How Video Interviews are Moving K-12 Hiring Forward

This guest blog was written by our video interview partner, Spark Hire.

After enduring difficult experiences, it can often be challenging to appreciate the lessons learned right away. 2020 feels a lot like that. From the global pandemic to the ongoing national teacher shortage, this year has profoundly impacted K-12 education, and that impact will be felt far into the future. Yet, while uncertainties remain, solutions are emerging that offer a glimpse of what teaching, learning, and hiring educators will look like in the long run.

One positive from this year has been the way K-12 hiring methodology continues to evolve. No matter what challenges they face, schools and districts have adapted while always putting student learning first. Mutual customers of PowerSchool and Spark Hire lead the charge with technology to recruit, hire, and onboard new teachers and staff from anywhere.

Let’s dive into some hiring process improvements you can take into 2021.

Recruiting Teachers and Staff with Virtual Career Fairs

No matter your current schooling plan—in-person, hybrid, or remote—there’s always a need to identify the right teachers and administrators for open positions. But with in-person job fairs and hiring events on hold, many are forced to rethink their go-to recruiting strategies.

Ascension Parish School Board in Louisiana uses PowerSchool and Spark Hire solutions to conduct virtual career fairs.

How does it work?

1. They create a virtual career fair where they post available positions. Prospects can view openings, craft their resume and cover letter, gather required materials, and complete a one-way video interview using Spark Hire.
2. The team promotes the career fair on job boards, LinkedIn, and locally within their community to attract as many qualified applicants as possible.
3. After the virtual fair, the team reviews applications and one-way video interviews, handing off qualified applicants to the appropriate assistant superintendents, principals, and hiring managers.

Through a virtual career fair, the team can cast a wide net for applicants without putting current team members or candidates at risk with in-person meetings or events.

Collaborating Remotely to Keep K-12 Hiring on Track

In Texas, the small-but-mighty HR team at Amarillo ISD uses Spark Hire to coordinate hiring and keep it on track, even while everyone works remotely.

Here’s how:

1. They post open positions with a one-way video interview as the initial step, drastically diminishing the time from interview to hire.
2. Once the team receives completed one-way video interviews, they qualify top candidates for each position.
3. The team then distributes interviews to principals for shortlisting using Spark Hire’s share links (available directly within PowerSchool).

By replacing phone screening with video interviews and virtually collaborating with school principals, the district cut 270 hours of work—saving them $91,000 per year.

Assessing Candidate Adaptability via Video Interviews

During the 2021-2022 school year, we can anticipate a continuation of the hybrid operating structure similar to what we’ve all implemented this current year. As the future of K-12 schooling takes shape, HR teams know they need to hire adaptive teachers and staff. Video interviews give candidates the chance to show their readiness for the digital future of teaching and learning, no matter what it looks like in 2021 and beyond.

Video interviews help Region One Education Service Center (ESC) in Texas unlock their team’s available interviewing hours beyond the typical 8-5 schedule. Their candidates can interview any time, from anywhere, allowing the team to review interviews during working hours or after hours should they choose. The interview process also standardizes video interviews, creating a more streamlined process and allowing interview assessors to stick to their hiring scorecard for bias-free hiring.

Using Spark Hire’s integration with PowerSchool, your team can create and promote your own virtual career fair to broaden your candidate pool. Easily accessible share links within the PowerSchool platform provide one-click collaboration with hiring decision-makers.

With unpredictability setting the tone these days, candidates and interviewers alike have learned to better understand and adapt to unexpected circumstances. All in all, video interviewing provides the flexibility school districts need to take the lessons learned in 2020 and launch more effective hiring practices in 2021.

Want to know more about using PowerSchool and Spark Hire together?

Request a demo of Spark Hire today and see why it’s the preferred interview solution for the hybrid education environment.