Arizona Dept. of Education looks to hire teachers, other school-related jobs

PHOENIX - Teachers across the nation and in Arizona have had a tough year adjusting to all the changes the COVID-19 pandemic brought on, including virtual classes to hybrid learning. But now many are back in school.

To top it off, Arizona's Department of Education says there's a teacher shortage.

How can that be solved? Well, a job fair can help and that's just what happened on Saturday.

The virtual job fair was meant to connect candidates with recruiters in the education field which could include bus drivers, service providers, and of course, teachers.

In many ways, the pandemic has made teacher recruitment much harder.

"Teacher recruitment and retention is challenging in normal circumstances, so that need for teachers in classrooms has only been exacerbated by COVID-19," explained Tracey Sridharan with the Arizona Department of Education.

Sridharan and other officials with the department decided to follow through on plans for their annual job fair -- except this year, it’s all virtual.

"We wanted to create a safe environment for these students to engage with candidates," she explained.

More than 1,000 candidates joined the online session, chatting with hundreds of representatives from districts across the state.

"They were busy connecting with one another conducting interviews. We were thrilled with the turnout," Sridharan said.

Because during a time of so much uncertainty, Sridharan says they’re grateful this job fair, although virtual, could help to bring people together. "This has been a challenging year and all the more reason why we wanted to host this event, to create the opportunity to fill all those positions."

Learn more about Arizona education jobs here https://www.azed.gov/