Using technology to increase
effectiveness of HR in School Districts
H-GAC discussion
September 23, 2011
1
HR in school districts plays a critical function
“To
meet today’s demands for high student
achievement, some school districts are beginning to
rethink the role their HR departments play in school
improvement efforts. School district human resource
(HR) offices play a crucial, but often overlooked, role in
the success of school improvement efforts because they
determine whether qualified teacher and leadership
candidates are successfully recruited (and retained), or
look elsewhere for work.”
Source: Center on Reinventing Public Education
2
Research evidence on the importance of strong
principals and teachers is mounting
• “There is overwhelming evidence that strong leadership in a school
can make a real difference in student achievement – indeed,
research concludes that “there are virtually no documented
instances of troubled schools being turned around without
intervention by a powerful leader” and that “the impact of good
leadership is greatest in schools where it is most needed”
• “Research has shown that teacher quality is the single most
important variable that schools control in their efforts to provide
students with an excellent education. A 2006 analysis of Los
Angeles public school data concluded that, “having a top-quartile
teacher rather than a bottom-quartile teacher four years in a row
may be enough to close the black-white test score gap”
Source: Kenneth Leithwood, et al., How Leadership Influences Student Learning, Universities of Minnesota and
Toronto, 2004, New Teacher project, Gordon, Kane and Staiger,
3 2006
HR needs to play a multifaceted role..
Evaluation
Defining
teacher and
principal
effectiveness
Sourcing
candidates
Payroll and
compensation
Training
Selective
hiring
Developing
career
pathways
On-the-job
support and
development
Source: Wallace foundation
Onboarding
4
..Technology can be better utilized
• “Efforts to reshape district HR to improve its efficiency and
effectiveness touch on three critical areas: addressing skill deficits
of the HR employees, increasing the responsiveness and power of
the department, and investing in technology to better manage
information.”
• “Superintendents and school boards need to recognize that
technology investments in HR are not single-shot events – they
are open ended and expensive. But without the institutional
capacity that information technology provides, HR departments
will struggle to respond to demands for change and performance”
• Technology not a silver bullet, but has significant potential
Source: Studies commissioned by the Wallace5foundation
Example technology: Recruiting and talent management
system
What is reality?
What is possible?
•
Posting requisitions when an
opening is available
•
Largely manual screening of
resumes to filter candidates
•
More automated candidateposition matching that brings the
most effective candidates upfront
•
Limited ability to tie back
employee performance to
recruitment channels
•
Ability to understand where your
most effective individuals are
coming from
•
Long processing time after
candidate passes final interviews
•
Faster processing (e.g., through
integrations with third party sites for
certification, fingerprinting etc.)
• Manual intervention for each
step in hiring process
•
Building an evergreen ‘pool’ of
qualified candidates to recruit from
•
Greater efficiency and better
communication through auto-triggers
Case example: EmpowerHR system
• Vision: Develop a world-class integrated recruiting and employee
management system that allows district to strategically use its
resources to attract, recruit, and retain the best employees to
increase student achievement
Preapplicant
Applicant
Finalist
Employee
Employee
managers
District team
(outside HR)
Recruiters
HR
employees
Applicants
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Alumni
Case example: Major functionality
Following areas are helpful to build scenarios around for
a recruitment and talent management system:
•
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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Provide sourcing support for recruiters
Create requisitions and post to sites
Interface with applicant
Enable effective searching/short listing
Manage Interviews
Interface with third party sites
Conduct reference checks
Manage hiring
Recruit all employees, not just teachers
Ensuring Data integrity/security
Effectively manage communications
Provide configurability and flexibility
Providing reporting and tracking
Integrate with enterprise systems
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Outlined in
detail later
Case example: Key requirements (Page 1 of 3)
•
Interface with
applicant
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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A potential applicant logs in and is able to create and update their user account via a
self-service interface.
He/she can retrieve and/or reset login information, receive HR communications,
upload/update resume and resume-related documents such as cover letters,
certifications, awards, transcripts, sponsorship history, and transcripts and also
upload short presentation videos.
Any file uploaded by an applicant is automatically subjected to a virus scan.
A potential applicant logs in and is able to submit one resume to a general pool
and/or search and apply for specific posted positions.
The resume should be parsed by the system and the applicant can confirm the
parsed fields.
He/she may search for a job by standard key word searches, by job titles only, by job
category, by posting date, by education level, and by geographic city area.
He/she can save their search criteria, in their user account to reuse at the next login.
The applicant can use tools in system to help identify his/her eligibility and
suitability for different positions within district.
As the applicant uploads information about certifications, the system asks how they
obtained their certificate (i.e. ACP program, University, etc.). to move applicants to
different stages and connects to sites to test certifications.
The system should be able to handle duplicate application submissions
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Case example: Key requirements (Page 2 of 3)
Enable
effective
searching/
short listing
•
•
•
•
•
•
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HR personnel and/or hiring managers log in and can search in various ways
such as 1) Finding applicants by first name, last name, email, username,
certifications and assessment scores 2) Finding new registrants by date range
3) Keyword searches on scanned and stored resumes 4) Short listing
candidates based on preferences such as education Level, experience,
certifications, and preferred areas of city to work.
Searches should pull up information contained in an attachment (even if it is
not in the application).
HR personnel should be able to create applicant pools or categories that hiring
managers can view.
The system must be able to capture and screen applicants against minimum
job requirements (e.g. job description, willingness to relocate, certifications,
and education required).
HR managers should be able to create rules for auto scoring questions and/or
resume items and be able to immediately see the top candidates on logging in.
The system must be able to notify recruiters of qualified candidates that have
not applied for a specific job opening.
The system must be able to chart preferences of applicants so HR team can
help equalize supply.
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Case example: Key requirements (Page 3 of 3)
Providing
reporting and
tracking
•
•
•
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HR personnel can log in and view standard reports on process metrics,
sourcing metrics, compliance, quality of hire, and hires.
In addition, the system should be able to report on
– 1) Number of applicants in each stage of the evaluation process
– 2) Number of applicants going thru the process by
subject/certification level/years of teaching experience etc. of
applicants
– 3) Listing of prospects by school and city
– 4) Analysis of employee performance (e.g., test scores) by where
they came from, their pre-screener scores etc.
– 5) Standard recruitment metrics such as time to fill, cost per hire,
applicant to hire conversion ratio, interview to hire conversion ratio
etc.
The system should also allow analysis of hiring rate from various third
party sites.
The system must be able to create custom reports, and save and print
reports and export data to external desktop packages.
.
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