Finding the Right Fit: A Great Hire Starts Before the Job Posting

How Ganon Gil Early Learning Center found its new Assistant Director, and a whole new approach to hiring.

Ask Erica Wilkov what her hiring process looked like before ElevatEd, and she'll give you an honest answer: "We put an ad on Indeed and hoped for the best."

Erica is the Director of Ganon Gil Early Learning Center, a warm, close-knit program serving children from six weeks through five years old in the heart of its Jewish community. At a school where every teacher knows every child and family by name, finding the right person for a classroom isn't just an HR task. It's a matter of culture, care, and continuity.

So, in the past, when staffing needs arose, the stakes were high and the tools were limited.

That changed when Ganon Gil partnered with ElevatEd.

ElevatEd offers directors in our partner communities more than a job board. Erica describes the shift as they began their search for a new Assistant Director, a critical role: "The support has been invaluable, starting with how to create a job description, how to market, what is our vision, and how do we sell ourselves." With access to tools like JazzHR, social media recruitment advertising, and coaching on how to articulate what makes Ganon Gil special, Erica was able to move her hiring process from reactive to strategic.

And the results speak for themselves. Ganon Gil's newest hire is, in Erica's words, "one of the best hires we have had in a long time"—someone deeply dedicated to supporting the school and its families.

Just as important, though, is how Erica feels about the process itself. "I was spinning my wheels before," she says. "Now I feel like I have hiring under better control. Not perfect yet, but on a much better path."

That's exactly what ElevatEd is designed to do: give directors back their time and build their skills and confidence, so they can focus on the deep work of growing little minds. That kind of support isn't a nice-to-have; it’s foundational to every center’s success.

For the Jewish community, the stakes are equally clear. Ensuring there are qualified, Jewishly literate educators in every classroom, every day, is how we make sure Jewish early childhood education can be what it's meant to be: the entry point for families’ Jewish engagement. The engine of communal vitality.
Ganon Gil is proof it's possible, one great hire at a time.

Are you a busy director looking for recruitment support to make that next great hire? Reach out to Rahel Gruenberg today: rahel@elevatedtogether.org