California School District Fills 100% of Open Positions

The Client

Twin Rivers Unified School District, part of the California Public School System, is a large District consisting of 52 schools—everything from early childhood education to adult learning. They’re proud to hire exceptional people who are committed to inspiring each student to extraordinary achievement every day. The District has 1,600 certificated employees and 4,000 total employees.

The Challenge

The Twin Rivers Unified School District faced multiple hiring challenges, including an extremely competitive job market and dozens of job openings to be filled by a small, four-person recruitment team. Typically, they hire between 150-250 people each year.

The District needed to improve the efficiency of its hiring process, especially because teachers were applying to multiple schools in the District, necessitating many interviews. Nationwide teacher shortages (especially in math, science and special ed.) means every employment opportunity is time-sensitive

“Across the United States, there is a gigantic teacher shortage. When the right candidates apply, I’m on the phone within minutes because the competition is that tight,” explains David Robertson, Director of Human Resources & Labor Relations at Twin Rivers Unified School District.

The Solution

Video Interviewing

The District uses VidCruiter’s video interviews to hire all of its certificated employees, including teachers and management such as principals, executives, and directors. The District already uses an online application process, so VidCruiter aligned well with its existing paperless hiring process.

Before video interviews begin, applicants are shown a custom video where the superintendent welcomes the candidate. Then, two young students greet the applicant, personalizing the interview experience and making candidates feel more at ease.

The District has refined its interview questions so that what’s most important to principals is asked within the first five questions of the video interview. The video interviews are shared with other teachers in the District to get their feedback on applicants and determine cultural fit. This way, they can rule out candidates who aren’t fit for the position more quickly—and make a job offer sooner.

“Video interviewing changes the conversation. It becomes more about them interviewing us than us interviewing them,” says Robertson. “We can spend more time sharing our story and convincing applicants why they’d want to work here. We can better showcase the qualities of our schools and connect candidates with principals and other people they’d be working with, so we know the people we hire truly want the job. That increases the retention rate.”

Automated Reference Checking

Like other school districts, many teachers and principals go on vacation during the summer. When schools are closed, it becomes incredibly difficult to get references by phone. They needed more innovative ways to change the conversation among schools and potential employees—and VidCruiter had the solution.

VidCruiter’s reference checking tool allows the District to connect more easily with references, especially during the summer months. Now, as soon as a digital interview is complete, an email is sent out automatically requesting reference information. It also sends out a reminder if the candidate hasn’t yet submitted their references. “We love the function because there’s no more phone tag,” says Robertson.