Recruiting during a pandemic: Dougherty County Schools to host virtual career fair for prospective teachers

ALBANY — Benefits, bonuses and location in southwest Georgia are among the perks being promoted by the Dougherty County School system as it opens a virtual platform to recruit teachers this week.

The school system is reaching out in an attempt to address a teacher shortage that is hitting particularly hard in the areas of special education, math and science.

“That’s across the nation,” Jill Addison, the human resources officer for the school system, said. “It doesn’t differ here. Special education is a critical area for us. It is across the state.”

There have been a number of retirements within the local school system in special education, and there are about 10 to 15 positions available. The system has about 1,500 certified positions, which includes teachers and administrators, and about 25 to 35 vacancies.

“Special education is very specialized, so we have to dig deep for those folks,” Addison said.

The two-hour virtual career fair will run from 10 a.m.-noon on Saturday, but the system will be available after that time for prospective employees to get in contact with school principals. The platform, which cost $15,000 for the first year’s license and $17,000 for the subsequent two years, also can be utilized for school meetings.

The school system recognized the need to reach out to individuals interested in teaching after it was unable to hold the traditional in-person career fair and bring prospects on campus last year due to the pandemic.

“We’re in this world where we can interview from just about anywhere in the world,” Addison said. “We’re just getting with the times. We’re a little behind the times, and COVID moved us along a little quicker.”

The virtual platform will have a “lobby” area where individuals can sign in and give basic information. It also will include videos from other educators in the system and provide prospects the opportunity to introduce themselves by speaking with administrators at schools.

“Usually we have already scheduled a live event where applicants are able to meet with the principal and assistant principals,” Addison said. “In terms of real-time chat, they can do a video or chat if they’re interested.”

Principals also can set up future meetings to speak further with applicants.

Among the reasons Addison said she thinks a teacher may want to consider moving to the region from out of state is that Georgia has very competitive salary and benefit packages compared to surrounding states.

New hires also could qualify for signing bonuses.

The virtual portal is only part of the recruitment effort. The system also is reaching out to cities and colleges in and out of state. Addison said she hopes to have a wide reach with the virtual platform to get the message out that Dougherty County is a good place to teach.

“South Georgia is a wonderful place to live, a hidden gem,” she said. “We try to (stress) that.”

Moving forward, the school system likely will employ a “hybrid” design of recruiting, both in-person and online.

At the end of the day the job is the same — hiring the best people for the job, Addison said.

“This is much more than just filling (positions) … it is to find that person that wants to love on our kids and inspire them to do great things.”