TEXAS CITY INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT has been ahead of the game when it comes to using virtual tools, so when CLOVID-19 brought its unwelcomed presence throughout the area, the district quickly adapted.
The forward-thinking district will now display its skills with a Virtual Job Fair, which will run from May 11 to May 22, giving them the chance to hire its next crop of educators without having to contend with the restrictions now imposed across most of the country.
“All of us have had to operate off virtual meetings, so this lent itself to do a virtual job fair,” said Marcus Higgs, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources for TCISD. “In fact, doing this is nothing new for us since we had already been doing virtual meetings and the like for the last 2-3 years.”
Those interested in applying for a position will simply have to submit their application to https://www.tcisd.org/jobs, where they have the opportunity to choose which campus they would prefer to teach at. From there, they will be asked a question about their educational philosophy and why they want to teach at the particular school.
From there, said Higgs, the magic begins to happen.
“This will give us an opportunity to see their video and allow our principals their first chance to see them,” he said. “Once they enter the video, the principals will have a chance to set up a meeting right away.”
Most meetings will be done on either GoToMeeting or Zoom, although Higgs said the candidates would have a chance to use an application that fits them best, such as Skype.
Chances are strong that TCISD could be among the leaders of what Higgs feels will be the trend even after the pandemic eventually brings some semblance of normalcy.
“I feel this is the trend of the future,” he said. “I wouldn’t be too surprised if colleges and universities eventually adopt this kind of job fair. We’ve learned over the past few years that people prefer meeting in this manner.”
Perhaps the biggest benefit virtual job fairs will give the district is a reduced travel schedule. The district will still do its share of in-person job fairs, but the once-grinding process of zig-zagging across the state is now lessened significantly.
TCISD’s technological prowess was able to provide each of the district’s students with a personal laptop. Each teacher also received a personal laptop along with Clevertouch, an app that provides them with a whiteboard that recognizes handwriting while also having such bonuses as a math formula converter.
