All Resources
Whether you own a family child care home with one other caregiver or manage a staff of dozens in a child care center, it’s important to consider how staffing affects your program, and ultimately, the children you serve. These resources will help you consider everything from finding the right staff, to hiring, to onboarding, and then retaining the staff you currently have.
As you identify the need for additional staff, the easiest way to attract applicants is to advertise. In addition to general hiring sites like Indeed or LinkedIn, connect with some of these local resources:
You can also ask for personal referrals from teachers, employees, parents–even friends and neighbors. Always be on the lookout and recruiting staff for your child care program, even if you don’t have any current job openings. It’s always a good idea to have a running file of talented child care professionals to draw from.
Interviewing candidates who work closely with children is a much different process from your typical, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” conversation. Surely, you’ll want to make sure to get a clear understanding of a candidate’s background, experience, and education. You’ll also want to ask deeper questions to understand their educational philosophies, teaching strategies, and approach to working with families.
As you narrow down your candidates, verify all certifications and licenses as part of the reference-checking process. Ask professional references about the candidate’s absenteeism, attitude, and flexibility. When making your final decision, consider the soft skills as much as the candidate’s resume. The children in your care thrive on relationships and routine, so it’s especially important to hire someone you can rely on to be consistent, flexible, positive, and creative in handling problems and challenges.
Indiana Learning Paths now features course collections that allow new staff to register once for all mandatory training. To register, new staff will:
The educator can then complete all courses listed as a part of the course collection to fulfill their mandatory requirements. You may choose to assign additional course collections based on the new hire’s role.
In Indiana, staff in licensed or registered child care programs are required to complete and submit documentation for the following:
Provider admins should ensure that new hires are set up as a part of their program in I-LEAD. To do this, invite the new hire as an educator in I-LEAD. If you manage multiple child care sites, use the manage educators button.
It may be helpful to share the Brighter Futures Indiana how-to on how to accept a provider admin invitation with your new hire.
With more and more child care professionals leaving the industry or retiring early, it is more important than ever to lean on strategies and tactics that can help retain your staff and ensure they continue to contribute to your proram. Things to think about:
Jen. (n.d.). Child care hiring: Tips for hiring Quality Teachers. Brightwheel blog. Retrieved March 9, 2022, from https://blog.mybrightwheel.com/hiring-childcare-workers
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