Hazelwood School District

Schooling The Hiring Process

The mission of the Hazelwood School District (HSD) is to launch learners on a quest for high standards, fairness and distinguished achievement. To meet this challenge, the human resources department needed a system in place that could effectively help locate qualified talent to help achieve their mission. They needed an online hiring solution to provide administrators with easy access to potential applicants, better record keeping and the ability to reduce the amount of up front work.

The Challenges: What Should We Do With All That Paperwork?

Before implementing SchoolRecruiter, HSD was faced with common problems that often confront districts not
using an online Applicant Tracking and Hiring Management System. Stacks of applications, numerous file cabinets full of resumes, certifications and recommendations meant the district had no way to effectively locate and hire certified staff employees.

Bottom line, something had to be done with their hiring process. Not only did HSD rely solely on word-of-mouth
to help fill their faculty positions, they found themselves struggling to locate the applications of those qualified
for the job.

“Before SchoolRecruiter, we would post positions in the schools and depend on word-of-mouth to fill the vacancies,” says HSD Director of Human Resources Tiffany Slater. “We would sometimes post on our website or on the local cable channel, but regardless we took in a lot of paper applications, without the results we wanted.”

HSD also needed a better record keeping system. It was not uncommon for HSD principals and faculty to struggle reviewing the multiple page applications. What was more, there really wasn’t an effective way to manage the new openings and notify applicants that their information had been received.

Issues needing to be addressed:

• Applications were all paper, meaning multiple pages to review and track.
• No central location to post open positions within the district.
• No easy way to prescreen applications without juggling numerous paperwork.
• Spending hours trying to touch base with candidates.

The Solution: Customized Efficiency WIth the Click of a Mouse

HSD needed an online solution that allowed the district to track the applicant, while making the hiring
process easier for every faculty member involved. All these reasons led HSD to implement SchoolRecruiter on
January 11, 2008.

“It’s as easy as a click of a button,” says Slater. “Using SchoolRecruiter has drastically reduced the many phone calls we received and made in the past. Applicants are now notified through email and know exactly where they are within the hiring process.”

SchoolRecruiter provided the HSD with a customized hiring process, filling their district’s needs without hassle. According to Slater, HSD has found an online system that is user-friendly and can be easily tailored to fit the needs of their faculty and the applicants they serve. With SchoolRecruiter, HSD is saving valuable time and easily storing their records all in one place.

“I can go into the system and easily look at all the jobs the district has to offer, says Slater. “Now we can see which people have applied for each position, without going through stacks and file cabinets of paper. SchoolRecruiter allows us to track people better and provide better service to our faculty.”

SchoolRecruiter provides school districts like HSD with the ability to:

• Receive and track applications online.
• Schedule interviews and aligning multiple administrator’s schedules.
• Place job postings for applicants and staff to view.
• Conduct background checks.
• Place job postings for applicants and staff to view.
• Easily integrate with current back office systems.
• Effectively manage Job fairs

The Results: Time is Now On Our Side

Since implementing SchoolRecruiter HSD has seen an increase in the efficiency of the hiring process and a dramatic difference in how the human resources department supports the district.

“This system has been easy to customize and implement,” says Slater. “It has allowed our department to be more efficient with our time and able to concentrate our efforts in more constructive ways.”

With SchoolRecruiter, school districts like HSD are able to provide their faculty with up-to-date job postings, applicant information and even an easy way to juggle multiple faculty members’ schedules when setting up applicant interviews. According to Slater, this is all possible because the customer support team at
SchoolRecruiter listens.

“One of the many things I love about SchoolRecruiter and Netchemia is they are constantly updating their software,” says Slater. When I call them and say ‘wow I wish we could do this’, a week to a month later, that feature is implemented. And the best part, the updates are free!”

Download Hazelwood Case Study