Maybe K–12 Is More Ready for Employer Branding Than I Thought

When people hear “The most wonderful time of the year,” most think Christmas.

…but me? I think August. I think Back to School.

As a kid, that meant new shoes, new clothes, fresh binders. Oh, I loved a brand new binder! You might have been a Trapper Keeper Scholar, but for me, a white Avery binder with a clear front—because obviously, I needed to bubble letter my name and the subject on a piece of computer paper to distinguish it from the others—was the highlight of the season. A divider with a translucent tab hated to see me coming!

For my near-decade tenure in K–12 as a professional, Back to School would become setting up my classroom, seeing all of my teacher friends (literally, teacher friends are the absolute best), convocations, new-teacher welcomes, open houses, the laughs and the hugs, branded t-shirts.

Excitement. Energy. Culture.

Maybe it’s just me, but Back to School has been a little different this year, in the best way. I've been paying particular attention to the content schools and districts are sharing, and some of it is really good.

Not just polished graphics announcing the first day of school. The storytelling and the wit have been superb. There are reels that actually make you want to know more about the people inside the building. There are posts that show personality and glimpses of teachers, leaders, students and school communities that feel less like an announcement and more like an invitation.

Somewhere between one reel and the next, I thought:

“Maybe the ground is more fertile for employer branding in K–12 than I initially thought.”

But, Carter... "What are you even talking about when you say employer branding?"

My friend, I’m glad you asked.

Let’s start with something you have a point of reference for. Schools have historically been very comfortable communicating their student-facing identity.

We know how to tell families who we are, and we know how to talk about our academic programs, our extracurricular activities, our achievements, our students and the experience we want families to have with our schools.

We have websites, social media accounts, open houses, mascots, school colors, spirit wear, taglines, and there's a librarian on nearly every campus responsible for branding and consistent messaging. All of these are things that help communicate, “This is who we are.” That is the school's brand.

And it matters, but there is another audience experiencing your organization every single day who is not necessarily looking at your brand through the same lens.

Your employees.

This is where I think K–12 has an interesting opportunity.

Even in this year's Back to School campaigns, the content is often postured in a way that says, “We’re excited to be back and we can’t wait to see you back this fall!” Unintentionally—and maybe in some cases intentionally—districts are providing a peek into the employee experience.

Just a peek... But a peek, nonetheless.

You might see the superintendent welcoming new teachers. You might see teachers laughing together during a back-to-school event. You might see professional development, campus celebrations, staff appreciation, leadership messages or a teacher sharing why they love working at their school.

Potential employees are curious and trying to answer a very simple question about the places where they might work... “What would it actually be like to work there?”

That is where employer branding begins.

Not just a pretty careers page or a clever recruitment slogan. Not with just a stock photo of a smiling teacher standing in front of a classroom.

It begins with the employee experience, and more importantly, the truth about the employee experience.

Many people are gifted to teach, but not every teacher is gifted to teach on every campus.

The work is different. The expectations are different. Leadership is different. The community is different. The students are different. The resources are different. The pace is different. The culture is different.

A teacher can be incredibly talented and still not thrive in a particular environment. That doesn't necessarily mean the teacher is bad, nor does it necessarily mean the school is bad.

It may simply mean there isn't alignment.

We understand this concept in almost every other area of our lives.

You can walk into two restaurants that both have excellent food and have completely different experiences. You can love one and never go back to the other. Neither restaurant is necessarily doing anything wrong. They are simply creating different experiences for different people.

Employment works the same way.

When districts are intentional about their employer brand, they aren't trying to make themselves attractive to every teacher. They're communicating the employee experience clearly enough for the right teachers.

That is a very different goal.

You don't have to lie to make it sound good. Tell the truth.

And if you don't like the truth? Well, that's the work.

Employer branding isn't about making an organization look like a great place to work.

It's about understanding the experience you're actually creating, becoming more intentional about that experience, and then communicating it honestly.

Afterall, the best retention strategy is to hire the right people to begin with.