A major challenge for child care services in Australia is maintaining a strong and professional team as well as being able to up-skill their qualifications. Early childhood educators need to be able to handle caring for the educational, emotional, social and physical needs of infants and young children in various care settings. They need to create an environment where the children they service can bond with them and feel safe. This is no easy job so it’s understandable that it can be hard to find the right person, not only with the qualifications needed but also with the right attitude to help you provide the best child care service for your area. This blog will highlight tips drawn from the Recruitment & Selection Guide by Children’s Services Central on how to hire the most competent and suitable child care workers for your organisation.
Update the position description
Spend some time reviewing the position description for the role you need to fill. Are you trying to fill an existing role or new one? You want to be crystal clear in communicating what is expected of the applicant. This will be crucial in finding the perfect fit. Ensure the position description lists:
- Its main purpose
- Key functions and activities that will be required to be executed by that role on a daily/weekly/monthly basis
- Key internal and external relationships identified for the role (For example will they be reporting to a Board or Management Team?)
- Required qualifications formal/informal
- Selection criteria, a list of the knowledge, skills and experience required that is considered absolutely necessary for effective performance in the role
- Whether the job is casual, part-time or permanent full-time
Develop your recruitment strategy
It’s not just about putting up a job advert online or in a local paper, if you spend some time developing a strong strategy it will reward you with better matched applicants for the role. Also keep in mind that you may not have a huge budget so you want to ensure that where you do spend your dollars is targeted to get the right applicants.
First step is to list out all of the appropriate sources for which you can advertise the position, for example:
- In various online sources such as
- On your website
- On your social media channels
- On job listing websites for example
- In various offline sources such as
- Via personal referrals through your professional networks online and offline
- Via employment agencies
The next step is to decide when you will advertise and how long for. Once you’ve figured that out, draft your advertisement.
Create a concise job advertisement
This is one of the most vital steps in the recruitment process. There is a direct link between the quality of the job advert and the response of potential applicants. The duties of the position should be based on your position description. Be sure to include:
- Job title
- Salary (indicate if what you’re offering is above award pay)
- Location
- Hours of work
- Name and contact details of a person at your child care service willing and able answer the applicants’ questions
- How to apply for the role
- A closing date for applications
Manage applications
Part of finding the right employee is making sure you as the employer provide an organised recruitment and selection process. After all, you could impact on someone’s decision on whether they even want to be employed by you. Be sure to:
- Provide information kits so applicants can gain a deeper understanding of the role and what you can offer them at your child care service
- Develop a recruitment and selection file or folder for the selection process
- Always acknowledge that you’ve received an application
- Pick who you want to be on your selection panel, book in dates with them to conduct shortlisting of applicants and interviews
Select your applicants
Once you’ve closed off advertising for the role, get your selection panel together and shortlist your applicants based on the selection criteria. You want to ensure you execute a competitive and equitable selection process to ensure all eligible members of the community have a fair chance and that selection of applicants is based on their abilities and skills. Your next steps should include:
- Determining what methods will be used to assess the suitability of the shortlisted applicants
- Advising successfully shortlisted applicants and scheduling them in for interviews/assessments
- Completing referee checks
- Completing a selection report and seeking approval for recommendation to the approving authority, for example the Board
- Initiating a Working With Children Check for shortlisted applicants
- Receiving selection report decision from the approving authority
- Reviewing who passed the Working With Children Check
- Making a job offer verbally and then following up with a written offer
- Alerting unsuccessful applicants via email
As you can see, putting a bit more effort in up front to get the right person beats having to deal with the consequences of ending up with the wrong person. Good staff are in short supply and having a fast and professional recruitment process will give you a head start in finding the most suitable applicant. Following these tips will hopefully help you on your way to building up a dedicated team and enable you to provide the best possible environment for the children in your care.
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