Afterschool Answers

At a recent conference I had the opportunity to talk at length with several people about the staff in their Afterschool programs.  I found that the biggest problems they faced were all the same: high turnover and under qualified group leaders.  With that in mind, I am writing a series of posts on hiring and maintaining quality staff.  First, there is something important that I would like you to keep in mind.

A great team of Afterschool staff doesn’t just happen by itself.  You must create it.

Now, on to the first step…

Hiring Part 1:  The Application

The application for a group leader for your program is probably pretty simple.  That’s good.  It doesn’t need to be complicated.  Just make sure it is asking the questions you need to know.  For example, most of our applicants were college students who had changing schedules.  In the beginning, new group leaders would make it to the interview or even get hired and then they would tell us that they had to be in class every Tuesday and Thursday until 4:00 pm but they could work Wednesday mornings.  As you know, that schedule is not suitable for Afterschool.  We quickly learned that we needed to ask if applicants were available everyday Monday – Friday from 2:00 pm until 6:30 pm.

Here are the questions from our interview sheet.  You can use this as a starting point and make adjustments to fit your needs.

•  Basic Data:  name, date, and two phone number slots.
•  Are you available Monday – Friday from 2:00 pm – 6:30 pm?
•  Are you willing to be fingerprinted?
•  How did you hear about this job?  What made you want to apply?
•  Do you have any experience working with children?
•  What are your future school plans?  How long do you see yourself working with us?
•  Do you have any questions?
•  Comments:  (blank lines)

Some people chose to attach a resume but most did not have one. 

At the bottom of the sheet we had a form for our notes.  This included a check box for if an interview had been scheduled and the slot for the date and time of the interview.  We also included boxes to write their scores from the math and reading tests and from the read aloud portion of the interview.  That way, we could keep all of their information consolidated and get a good overview of the person just by looking at a couple of pages.

Don’t worry about the testing and read aloud yet.  Get started reviewing your application and watch for the next post where I’ll talk about testing.

To read the rest of this series, click the links below.

Hiring Part 2: Testing

Hiring Part 3: The Interview

Hiring Part 4: The Decision

Camille Diaz Staffing hiring staff