Carol A.

Swanson
Hamline University
Competency 10: Human Resources

10. HR Management

a. Demonstrate knowledge of effective personnel recruitment, selection and retention

b. Demonstrate an understanding of staff development to improve performance of staff members
c. Demonstrate the ability to select and apply appropriate models for supervision and evaluation
d. Apply legal requirements for personal selection, development retention and dismissal
e. Demonstrate and understanding of management responsibilities to act in accordance with
federal and state constitutional provisions, statutory and case law, regulatory applications toward
education, local rules, procedures and directives governing resource management
f. Demonstrate an understanding of labor relations and collective bargaining
g. Demonstrate and understand the administration of employee contracts, benefits and financial
accounts

Human resource management is crucial to the success of a school because the

performance of individual staff is largely driven by the atmosphere or culture of the school. A

good working culture is one of the benefits that staff can expect from good human resource

management. Recruitment and selection of highly trained staff is extremely important to the

mission and vision of the school. Finding and hiring the best people requires the organization to

seek out quality recruits, fostering their continued development in the organization, and seeking

to retain those that are meeting expectations. It is also important to act with fairness and equity

when employees are not meeting expectations. Leaders must have a clear understanding of state

law and district policies and adhere to those laws and policies when dealing with personnel

issues. Understanding the skills and experience of staff, as well as areas of growth is crucial to

the work atmosphere and success of employees and ultimately students.

In my work with the Regional Centers of Excellence (RCE), I have had the opportunity to

recruit, interview, mentor and train new staff. I have also had the opportunity to design job

descriptions for the reading specialist positions within the centers. I have included the Reading
Carol A. Swanson
Hamline University
Competency 10: Human Resources

Specialist job description as an artifact. Having the opportunity to interview numerous potential

hires has given me a unique experience as I prepare to lead a school.

During my field 1 experience, I also was able to participate in the initial screening of a

kindergarten teacher opening, as well as participated in the interview process. There were five

candidates interviewed for one hour blocks. Each candidate was given the questions as they

arrived for their appointment by the administrative assistant. The questions were asked in a

round robin type interview process. Interviewers took notes and after each interview we scored

the candidates using a common assessment tool ensuring equitable hiring criteria. After all the

candidates were interviewed, our small group used the scoring tools to rank order the candidates.

After ranking the candidates, a consensus was attained. The principal checked references within

the next two days, and the candidate was offered and accepted within the week. It was a great

experience to be at the beginning stages of selection through the hiring process.

Once selection and hiring is complete, it is important that school leaders support the

development of all the employees of the school. The leader must understand collective

bargaining procedures as well as the contracts and benefits of every employee. Many districts

have support personnel in district offices that work with the school leaders to assure laws are

followed, but I have encountered many smaller schools who do not have this support and must

do all this work on their own.

Leaders must understand how important human resources is to the school by ensuring

staff have a safe work atmosphere, which in turn ultimately helps staff to achieve their own

goals. When staff are achieving their own personal and professional goals, students will also

thrive in that atmosphere.