KIPP Northern California boosts diverse hiring and efficiency with Findem

About KIPP Northern California

KIPP Public Schools Northern California is a network of 22 free public charter schools serving more than 6,600 students across some of the state’s most diverse, populous cities. They seek to equip students with the skills and confidence to pursue paths through college, careers, and beyond.

To do that, KIPP knows its staff must reflect the identities and experiences of the communities they serve. KIPP is committed to recruiting diverse leaders at all levels, with 83% of the executive team, 59% of school principals, and 62% of teachers identifying as people of color. As Ryan Weidmann, Director of Talent, explains, “We serve a really diverse student population, so we want our staff to reflect that diversity."

But hiring is about more than filling vacancies; it’s about creating an environment of belonging, representation, and support. In California, where the student-teacher ratio ranks 47th in the country, it’s even more critical for KIPP to fill 200 teaching vacancies each year.

Supporting students with qualified, diverse teaching hires

Success at school starts as soon as the first bell of the year rings. When students sit at their desks for the first time, their experience is bound to be shaped by the teacher at the front of the classroom. Educators who mirror their students’ identities create better learning outcomes for their students and their schools.

“Not having teachers in seats when the school year starts, or not having teachers who can connect with our student population, is detrimental to their education,” Weidmann shared.

But finding teachers with such qualifications can often feel like a luxury; filling vacancies by the first bell each year is challenging enough. KIPP’s talent team used three separate systems for sourcing, outreach, and applicant tracking, adding costly hours to an already time-constrained process. 

“Cold applications” came in from job posts on LinkedIn, Jobvite, and education-focused job boards, plus a slew of “recruited applications” from KIPP’s own sourcing efforts via LinkedIn outreach, ATS campaigns, and in-person campus events. 

Juggling applications from multiple sources meant it took days to build lists, upload them to the ATS, and even longer to reach out to potential teaching hires. "We didn’t realize how many inefficiencies we had until we started working with Findem," Weidmann recalls. 

Inefficiencies slowed the team’s efforts, but it was the impact KIPP couldn’t measure that made future improvements even more difficult. KIPP lacked sufficient metrics to track how many candidates had been contacted, but more importantly, couldn’t report on the demographics of their talent pool. 

Without comprehensive diversity data, it was nearly impossible to align recruitment goals with KIPP’s mission for inclusivity.

Moving away from LinkedIn for an AI-first approach to sourcing

KIPP’s talent team was tired of creating lists on LinkedIn, uploading them manually to Jobvite, and reaching out to a large pool of candidates in a separate tool. In making the switch to Findem, KIPP eliminated all other cold outreach platforms and consolidated sourcing, outreach, and applicant tracking to one platform.

Findem’s Copilot for Sourcing makes it easy for KIPP to juggle multiple sources, automating pieces of the recruiting process that once risked teachers not being placed in classrooms at the start of each school year. Searching for teachers with specific certifications, credentials, or experiences had previously taken days. But by using 3D candidate profiles, Sarah Vaccaro, Associate Director of Talent, says her team could find teachers with specific certifications with a single click.

“The search function is really great because we can be so specific, like I'm looking for someone with a California math credential,” Vaccaro said. “You can also even go down to different identity markers or years of experience so we can find really specific talent.”

Findem’s platform is built on a foundation of trusted, verified 3D data. Gaps that existed previously — up-to-date contact information being the biggest — became strengths for KIPP, who leveraged Findem’s 3D data and attributes to search for and reach out to candidates with the ideal mix of skills, experiences, and qualifications for open teaching positions.

Once the KIPP team found such candidates, they used Findem to create and customize automated, targeted outreach campaigns. Suggested email templates and AI-powered candidate insights helped the team write more creative, personalized emails to potential hires — helping establish better brand recognition and response rates.

“The customized data we need for unique campaigns is something we can’t get from any other tool. I asked, ‘Can I have a list of all charter schools in the country?’ And now that’s just a button we can click to filter that way. That would have taken days to research all of that,” Weidmann explained.

Findem also brought much-needed visibility to KIPP’s work, allowing the team to better communicate their progress and wins to each other. With Findem’s data and analytics dashboards, KIPP can create views into the number of shortlisted candidates, campaign response rates, and recruiter activity.

The team is learning from one another and from the Findem Customer Success Team. “The support we’ve received has been excellent,” Weidmann added. “Findem wants us to succeed; they’ve helped us create solutions that address our unique challenges, rather than just saying, ‘Here’s how to use the platform.’”

Greater efficiency and progress toward diversity goals

Since implementing Findem, KIPP has not just retained teachers, but seen growth in areas they couldn’t previously measure. With over 200 roles filled this year alone, including a significant 18% increase in  teachers with 2 or more years of experience, KIPP is better positioned to support their students with knowledgeable, empathetic educators. 

Notably, they’ve seen a 4% rise in teachers of color and a 2% increase in bilingual staff, furthering their goal of representation within their schools. Building and maintaining a diverse teacher population ensures KIPP can respond to challenges across their campuses, attract top talent, and meet the needs of diverse students.

“We celebrate the strengths and what we’ve learned with Findem. We compare reply rates and open rates for the recruiters. When someone has great metrics, we learn from each other and rebuild templates and share best practices,” Vaccaro shared. “Using Findem has boosted team morale and encouraged discussions about how to do our jobs better and be better recruiters.”

The efficiency gained from a streamlined hiring process has also given the team time to focus on activities that matter — like increasing support to employees at schools, which directly correlates to higher retention rates. "Findem has given us time back in our day-to-day that allows us to focus on other things, like increasing the support we offer to our schools, stakeholders, and hiring managers," Weidmann shared.

Looking toward a more data-driven future

Looking ahead, KIPP’s goal is to develop warm, engaged talent communities that align with their diversity mission and to deepen their data analysis to inform year-over-year progress.

“We were so focused on replacing LinkedIn this year and getting the basics with Findem,” Weidmann said. “Now, we’re all in and we’re going to harness the CRM and analytics capabilities to become the most efficient and data-driven team we can be with the highest caliber and most diverse talent in the Northern California public school district.”

With Findem as a partner, KIPP Northern California is not only meeting its recruitment goals but also building an environment where students see themselves reflected in the educators around them. Through this dedication, KIPP continues to empower the next generation to succeed and contribute to their communities with pride and purpose.