Welcoming new job seekers into your organization starts before the interview
date | 2026-11-06
image | https://jobsineducation.mysmartjobboard.com/files/userfiles/welcoming-new-job-seekers-into-your-org.webp
category | Candidate Experience
excerpt | What your posting, process, and communications say to someone new to the sector decides whether they apply at all - long before the interview.
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Every year, we present workshops to rooms full of new graduates preparing to enter the education workforce. The workshops cover the basics — how hiring works, what the steps involve, what different terms and processes mean, what to expect from the time they apply to the time they start.
And every year, without fail, there are things we cover that surprise almost everyone in the room.
Not because the students are unprepared. But because certain things about how education hiring actually works are simply not communicated to new graduates until someone takes the time to explain them clearly.
What new graduates consistently do not know
One of the things that surprises students most is the variation in how you enter the profession depending on where you are, what you are qualified to teach, and what the demand is in a given region at a given time.
In some public school boards, the path begins with supply teaching. Before a long-term occasional position. Before a permanent contract. Supply is not a consolation prize — it is how most teachers in many boards build the relationships and experience that lead to the next step. But many new graduates do not know this until they are already navigating it. If their family does not include educators, if their associate teacher did not explain it, if their faculty program did not cover it — they may arrive at their first career fair with a completely inaccurate picture of what the next two or three years will look like.
In other settings — some rural communities, some subject areas where demand significantly outpaces supply, some private schools and community organizations — the path can be quite different. Permanent or long-term positions may be available earlier. The process may move faster. The entry point may not involve supply at all.
The variation is real and it matters. But what matters equally is whether candidates understand it going in.
Why this is an employer issue, not just a candidate issue
When candidates arrive at your career fair, your posting, or your interview process without understanding how your specific path works, the friction that follows is predictable. They may be surprised by requirements they were not expecting. They may be discouraged by a timeline that feels longer than they anticipated. They may accept a position and then disengage during the waiting period because they did not understand what was coming.
None of this reflects badly on the candidate. It reflects a gap in how the sector communicates with the people who are trying to enter it.
The organizations that navigate this most effectively are the ones that treat candidate education as part of the hiring process — not as something that happens elsewhere. That means explaining your path clearly in your postings and your conversations. It means not assuming that a new graduate understands the difference between supply, LTO, and permanent, or knows what your specific onboarding process involves, or has an accurate picture of what the first year will look like.
What welcoming actually means
Welcoming a new job seeker into your organization does not begin at orientation. It begins at the first point of contact — the job posting, the career fair table, the first email response to an application.
The language you use, the information you provide, and the assumptions you make about what a candidate already knows all shape whether someone who is new to the sector feels invited in or excluded before they have had a chance to demonstrate what they can do.
Rooms full of new graduates are making decisions about where to apply, where to commit, and where to build their careers. The organizations that take the time to explain how things actually work — clearly, honestly, and without jargon — are the ones those graduates remember.
Jobs in Education has been supporting education job seekers and employers across Canada for over 22 years. We present workshops at faculties of education, career fairs, and hiring events across the country. Visit jobsineducation.com.