Inspirational and Empowering Child Care Business Owners To Build Successful Child Care Businesses

Posts tagged ‘Hiring New Employees’

Staffing Your Child Care Center This Summer

Every summer my enrollment increases and this creates a demand  for more staff during the summer time.  In fact, as the enrollment increases during the summer, I see the importance of assuring that my staff is trained on field trip safety, Playground/Water safety and are effectively supervising young children.

Has your enrollment increased? Are you fully staffed? Don’t know where to find qualified applicants? I want to share with you where I find the majority of my teachers……Craigslist!

Craigslist is free and it is an easy and quick way to post your job openings. However, I must say that you must be very specific about what you are looking for in an applicant. For example: Be sure to indicate the amount of pay; education required; hours; if the position is for the summer only; the age group that the applicant will be working with; be sure to list licensing requirements; and request that the applicant sends you a resume.

Before wasting your time scheduling interviews, I find it to be easier to schedule a telephone interview with the top three applicants and screen for the following:

  1. Recent Experience working in a childcare center
  2. Education in early childhood or youth development
  3. Passion for working with children
  4. Classroom management Style and knowledge of health/safety of young children
  5. Positive Attitude!

If your center is not already fully staffed for the summer, I encourage you to give Craigslist a try and my hope is that you find the perfect teachers for your summer program!

With Quality Staff in Mind,

Shiketa Morgan

If you have not already downloaded your copy of the Summer Camp Planning eGuide, get your copy today!

Category:

Staffing, Summer Program

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A Camera System Can Help To Improve The Hiring Process

 

Several month’s ago ADT Alarm company installed cameras in my classrooms and on the outside of my childcare center. I am so excited about having a new camera system that records the daily operations in my center.  In fact,  now that I have a camera system, I feel that I have a second pair of eyes on my center.

There are three reasons that I love having a camera system:

  1. It is a great training tool for staff meetings
  2. If a parent has a concern, we can show the parent what really happened in the classroom
  3. I love to use the camera system in the selection process of new employees (with their permission)

Recently, I interviewed a potential applicant for a Lead Teacher position in my center. She met the educational requirements for the job, however, I was not too sure about how she could handle a room of 2 and 3 year olds.

So, I asked her if she would be willing to come in for a classroom observation for 1-hour. She agreed to the observation and she understood that I would review her classroom management skills by way of the camera system.

When she entered the room, there was another teacher in the class for the first 40 minutes of the observation, then the teacher informed her that she would step away from the class for 20 minutes (as instructed by me) to see how the children will respond to her leadership.

As I watched the video recording of the potential applicant and the children, the applicant appeared to be engaged with the children the first 10 minutes of being alone, then the applicant sat with one group of kids and there was another group of kids that decided to around the room. The applicant redirected the behavior, then went back to interact with a group of children.

The potential applicant was doing an awesome job  working with the children in small groups, however, there was a group of children that were climbing on tables and running in circles. It appeared to me that supervision would be a major issue and this helped me to form my decision in not hiring the teacher.

In fact, watching the video recording reminded me of the importance of hiring teachers that can effectively supervise young children.

Do you have a camera system on site? Is it used to observe potential employees? Feel free to share your thoughts about this blog post.

Category:

Employee Management, Hiring Employees, Human resource

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