When Alicia Herald tentatively tried an online dating site last year, she didn’t find a date … but she did find the idea for a company.
Herald is the founder and CEO of myEDmatch, an online job-matching website for teachers and schools. The site launched in February.
“With more than half a million K-12 teachers changing jobs every year, the costs for recruiting and training are staggering,” she said. “Just as with dating, finding the right educator for the right teaching job can be difficult. My company’s website provides that connection between teachers and school systems.”
Participating schools pay an annual subscription fee for myEDmatch to recruit and manage their hiring process, but there is no charge for teachers who join the site by providing digital resumes, videos and photos. A special algorithm matches schools and teachers based on core beliefs such as mission, instruction, planning, professional development, school environment, and student and staff culture.
Schools post job openings on the website so teachers, whether matched or not, can seek and discover opportunities. Alternatively, schools can “meet” the pool of candidates available for open positions. The resulting application, interviewing and hiring process takes place through the school’s normal HR process.
Currently, myEDmatch represents about 16,000 teachers and 200 school systems ranging from single school networks to the multi-school Clark County School System in Las Vegas, Nev.
A native of Kansas City, Mo., Herald taught fourth grade in south-central Los Angeles as part of Teach for America (TFA), a nonprofit organization that enlists college graduates and professionals to teach for two years in low-income communities. She was also a national recruiter for TFA and, more recently, the founding executive director for the organization’s Kansas City region.
Though myEDmatch was founded in Kansas City, it is now moving its headquarters to St. Louis after receiving a $2.6 million investment from the St. Louis-based private investment firm FTL Capital. Satellite offices for myEDmatch are also in Kansas City and Washington, D.C.
MyEDmatch serves primarily urban public schools, but Herald also sees opportunity in the private school environment.
“The Department of Education estimates teacher turnover, recruiting and training costs at more than $7 billion dollars annually in public and private schools, not to mention the negative impact it has on students and communities,” said Herald. “Our company helps great teachers and great schools find each other, which leads to great outcomes for kids.”
