Selling the Benefits of Small Town Kansas

Many of the school districts in our state sit in small rural communities. These communities offer multiple benefits to teachers that need to be shared with potential candidates. In July, CNN highlighted small towns across the country in their article "Big Employers, Small-town Jobs". One question the author raised regarding the benefits of small towns was:

But what about the advantages of small-town life, like cheap housing, low crime rates, and clean air?

The new KEEB allows districts to provide this type of information about their community in the employer description. This information then becomes part of each and ever job posting. To locate information on your community visit the link below. This site provides data, such as, number of libraries, parks, housing costs, etc. for cities in Kansas that may be worth including in your employer description on KEEB.
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2007/states/KS.html

We are currently developing a video highlighting the benefits of teaching in rural Kansas that will be posted on the KEEB website. I will keep you updated as we wrap up production.

Locating Qualified Candidates: New Applicant Search Tool

Beyond posting job announcements, the redesign Kansas Education Employment Board (KEEB) now allows registered employers to search for candidates. You can conduct a search by either key word and/or endorsement to locate individuals interested in teaching in Kansas. To use the search tool, login to www.kansasteachingjobs.com or Sign Up for an employer account under Employers in the KEEB Main Menu. Once you are logged in, click on "Search Applicants" in the KEEB Main Menu. You will then see a list of applicants including their contact information and their endorsement(s). To view their full application click on the magnifying glass. You can now view the applicants qualifications, download any attachments they may have included (i.e. cover letter), and print a copy for your file.

Recruiting is Marketing Your District or Organization

The new KEEB offers user friendly tools to market your district like never before. Below are three ways to increase applicants’ knowledge of your district and market unique aspects of your district. Applicants can view this content when they view any of your job announcements or your employer profile. If you already have an employer account in KEEB, login and click on Edit Profile on the “My Menu” page to utilize any of these features. If you don’t have an account yet, sign up for your free employer account at www.kansasteachingjobs.com and start marketing your district or organization today.

• Employer Description: Share your district vision and values, as well as, describe where you are located. Include any information that sets you apart from other districts, such as, a focus on technology or small class sizes. This is your opportunity to sell your district and community.
• Image: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Digital images allow applicants to make a connection with what you include in the employer description. The image may be of a building in your district, teachers or students, or a logo.
• Podcast: Podcasts are a marketing tool to reach the video and ipod generation. In the new KEEB you can upload a brief 3 minute video highlighting your district or organization. Reach applicants by sharing what is it like to work there, highlight a teacher or administrator’s story, show a brief tour of the facilities, or discuss the kinds of benefits offered or professional development opportunities. At the end the podcast be sure to include the district website and contact information.

If your district doesn’t have the technical expertise in house to develop some of this material look to a group of high school students such as class officers, journalism class, or other group of students who could assist you in developing the digital content. You might be amazed what students can do with a digital camera and a computer to highlight your district. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about how to get started or need assistance in developing the material.

Developing a Quality Job Announcement

The new job announcement format was included in the new KEEB based on specific feedback from both district personnel and applicants. The new format allows districts to provide detailed information about the job opening. By providing this type of information and adhering to the format, applicants do not have to contact districts for more information and can make an informed decision about whether they would be interested in the position. We are already noticing an increase in traffic and applications to positions announcements that are utilizing each of these areas. Below are a few examples of questions to keep in mind as you develop your job announcement and a few examples of exemplary postings. Feel free to contact me if you would like assistance in developing your job announcement.

• Job Title
  
• What is this position called?
  
• What would my job title be?
  
• Early Childhood Special Education Teacher
  
• 5th Grade Elementary Teacher
• Job Description
  
• What will my primary job responsibilities be?
  
• What age group will I be working with?
  
• What district school building is this position in?
  
• How many students will I be serving?
  
• To provide Early Childhood Special Education services to children ages 3-5 with developmental delays or disabilities and their families through an inter agency, home, and community based service delivery model, and to ensure that the education needs of the child are addressed.
• Salary
  
• What is the starting salary?
  
• What is the length of the contract?
  
• Will the district recognize my years of experience?
  
• 2007-2008 base salary is $32,300. Teacher salary schedule, 192 day contract
• 33,000 base, full credit for years of service
• Bonus
  
• Does your district provide a signing bonus?
  
• Are there programs for tuition reimbursement?
  
• No signing bonus or $1000 signing bonus for high need position
• 50% tuition reimbursement for approved coursework while under contract. Will consider regular education certified teacher working on special education certification.
• Licensed employees eligible for $3,000 one-time bonus for earning masters degree.
• Benefits
  
• What kind of benefits are available to district employees?
  
• Does the district offer vision and dental insurance?
  
• Can I insure my family?
  
• District-paid health benefit pays 95% of single policy, 50% of family policy. Flexible Benefit Plan components may be selected for pre-tax deduction. Allowance of 12 days' absence each year for personal use or illness, which can be accumulated.
• Opportunities for professional development offering both inservice points and college credit available on site.
• Are benefits paid?
  
• Does the district pay for a portion of the benefits? Yes or No

KEEB Training Dates

Training sessions are now available to school district personnel interested in using the new KEEB to advertise positions and locate qualified candidates. Below are the training dates. If you are interested in attending please email the session number along with your contact information to me at kylie.stewart@greenbush.org or call (620) 724-6281. If you are unable to attend a training date remember that you can download help files by clicking on HELP in the upper right hand corner of the new KEEB website. Also, I am always glad to answer a question via email or phone.

KEEB TRAINING SESSIONS:

• SESSION #1: September 24th, 10:00 – 12:00 or 1:00 – 3:00, Greenbush, Southeast Kansas Education Service Center, 947 W. 47 HWY, Girard, KS
• SESSION #2: September 27th, 1:00 – 3:00, Indian Creek Technology Center, Shawnee Mission School District, 4401 W. 103rd Street, Overland Park, KS
• SESSION #3: October 1st, 12:00 – 2:00, Sedgwick County Area Educational Services Cooperative, 620 Industrial, Goddard, KS
• SESSION #4: October 2nd, 10:00 – 12:00, Garden City School District, 1205 Fleming Road, Garden City, KS
• SESSION #5: October 3rd, 1:00 – 3:00, Clay Center Community High School, 1630 9th St., Clay Center, KS

KEEB Weekend Users Were Busy

The weekend was a busy one for the new Kansas Education Employment Board. There were 442 visitors on Saturday and 472 visitors on Sunday. Applicants are beginning to complete and post applications that are searchable by districts, so if you have a position open make sure you visit the KEEB website to locate and search the applicants!

KEEB is Live!

As many of you know we were set to launch the newly designed Kansas Education Employment Board on Monday, September 17th. We were ready early and started the process today! Most of you will see the new site by tomorrow morning when you visit www.kansasteachingjobs.com. In some locations across the state and the country the new site is already available (this is dependent on your internet service provider). The site became live today at 1:00 p.m. and as of 3:30 this afternoon we have had:

150 visitors, from Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, New Hampshire, Colorado, Virginia, Arizona, Michigan, Arkansas, and Connecticut

and

923 page views!


This is a good start to increasing the recruitment effort here in the state and I encourage you to visit the new site tomorrow. There appears to be a number of applicants still looking for positions, so if you have an opening you may want to take a look at the Applicant Search tool in the KEEB Main Menu.

Teach in Kansas Commercial

Watch the video below highlighting Kansas schools, educators, and administrators that will be used on the new Kansas Education Employment Board to educate future teachers on the benefits of a career in education in Kansas.

Launch of the New Kansas Education Employment Board

Click on the play button below to listen to a introduction to the Kansas Education Employment Board set to launch across the state of Kansas on September 17th.

Receiving RSS Feeds on a Mobile Device

The redesign KEEB now provides RSS Feeds of both job postings to job seekers and applicant resumes to employers. RSS Feeds can be received either at your computer via an rss reader such as Google, Yahoo, or Net Vibes, or on your mobile device such as a cell phone or ipod. You can preview what a KEEB RSS feed would look like on a cell phone on the image to the right.

To add an RSS feed to your mobile device you can use free services such as Plusmo to subscribe to KEEB content and view it on your device. It is as easy as subscribing to the feed and selecting the type of phone you have. Mobile devices which receive RSS feeds are not limited to PDA type phones, but any cell phone that accepts Java. Visit http://plusmo.com/ to learn more about how to use this technology and see a complete list of compatible phones.