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ONLINE RECRUITING SITE TRIES TO PUT TEACHERS, ADMINISTRATORS TOGETHER

August 4, 1999

Teachers still wondering where they will be in three or four weeks and administrators who still have not found that special somebody are the target of a new web site launched Monday by Dow-Tech Associates founder Chris Dowling.

The new site, TeachersOnline.com, offers full-time and substitute teachers and tutors a place to post their resumes, view job listings and get information on how to become certified as substitute teachers. The registration form for teachers includes places for special education teachers to note they are certified to teach students with disabilities and specify that is the area they are targeting for their job search.

TeachersOnline.com also gives school officials an easy way to find out about new teachers available in their areas. Though administrators can search through available candidates and post openings in their school systems on the site, TeachersOnline.com's distinguishing feature is an e-mail service that does the searching for them. TeachersOnline.com will automatically notify an administrator when a teacher or substitute that fits the recruiter's needs registers at the web site.

"We're not trying to be the selection process for schools," Dowling said. "By nature, schools are very reactive when it comes to teaching. This is a tool that makes the school proactive by pushing the information to them."

School districts will have to pay for the service, as that is TeachersOnline.com's primary funding tool, Dowling said. Districts can subscribe to the service after a 30-day trial period. Districts with one to five schools pay $799 per year, and each additional school in the district increases the fee by $100. Dowling said he plans to promote the site through Internet banner ads, a direct mail campaign to teachers that will begin next week and a telephone campaign to schools and district offices.

TeachersOnline.com is one of a growing number of online recruitment and job posting sites for teachers, perhaps testament to the teacher shortage expected to develop across the country over the next five years. Dowling cites as reason for the new project Department of Education predictions that about 200,000 new teachers must be hired in kindergarten through twelfth grade over the next several years to off-set expected retirements. "The attraction of quality substitute and permanent teaching personnel is one of the top concerns plaguing the educational system today," Dowling argues.

The service is now available for teachers and administrators in New Jersey, and Dowling plans to add Florida and the New York metropolitan area this fall. Florida is an early target for two reasons, Dowling said. Demand for teachers, particularly substitutes, is especially high in Florida, he said, and Dow-Tech Associates has a staffing service office there. National rollout is slated to be complete by the end of the school year.8