leading on-demand applicant tracking and hiring management system designed specifically for K-12 education.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, school systems, state education agencies, technical schools and colleges have lost about 125,000 jobs since last fall. Todd Schuetz has seen this first-hand in Smithville and Lebanon. “There are fewer positions open but more people applying,” he said. “As a result, there is a higher concentration of quality applicants for each position.”
Schuetz currently serves as assistant superintendent for academic services for Smithville R-II School District, which is preparing to launch SchoolRecruiter in spring 2010. Located approximately 20 miles north of downtown Kansas City, Mo., the district enrolls 2,380 students in four schools. Before joining Smithville in fall 2009, Schuetz was assistant superintendent for personnel and school improvement for Lebanon R-III School District. The district, which enrolls nearly 4,700 students in eight schools, has implemented SchoolRecruiter since 2007.
Prior to 2007, Lebanon R-III School District used paper-based processes for recruiting and candidate management. “The paper really slowed us down,” said Schuetz. “We had no idea how many applications were on file. To sort through qualifications, we had to go through piles of paper resumes and applications, which was tedious. I am certain there were quality candidates that slipped through our fingers because they got lost in the paper shuffle. The speed of the hiring process was also slow, which made it harder for us to recruit and compete for candidates with bigger school districts that did have resources such as an electronic applicant tracking system.”
After implementing SchoolRecruiter — a scalable system that meets the needs of large and small districts alike — Lebanon shifted from paper-based to paperless processes, which saved countless hours of staff time and improved applicants’ perceptions about the hiring process. “There is no job more important than hiring your next teacher. It’s every school’s next best opportunity to get better. SchoolRecruiter provides an easy, affordable way to help us do that,” said Schuetz. “SchoolRecruiter helps us do our jobs more effectively and applicants are very complimentary about how user-friendly the system is.”
SchoolRecruiter helps school districts of any size attract and hire high quality talent. The Internet-based software provides an innovative, easy-to-use system to manage all available positions and candidate information, from recruitment and screening to interviewing and hiring. By streamlining these processes and eliminating printing and mailing costs, districts can save several thousand dollars annually.
“With limited staff to handle job openings and piles of paper to sift through, smaller districts have often been at a disadvantage when competing with larger districts for highly qualified candidates,” said Carlos Antequera, CEO of Netchemia. “That’s now changing as more and more small districts are turning to solutions like SchoolRecruiter. By automating their systems with SchoolRecruiter, districts can instantly ease the workload for busy HR staff, while creating more efficient and consistent hiring processes system-wide. This not only helps small districts level the playing field with larger districts, but improves the satisfaction of both district staff and job candidates throughout the hiring process.”
About Netchemia, LLC:
Netchemia is one of the fastest-growing on-demand providers of data management solutions for K-12 school districts. Netchemia’s software-as-a-service platform delivers simple, quick and affordable solutions for recruitment and hiring (SchoolRecruiter™), Response to Intervention (netRTI™), and special education (netIEP®), with no hardware to buy or software to install.
Netchemia serves over 300 educational organizations across the nation. The company’s applications enable school districts of any size to improve efficiencies, reduce costs, and achieve positive educational impacts.
###
Media contact:
Kelly Kelley
kelly.kelley@netchemia.com
1.800.490.9686
Netchemia names used in this document are trademarks, which may be registered in one or more jurisdictions, of Netchemia. Other names are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
