Hillsborough Education Foundation

Serving Schools > Teacher Recruitiment and Retention

Teacher Interview Days | New Teacher Orientation | Extras for Educators

Hillsborough County is growing at an accelerated rate, which is cause for new schools to handle the steady influx of students. Currently Hillsborough County public schools serves 190,000 students. School construction is occurring rapidly and the need for new teachers is averaging 1,500 due to growth, attrition, and the class size amendment.

Florida colleges and universities can only train and graduate so many teachers per year and other counties in Florida are also expanding rapidly and competing for the same graduates.

To remain competitive in the recruitment process, the Hillsborough Education Foundation has implemented programs to attract new teachers to the area, as well as provide training and present community benefits to help them transition comfortably into the Bay Area.

The Foundation seeks sponsors for the school district’s Teacher Interview Days, a two day event in which all teachers seeking employment can interview within the school district and possibly be hired on the spot. The event is held at a local high school where a fair atmosphere ensues. Business sponsors have booths at the event that attracts more than 900 potential employees.

New Teacher Induction for Hillsborough County public schools is another aspect of teacher recruitment and retention. It is a four-day training and orientation for teachers who are new to Hillsborough County Schools. This event is held at a high school campus where new hires hear presentations from School District Leadership, as well as motivational speakers and subject matter experts. Sponsor and vendor booths are available for the attendees to visit during breaks from the sessions.

The 1,500 person event is a large representative of possible talent congregated in one place at one time. Since recruiters travel the country to find talented teachers, this event is a way to streamline the process locally.

Extras for Educators is the Foundation’s name for its web-based directory of significant discounts on goods and services for educators. This program was initiated to help support new educator recruitment since Hillsborough County is competing with many of its surrounding counties in Florida for the same talent. With many counties sharing similarities in salary and cost of living, this is one way in which Hillsborough County is able to differentiate itself: by showing the educators that the community supports them.