Recruitment of trades instructors: current practices and challenges faced
Subject
Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to identify what recruitment practices have been used by post-secondary trades training providers in British Columbia to assist in their process of hiring trades instructors and what challenges have they faced in ensuring that an adequate pool of trades instructors submit applications for job postings. It was hypothesized that the results of the study would indicate that the training providers were not using a detailed or strategic approach in their recruitment processes and that there would be a heavy reliance on the connections between existing faculty members and their respective trade industries to recruit applicants. It was also hypothesized that there would be significant economic challenges identified in recruiting trades instructors and that the training institutes would not feel that their recruitment processes were effective. In 2018, 11 Deans of post-secondary Trades Faculties in British Columbia participated in the study. The data collected revealed that training providers were using an array of recruitment practices, but not necessarily as part of an overarching recruitment plan. Professional relationships between Faculty members and their respective industry leaders was the most common theme of recruitment practices identified. Further, economic challenges were shown to impact the overall effectiveness of recruiting trades instructors at most of the training providers.