Background

The Calgary Board of Education is one of North America’s leading school systems. With the unprecedented growth of the community, the CBE is also one of the world’s fastest growing school boards. The CBE was faced with attracting approximately 500 new teachers a year over the next few years.

Communications objectives:

• Need of dynamic, bold materials to attract new teachers.
• Materials that actively sell the system.
• Desire to move away from being entirely dependent on paper-based handouts which are increasingly left behind by potential candidates at job fairs.
• Want to convey that the CBE is not out of date or out of touch.
• Need materials that will stand out amongst other school boards’ materials as well as recruiting material from other industries.
• Something that speaks about the lifestyle afforded by working at the CBE.
• Selling Calgary as a great city to work and live in, as important as selling the school board itself.
• Materials that let people know there are many career options within the CBE.
• The need for a cohesive look and direction for all recruitment materials that can be rolled out at a later date to: leadership / support staff / administration positions. 

Target groups:

1. Post-secondary Students (esp. Education Program)

• Average age of 26 years old
• Min. 4 years post-secondary (or planning to complete)
• Male & Female
• Believe that work must be meaningful
• Want flexibility in their jobs and leave their options open (tendency to be “free agents”)
• Value quality of life

2. Professionals Looking for a Career Change

• Old enough to have been in the work-place a number of years
• Min. 4 years post-secondary
• Male & Female
• Looking for more meaningful work
• Know what they want out of their job
• Value quality of life

Strut's Solution

A series of print ads were created to address the two primary target audiences, teaching students (selling the CBE as an employer) and professionals (selling the possibility of a career switch to teaching).

Every element of the campaign is designed to bridge from awareness, through to capturing qualified applicants.

The print advertisements begin to address issues relevant to our target audiences, and the microsite is our opportunity to answer any outstanding questions and “prove” we mean what we’ve said in our other communications pieces. It is our opportunity to close the deal.

Key messages:

• The CBE provides employees with a rich career path (you’re not “stuck” teaching for 30 years)
• Teaching offers a great lifestyle
• Teaching is a fulfilling job
• The CBE is a leading educator in North America
• The CBE offers an extremely attractive/competitive compensation package
• Calgary is a great place to live and work

The web is the most important source of information for our primary target audience. The main CBE web site is not compelling from a recruitment point of view. It contains a large amount of factual information but does not draw attention to the things that would motivate someone to apply.

A recruiting-focused microsite we developed presents the key information required to make the decision to apply at the CBE. The information is presented in an engaging way that is relevant to the reader’s employment decision.

Instead of asking candidates to download a PDF application, which allows people to defer their decision to apply, we built a database driven online application system. This system not only makes it easier and more immediate to apply, but also streamlines the process of handling and reviewing the thousands of applications that are submitted each year.

Job fairs at universities throughout Canada are an important opportunity to connect with valuable leads. The displays we developed are designed to quickly establish the Calgary Board of Education as a leader in the field, and as a great place to work.

Research suggested, and talking with CBE recruiters confirmed, that our target audience of university students in their early 20s were not interested in paper-based information kits (in fact they could often be found piled up in garbage cans at job fairs). This age groups simply doesn't have a “place” in their lives for this kind of information. To overcome this challenge, we developed a kiosk-based iPod giveaway that bypassed the need for a takeaway item like a brochure or handbill by sending the person an email at home, when they are more likely to want to explore the recruiting microsite.

Results

After running the first few print ads the Calgary Board of Education has found the campaign was effectively generating the right level of interest. The first ad alone brought in a dozen highly qualified leads, far more than they had expected, or had achieved before.

The first round of the iPod incentive was a resounding success, connecting them with more qualified leads than any previous initiative.

We continue rolling out the campaign throughout 2009, and the recruiters at the CBE are very happy with the features and capacity of the applications database.