Best Practices for Hiring Preschool and Daycare Teachers

One of the hardest things about opening/directing a preschool or daycare center is finding the right educators that stay. Currently, there are over 2 million early childhood educators in the United States, and somehow it is still difficult to find one for your school/center. The average turnover rate for preschool teachers ranges from 26-40%. Here at EarlyDay, it is our job to help solve this. 

Why is that? And how can we avoid that?

The first step to many, is by implementing best practices when it comes to hiring new teachers. Below are some suggestions to help with your retention rates. 

1. Salary transparency
   For most job seekers, salary is one of the most important factors to deciding whether they want to apply to a job. We highly recommend being honest about how much you are offering. To have an industry advantage, research the average early childhood educator salary for your state/city, and make yours higher than what’s stated when possible. For example, the average preschool teacher salary in NYC is $20/hour. If you can, take that number and make your wage slightly higher. This is a huge incentive for candidates to apply to your roles.

2. Benefits
   Centers can lose out on quality educators because they lack benefits. This doesn’t mean you have to break the bank to provide a full health insurance package. Benefits such as free/discounted childcare, paid time off, commute reimbursement, continuing education support, and much more can easily convince a candidate to go with your school versus others. 

3. Promotions/Ability to Grow
   If in your job description you note that every year wages go up by 3%, that is a guarantee to educators that they will not remain stagnant. Growth can also present itself in many other ways as well. If you make it known that Assistant Teachers have the opportunity to become a Lead Teacher within x amount of time, which also means a pay raise, then it’s an easy decision for candidates to apply to your roles. 

4. Be Respectful of their time
   When it comes time to interview, try to make them 1 hour maximum. We suggest making it between 30 minutes to an hour. This is especially for those who have to commute to your location for an in-person interview. This goes for virtual interviews as well. If you schedule a 30 minute interview, make sure it only lasts 30 minutes. 

5. Show Interest
   If a candidate comes across your desk who’s highly qualified and seems like they would be a great fit, make your first message to them as welcoming as possible. All you need is one comment to make them feel noticed, such as “I’m extremely impressed with your knowledge of (something specific on their resume), and would love to invite you to an interview.” To them, it shows that you took the time to thoroughly read through their resume.

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