This brief highlights select findings from a national survey of Early Head Start programs about the recruitment approaches they use and their success hiring qualified staff. The purpose of this brief is to present information about the ways Early Head Start programs recruit teachers and home visitors.

Why This Matters

Early Head Start is a federally funded program that provides comprehensive services and supports for eligible families with children from birth to age 3 and for pregnant women and their families. Early Head Start grant recipients must recruit teachers and home visitors to provide high-quality services tailored to the unique needs of infants, toddlers, and pregnant women. Yet Early Head Start programs report difficulties hiring qualified staff.

What We Found

• Over 80 percent of Early Head Start programs posted job ads to their organizations’ websites, free job search websites, and on social media; asked staff, parents, and/or community members to share job ads; and encouraged current or former families to apply.
• Most programs reported that posting and sharing the job ads to their websites and on job search websites that require a fee was successful for recruiting new Early Head Start teachers or home visitors.
• Most Early Head Start programs offered benefits to candidates, but few offered signing bonuses, child care, or subsidized transportation.

How We Did It

The project team analyzed data from the Survey of Staff Recruitment, Training, and Professional Development in Early Head Start, which was administered to a nationally representative sample of Early Head Start programs during the 2023–24 program year. The survey included questions about how the programs searched for and hired qualified staff and how they supported staff in their ongoing career development. Respondents reported about their recruitment plans, recruitment approaches, and benefits offered. The sample included 527 Early Head Start programs. Of these programs, 70 percent reported on teaching staff providing center-based or family child care services and 30 percent reported on home-visiting staff providing home-based services. Most respondents were program directors (75 percent) with more than 5 years of experience (51 percent).