Teacher shortages = staffing goldmine

Signal Summary: Education staffing is thriving while everyone else drowns, AI skills now command serious salary premiums, and California just made AI compliance your newest nightmare. Meanwhile, hiring managers are inventing absurd qualification tests.

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^{P.S. I draw all images with an iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, and Procreate.}

HERE’S WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK ↓

SIGNAL 1
Education staffing flexes while everyone else suffers

The outlier: While most staffing sectors are having an identity crisis, education is living its best life, bucking the industry-wide decline that's making everyone else question their career choices.

Why education is winning:

• Teacher shortages hitting critical levels nationwide

• Substitutes and support staff in desperate demand

• Districts finally budgeting for external staffing solutions

• Remote learning created new specialized roles that aren't going away

Signal → Strategy: Target charter schools and private institutions struggling with staffing. They move faster than public districts and often have bigger budgets for premium placement fees.

Go deeper: SIA Global Daily News - Education Staffing Growth

SIGNAL 2
AI skills are printing money for candidates

The premium: Candidates with artificial intelligence skills are commanding higher wages than their non-AI counterparts, and the gap's widening faster than your clients can update job descriptions.

What's driving this:

• Companies panic-buying AI talent before competitors do

• Every role suddenly "requires AI experience" (even if it doesn't)

• Supply can't keep up with demand for legitimate AI expertise

• Traditional tech skills getting commoditized while AI stays premium

Signal → Strategy: Position yourself as the "AI talent specialist" to clients desperate for these unicorns. Build a database of candidates with any AI-adjacent skills and upskill your own recruiters on AI terminology fast.

Go deeper: SIA Global Daily News - AI Skills Wage Premium

SIGNAL 3
California legislates AI hiring (because of course they did)

California just made your life more complicated. Again.

The deadline: Employers must comply with California's new AI regulations by Jan. 1, 2026, adding another layer of compliance headaches to your already overflowing plate of legal requirements.

What's changing:

• New disclosure requirements for AI-driven hiring tools

• Restrictions on automated candidate screening systems

• Penalties for non-compliance that'll make you cry

• Potential impact on ATS and recruitment tech you're already using

The disconnect: Most staffing firms have zero idea these regulations exist, let alone how to comply. Classic California move: legislate first, let everyone panic later.

Signal → Strategy: Call California clients offering "AI compliance audits" for their hiring tech stack. Partner with employment lawyers to package compliance consulting that protects them from costly violations.

Go deeper: HR Dive - California AI Regulations

RECRUITING CONFESSIONAL
When one hour became the stupidest hiring filter ever

Recruiting Confessional A weekly series featuring anonymous stories from recruiting and staffing professionals. Submit yours here.

The Setup: Working with a hiring manager who believed speed equals quality in candidate assessment.

The Absurd Request: "A qualifier for a hiring manager was 'if the candidate does not respond to a phone interview request within 1 hour of receiving it, we need to pass on them.'" Because apparently having a job, being in a meeting, or touching grass disqualifies you from employment.

The Rebellion: Our hero recruiter did not inform the hiring manager when they initially sent interview requests, because the one-hour deadline was "laughable."

Have a story? Submit it here

WEEKLY POLL

SHARE THE SIGNALS
3 people you should share these signals with:

1. Your colleague still ignoring education staffing opportunities

2. That recruiter who thinks AI is just a buzzword

3. Your compliance officer who hasn't heard about California's new AI rules