Should You Hire a Teacher?

Teachers are reevaluating their worth in the job market and are now searching for new opportunities to make a positive impact on the world. According to the National Education Association, 55% of teachers are considering leaving the profession sooner than they planned.

Where are teachers finding jobs?

Former educators find success as solopreneurs in areas such as private tutoring, curriculum development, teacher training and education technology. That makes sense. However, teachers are finding work in sectors unrelated to primary, secondary or higher education because they have transferable skills, experience and characteristics that make them an invaluable asset in several ways.

A growing number of teachers are leaving education.

What problem does hiring a teacher solve for your business?

Hiring a former teacher can meet the immediate staffing needs of your company. However, hiring isn't only about filling a position at your firm; human resource professionals know that new hires also need to strengthen your business's core competencies. Teachers can be very helpful in supporting a culture of resilience, tolerance, curiosity and inclusiveness.

Diversity in the workplace 

Companies with diverse talent outperform their competitors in several areas such as company culture, work quality and employee retention. When a teacher is added to a team, you are bringing on someone who is comfortable with heterogeneity. This means, a former teacher won't be thrown off their purpose by different team members having varying strengths and weaknesses.

Coalesce around a business goal

A teacher may be able to help a disparate team find common ground because of their expertise working with very different types of thinkers and varied levels of ability. Former educators are also used to resolving intractable differences for the sake of a common goal like providing access to educational opportunities and resources.

User insights

Many times, teachers come with experience using a technology or a process that your company provided their school and its students. Their professional experience and observations can help to improve your products and services from a user perspective. Moreover, teachers come with professional use cases from multiple users (i.e., administrators, parents, teachers and students) that could improve a retiring or new line of business.

Solution building

Problems occur wherever there's innovation happening. Former educators are no stranger to the motto "try, try again" when it comes to tackling challenges brought on by a process (i.e., learning to write a personal essay), especially when the roadblock is mental and therefore, not visible to the eye. Teachers know how to observe and adjust a process to bring about success. They don't just remove obstacles; educators are trained to help others try new things, develop proficiency and build confidence.

Every bit of underlying skill, knowledge or experience that your company has on hand will fortify its strategic advantage. Your hiring strategy may involve attracting from a diverse pool of applicants already but if it doesn't, consider modifying your approach to include professionals such as former educators, para educators and administrators (with the requisite skills and abilities, of course). Your company could be missing out on a valuable addition by passing on a former teacher.

Why hire a teacher?

What skills and experiences do teachers bring to your company that other types of professionals do not?

Companies seeking employees with skills such as leadership, problem solving, motivation, planning, communication, community-building and specific areas of expertise would do well to push a teacher's application to the top of their candidates pile. More than recognizing the skills, ability and experience of an educator candidate, human resource pros want to onboard professionals that are passionate about their work and put a great deal of themselves into their work.

Here are a few strengths that teachers bring to their new team (your business) from the classroom:

• Emotional intelligence (EI). Educators are trained in all types of intelligence and they have to exercise their EI all day long.
• Empathy. Teachers have to put their assumptions aside to work with various stakeholders.
• Grit. Schoolteachers are often short on resources and have to bootstrap to reach their educational goals.
• Sense of Responsibility. School staff are responsible for a lot (i.e., children's safety, meeting standards and producing materials that inspire learning) and they're often the first to help when something needs to be done.
• Ethical. Educators follow a code of ethics and they strive to be an example of honesty and integrity to their students and their community.

Teachers know how to guide others in some of the hardest tasks anyone could face: learning new things and changing one's mindset. In today's economy, companies need employees with the right attitude and ability to move intentionally in a new direction. It may be a good idea to hire a teacher today.

Categorised in: Starting a Business in Arizona

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