Isn’t it Time to Redesign the Stone Age Search Process?

With an imminent threat of a human resource shortage in literally all sectors and roles in education, isn’t it time for the stone-age search process to be reinvented? Numerous studies now show that the education sector is likely to experience a massive loss of faculty, staff, and leadership in the next two to three years. Call it what you like, but the “great resignation” will take a bite out of education in ways that we have never experienced in recent history.

Isn’t it time to redesign the Stone Age search process that schools and colleges have historically utilized to acquire human resources? The model is outdated, irrelevant, slow, and costly. It was never built for speed, efficiency, or effectiveness. It was build to move slowly and gain the consensus of internal stakeholders. I liken the old model to a below average gas combustible automobile engine trying to compete in a new electric vehicle economy; it can’t survive. We know that the days of the old model are numbered.

The traditional search process is a legacy system developed at a time when none of the existing environmental factors are in play. It was also designed at a time when education looked extraordinarily different and what we needed from educators and leaders was something very different. It cannot meet the needs of today, let alone tomorrow. It needs to die a quick death and be replaced by a thoughtful, faster, more efficient, learning-centered model that meets the needs of tomorrow.

RIP traditional search. You lived longer than you were useful.