Early Childhood Recruitment Specialist

About CPS

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is the third largest school district in the United States, serving over 350,000 students at more than 600 schools. CPS employs more than 34,000 people, more than half of whom are teachers. With this in mind, CPS sets ambitious goals around teacher recruitment and development to ensure that every child in every school and every neighborhood has access to a world-class learning experience from birth through high school graduation to equip them for college and/or career readiness. The Talent Team supports this vision through a wide variety of recruitment projects, initiatives and activities that focus on the identification of top talent for CPS' central office and more than 500 Pre-K-12 district-managed schools.

Target start date - January 15, 2019

CPS Recruiters are focused on...

• cultivating, maintaining, and growing a network of contacts to help identify qualified candidates including optimizing field experience and student teaching for nearly 1,000 students majoring in education annually.
  
  
• Creating a culture that shifts our timeline of hiring to earlier in the year by supporting principals, assistant principals, and other hiring managers across the district in sourcing, interviewing, hiring, and staffing the highest quality candidates in the spring and summer.
  
  
• Building comprehensive educator pipelines both through internal programs for training new teacher candidates and through partnerships at local, regional, and international levels.
  
  

About the ECE Recruitment Specialist Role

The ECE Recruitment Specialist will be a part of the Talent Acquisition team that is responsible for building teacher talent pipelines to better meet the needs of CPS schools and leading efforts to improve the readiness of CPS' new teachers during their pre-service training. The ECE Recruitment Specialist is a hybrid role that works in placing traditional teachers in Early Childhood Education positions and (sourcing/finding/selecting/hiring) resident teachers in Early Childhood Education to engage with an accelerated teacher training program. The ECE Recruitment Specialist works on a team with the Teacher Residency Coordinator and Teacher Residency Recruitment Specialist reporting to the Teacher Residency Manager and also supports the work of the Talent Acquisition Team more broadly. The primary objective of this role is recruiting highly skilled and diverse candidates for Early Childhood Education positions that reflect the student population they will serve and possess the skills, knowledge, and dispositions to successfully teach in Chicago Public Schools.

To fulfill this objective, the ECE Recruitment Specialist will:

• Work with the Talent Acquisition Team and Teacher Residency Team to set measurable recruitment targets aligned to CPS human capital needs and goals.
  
  
• Recruit highly skilled and diverse candidates, with a focus on "Grow Your Own" approach focused on current CPS paraprofessional staff, community members serving CPS schools/ communities, and individuals with strong ties to Chicago.
  
  
• Travel to Universities, organizations, partners, fairs and events to engage and invite new candidates to apply to the program, including occasional weekend, evening and overnight travel.
  
  
• Collaborate across teams, including Early Childhood, Talent, Staffing and Benefits, and with external partners to support candidates in a friendly and professional manner.
  
  
• Manage marketing, outreach, communications, and community engagement campaigns to support recruitment efforts.
  
  
• Identify and establish a strong local presence for the program through attending and presenting at events and building relationships with key community organizations and publications
  
  
• Manage and direct candidate inquiries via phone and email.
  
  
• Partner with team members to plan and execute recruitment events, including informational sessions to educate candidates and other key stakeholders about early childhood programs and teaching residency options.
  
  
• Implement a rigorous candidate selection that screens for both academic eligibility as well as cultural competence and commitment to serving CPS students and communities.
  
  
• Provide high-touch recruitment support to candidates to assist in the application process.
  
  
• Utilize data to continuously improve marketing and recruitment outcomes.
  
  
• Performs additional ad hoc duties as assigned.
  
  

The Ideal Candidate Has...

• Superior organizational/project management skills and attention to detail.
  
  

• Strong initiative and a team player attitude.
  
  
• Ability to communicate and build trusting relationships with a broad cross-section of program candidates and stakeholders.
  
  
• Ability to be flexible and quickly adapt to change
  
  
• Excellent oral, written, and interpersonal communications skills (especially for public speaking).
  
  
• A customer-service based approach to recruiting that is also highly collaborative and results-oriented.
  
  
• Proficient computer skills, including Google suite, Microsoft Office, social media and data management systems.
  
  
• Passionate about education and serving students in the community.
  
  
• Proven ability to manage high volumes of communication and data, including outstanding verbal, presentation, and email etiquette
  
  
• Awareness of and comfort with issues of diversity, specifically around race, class, and gender.
  
  

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited college.
  
  
• 3+ years of relevant professional experience, including service in program recruitment, as a teacher or as a school-based professional.
  
  
• Valid Driver's License and vehicle access preferred.
  
  

*Residency Expectation

• As a condition of employment with the Chicago Public Schools, an employee must be an actual resident of the City of Chicago or be willing to become a resident within six months of the date of his/her employment with Chicago Public Schools