Hiring and onboarding process
Having (or not having) quality employees can make or break you in the child care business. Your leaders, teachers, cooks, receptionists, and everyone else you hire are very important for keeping children safe and learning, and for giving parents peace of mind. But finding right people can be difficult. To help you, here is a simple, research-based approach to find and attract the best talent for your organization.
How to find talent
Active talent search
Sending information out is a good first step, but it is also passive. You're sending information out there and seeing if people find it and apply. This might not be the best way to find people because it assumes that the people you want to hire are already looking. Research shows active methods of searching for talent are more effective. This means you should take steps to make sure your job announcement reaches your two most important audiences: candidates and connecters.
Candidates and connectors
Candidates are the people who will apply for the job. Connectors help spread the word and reach more candidates. One way to find connectors is to reach out your friends, your current employees, and the families you serve. Another helpful group of connectors can be other professionals in the child care field. Child care providers can also be successful in posting announcements on a local online groups or a local parents’ group.
Competition
The job market is highly competitive. Consider offering bonuses or incentives for new hires but require them to pay it back if they leave in less than 6 months. You can also offer slightly higher pay for a short time, like the first three months, to attract talent. Don't forget about your current employees. Consider offering employee retention incentives to people who remain with your organization, such as temporary bonuses or temporary wage increases.
Job announcements
It's important to know that there's a difference between job descriptions and job announcements. A job description is a helpful tool for managing employees, especially at larger centers. The job description defines the job and what skills are needed for the position. This might include things like how much experience they need, such as “must have two years of experience in child care,” or their education like, “must have a CDA.” Job descriptions are important, especially if you have many employees, because they make expectations clear.
A job announcement serves a different purpose. The job description has a lot of details that, while relevant, may not be necessary to explain upfront. When you're trying to hire people, showing the full job description first might be confusing or overwhelming to them. The job announcement should tell people, "Here's why you have to come work for us." It tells a person about the job and explains why they should want to work for you.
Create a three-part job announcement
Learn how to create a three-part job announcement and find talent to support your child care business.
Reviewing applications
Reviewing resumes and applications is an important step in your hiring process. If you've spread the word about your job and posted it in several places, you should start getting applications within a few days.
Your application review process starts before anyone even applies. Take time to think about what you want in your job announcement will help your search. When you create your application, be clear about what you expect, what you need, and any unique preferences for your business. If you're not getting the right applications, check how you wrote your job posting and where you posted it. Find more tips and tools on child care employee recruiting.
As applications come in, you may want to use a candidate scorecard to review candidates. Below is an example of what a scorecard could look like (adapted from Lean Recruitment: Finding Better Talent Faster, Romano and LaRocca, 2017). The scorecard uses the important skills and qualifications you need, along with your business needs. It helps you rank applicants based on these skills. It helps you review applications based on what you already said you need in a new employee.
Your qualifications and skills should match what you put in your job announcement. Since your scorecard comes from your job announcement, it makes things clear and helps you to see each person's strengths and weaknesses. To start, pick the most important qualifications a give them a weight, or score.
You can set your scorecard up in different ways: an Excel spreadsheet or Google Sheet is good, but you can also use paper and pencil. As applications come in, score them on the scorecard.
Measuring each candidate will give you a ranked list, showing who best matches what you want. After scoring, you'll see a group of candidates with the highest scores – they often stand out. These are the people you might want to have an informal conversation with before a formal interview to further vet these applicants. It can also provide with additional information as you sort through your applications. This can help you add details to any area where you were unclear or were looking for a higher score.
Before a formal interview, you can add an application screening to help narrow down candidates, get more information, or answer questions you have. Having short conversations over the phone or video call can save time and give you more information to make a decision. If possible, schedule these so the candidate has time to prepare. Tell them it's a more casual conversation than the formal interview.
Generally, these conversations have four parts:*
- Confirm the key requirements of the job, including location, schedule, salary, and benefits.
- Ask questions you have about the candidate’s resume or experience. These questions should be specific, filling in any details you might need before a formal interview. For example, ask about any gaps you see in their work history.
- Offer to answer any top-of-mind questions from the candidate. They often ask about next steps. Your response can communicate that you need time to determine next steps, but you will follow up with them either way.
- Confirm that the candidate is still interested in the job and moving forward. You may have asked this at the beginning of the conversation, but it's good to confirm again after you've given details and answered questions.
These steps will help you decide who your top candidates are, the ones you want to interview and get to know better.
*Adapted from Lean Recruitment: Finding Better Talent Faster (Romano and LaRocca, 2017)
Extending an offer
After you've interviewed people and checked their references, you probably know who you want to hire. The next step is to offer them the job. Here are the steps and information to include in your job offer.
- Start with a warm welcome: Show your excitement and mention skills you liked about them. The way you start the offer sets the tone for your relationship with your future employee. Share how happy you are to offer them the job. You can also highlight the strengths that made you choose them.
- State the position offered: Tell the person the exact job you're offering. This helps them make an informed decision about joining your team. In the offer, name the position, job description, who they will report to, when you want them to start, and any other terms of employment. The letter should also say the job is “at will”, which means that either you or they can end the employment at any time.
- Compensation and benefits: List how much the person will be paid. Include how many hours they'll work and how much they'll make for those hours. Explain how they'll be paid, such as twice a month, once a month, or by direct deposit.
- Opportunity to ask questions: Let them ask questions about the job offer. You can suggest some dates and times when they can contact you to further discuss the position.
- Have a deadline: Give the candidate some time to think about the job offer, but don't leave it open-ended. This can be as simple as writing “this offer will be valid until February 25, 2025.”
- You might consider providing two copies of your offer: one for the employee to keep and one for them to sign and return for your records. Extending an offer ensures that you both begin your working relationship on the same page.
Onboarding new hires
A strong onboarding process helps your business by making sure new staff have the information and support they need to succeed. Here is a list of topics to consider when designing your onboarding process:
- Warm welcome: Onboarding is an opportunity to help your new employee feel included. Think of ways you might welcome them into your program.
- Vision, values, and beliefs: During onboarding, help them understand how these things fit into your program every day. Explain your mission, what you hope to achieve, and how the employee can help make those things happen.
- Explain how to do things: Train your new hire on how you do things at your program. Don’t assume they will already know how you do things.
- Operations: Help the employee understand how your program works so they can be successful. Share the best ways to communicate with you and other staff, what to wear, the rules of the break room, and where to park.
- Policies and Procedures: Review the employee handbook so they understand your rules and why they're important. Review attendance policy, how to clock in and out, how to communicate and interact with families, and rules for working with children. Allow space for your new employee to ask questions.
- Emergency Procedures: Your new employee may or may not know what to do in an emergency. Support and equip them with the knowledge and confidence to act in an emergency.
- Expectations: How your employees act with children, families, and each other daily is important to your business. Explain your expectations so your employees understand the tasks and behaviors that are expected of them.
Disclaimer
The information contained here has been prepared by Civitas Strategies and is not intended to constitute legal, tax, or financial advice. The Civitas Strategies team has used reasonable efforts in collecting, preparing, and providing this information, but does not guarantee its accuracy, completeness, adequacy, or currency. The publication and distribution of this information are not intended to create, and receipt does not constitute, an attorney-client or any other advisory relationship. Reproduction of this information is expressly prohibited. Only noncommercial uses of this work are permitted.