Are you struggling to find teachers for your staff roster? The temp-to-perm hiring approach may be what you’re looking for.
It’s a popular hiring technique: According to the American Staffing Association, nearly 2.5 million workers were employed through temporary contracts during an average week in 2023.
This type of contract allows K-12 schools to hire teachers on a temporary basis, giving you the ability to evaluate their performance and the option to take them on permanently after a set timeframe. Flexibility is a key benefit of temp-to-perm arrangements: Schools can hire temporary staff immediately, often at a lower cost, and qualified educators get the opportunity to demonstrate their skill set while filling a gap in their employment.
As a staffing agency specialized in education, Teachers On Demand, INC can facilitate this contract for you, enabling you to fill staff gaps efficiently and giving you options for later.
What is temp-to-perm hiring?
In the US, finding a qualified educator that meets your expectations can take up to four months on average. What’s more, hiring someone for a permanent position who is ultimately not a good fit for your school culture can make a dent in the resources used to hire, onboard, and pay the person’s salary. Often, that’s time and money you simply can’t put on the line.
On the other hand, a temp-to-perm contract is a short-term agreement between your school and Teachers On Demand, INC. We facilitate a temporary worker for a specific period of time and pay them on your behalf—generally, the contracts last 3-6 months, but this can be negotiated due to the 10-month nature of the school year. It’s also a good way to get your feet wet at a lower cost than traditional hiring, while quickly filling skill gaps on your team.
Partnering with us makes for a seamless onboarding process, too: We always prepare new hires for their first day, continue checking in with them regularly, and provide them with mental health resources.
What about benefits? All temporary workers receiving a W-2 must be classified as an employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Additional benefits are negotiated from contract to contract.
Temp-to-perm benefits for K-12 schools
Experience shows us that charter schools have unique hiring challenges, including competition with public schools, limited budgets, and shifting staffing needs. Naturally, you’ll want to avoid spending money on a hire that isn’t quite right.
Since the ultimate goal of a temporary contract is to hire proven staff for permanent roles, temp-to-perm is sometimes referred to as ‘try before you buy.’ Of course, you can’t put a price on a really good educator (what we call a RARE educator). But it is a good way to fill a vacant role while you see if the person is a good fit for your school culture and the needs of your student body.
Here are the top 3 benefits of temp-to-perm for schools:
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Reduced hiring costs and time spent. We bring you pre-screened candidates that fulfill your school’s desired experience level and specialties, without your in-house hiring team investing extra time or resources. This means you bring on qualified candidates faster.
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Increased flexibility. In rapidly changing school environments, temporary teachers can provide some relief to your existing staff. Plus, you can choose to extend the contract based on performance.
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Less risk. You don’t need to hire a temporary worker full-time if they have not fulfilled the expectations of their role.
How to shift from a temporary to a permanent contract: First, evaluate whether the teacher has fulfilled, or even exceeded, expectations. Get feedback from coworkers and other relevant parties. Then consider your school’s long-term needs—does this person fill an important gap and/or take pressure off other staff? Finally, review your budget and training resources.
Temp-to-perm benefits for K-12 teachers
If your goal is to find a permanent role, temp-to-perm contracts often act as a foot in the door.
Here are the top 3 benefits of temp-to-perm for educators:
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Opportunity to prove yourself. Temp-to-perm is a great chance to show up and do your best, with the knowledge that a permanent role may be offered at the end of the contract.
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Get experience. If you’re a relatively new teacher, a temporary role can help you build your experience level in a safe environment.
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Increased flexibility. A permanent contract is a big commitment. Temp-to-perm offers you the opportunity to see whether you like the school.
Improving your chances to be hired permanently: Indeed recommends you show your dependability, make efforts to align with school culture, fulfill the expectations of your role and go beyond, if possible, to be helpful and invest in good relationships with your future coworkers.
Deciding if temp-to-perm is right for you
Whether temp-to-perm is right for your needs as a school or teacher is heavily based on your situation.
For schools: A temp-to-perm contract is like a trial run. You can monitor employee performance during the length of the contract and choose to offer a permanent position if you’re happy. (Frankly, our 200 school partners love our teachers!) At the same time, this arrangement may cause uncertainty for existing staff around how to interact with the temporary employee. To get the most out of this flexible hiring approach, it’s important to help teachers feel like part of the team—if they’re a good fit, they’ll already bring experience and good morale to a permanent role, but if they feel isolated, they may choose to look for other opportunities when the contract ends.
Want to hire for a permanent role instead? Here’s how Direct Hire/Permanent Placement recruitment works at Teachers On Demand, INC.
For teachers: While flexibility can be a good thing, it’s best not to take this lightly: Temp-to-perm is typically not a good fit for those who prefer temporary or transitional work. That said, you get a mutual opportunity to trial the school environment—and you’re well within your rights to leave if it’s not the right fit for you.
Try us on for size
Teachers On Demand, INC brings decades of expertise as HR professionals and school administrators to complement your every hiring need. Reach out today and start getting high-quality applications from pre-vetted candidates for your open K-12 roles.