Goal: Hiring the Most Qualified Educators for Your Individual Districts

It’s that time of year when we begin to plan for our staffing needs for the 2025-2026 school year. School leaders across all districts are experiencing a wave of resignations and retirement announcements, alongside myriad projections for incoming student enrollment, programmatic needs and notifications for leaves of absence. Universities are advertising recruitment events targeting their graduating students. We look ahead with the goal of hiring the most qualified educators for our individual districts, all while adhering to our anticipated operating budgets.

This is no easy feat, when considering the ongoing staffing shortages that have impacted our efforts for the past several years. During these challenging times, I believe that collaboration, resource-sharing, and collective efforts significantly enhance our chances of successfully recruiting and retaining teachers not only for our own individual districts, but also for all schoolchildren in New Jersey.

A wonderful example of this collaborative approach is the NJ STRIDE consortium, a proud affiliate and partner of NJASA. Comprising over 90 participating school districts, this statewide network hosts an annual virtual recruitment fair each spring, attracting thousands of teaching candidates for both current and anticipated vacancies. NJ STRIDE has gained recognition for its annual job fair, which was traditionally hosted in-person in Princeton. Educators have flocked to the event, knowing they could connect with numerous district representatives all in one venue. Since transitioning to a virtual format in 2020, in partnership with njschooljobs.com, the consortium has continued to facilitate its highly anticipated event.  Over the past five years, we have seen hundreds of successful hires for our school vacancies.

Several factors contribute to the success of our virtual recruitment events, including an expanded candidate reach, cost savings, increased efficiencies, enhanced showcasing of school districts and comprehensive data compilation.

The virtual format allows us to access a diverse pool of candidates, including those from various counties and states, facilitating interactions with candidates who might not have been able to make the drive to an in-person event. Additionally, our virtual fair reduces costs associated with event planning, parking challenges and space limitations. The expenses for NJ STRIDE member districts relating to the virtual platform are covered under membership benefits. Our members can streamline the application review process with options for digital resume uploads and candidate profiles, allowing recruiters to schedule interview slots for prospective candidates in advance, thereby minimizing wait times for candidates and maximizing interaction with potential hires.

Participating districts can also create virtual booths that include videos, presentations and interactive content highlighting district accolades.  Instead of managing physical materials such as candy dishes, tablecloths, and banners, districts can utilize a digital showcase to illustrate what makes their school(s) exceptional.

Furthermore, by implementing a pre-registration process, we can gather data on job seekers, including preferred employment counties, years of experience, endorsements held in NJ and other states, and contact information for future recruitment endeavors.

Many educators and soon-to-be teachers eagerly anticipate the NJ STRIDE virtual job fair each year, as it features participating districts from every corner of the state.

This year, the NJ STRIDE recruitment event is scheduled for Thursday, March 20, 2025, from 4:30 p.m.- 7:00 p.m., with over 75 districts committed to participate, many of which are also NJASA members.

If your district is not yet a member of NJ STRIDE, and would like to seek information about joining for the 2025-2026 school year, please visit our website at www.njstride.org and click on the membership tab. 

I wish you all the best in securing qualified candidates for your open positions. Let us continue to support one another in our collective mission to provide an exceptional education to the students in our great state.