Schools as socially desired organizations have always been focal points of social, political and economic developments and uncertainties due to the associated mission they have to fulfill. Social change and the omnipresent crises have a direct and indirect impact on organizations, including schools. Crises and uncertainties have the potential to erase or blur existing school structures. In extreme cases, the lack of structures for dealing with these impacts can even threaten the existence of both the organizations and the actors involved, which Weick (1993) illustrated very clearly using the example of a forest fire and the firefighters working there (Weick 1993). In this respect, schools are faced with the question of how they react in moments of crisis and how they manage to handle unexpected situations.

Etymologically, the term crisis can be traced back to the Greek “krisis”, which initially marks a turning point or climax, the end of which is open. The negative connotation that accompanies the use of the term only came into use in today's language (Thießen 2011, p. 63). If one understands a crisis as a turning point or climax, the momentum shifts back to the side of the actively acting actors, who no longer see themselves at the mercy of the situation through passive, reactive behavior, but rather actively shape it, or in the words of Weick and Sutcliffe (2003 ) 'manage' it. A challenge that exists in many European countries - also due to the uncertain times - is the lack of qualified teachers willing to 'manage' the impacts of crisis and therefor the uncertainty in schools. This finding also applies to teachers. Programs for career changers who have previously carried out other professional activities are evidence of this problem. The problem is doubled here: Schools need committed and motivated teachers in order to defy the current uncertainties and are also faced with the situation that there is a shortage of teachers and they have to recruit the most motivated teachers.In this respect, schools as organizations are also required to provide short- and long-term answers to these challenges by asking themselves how they can make themselves attractive as employers for potential teachers. Schools are competing, not only for future students but also for teachers (Altrichter and Feyerer 2017). The perspective of employer branding offers a possible answer to this challange. This term originally comes from strategic corporate management (Sghendo & Said 2022) and is understood as a corporate strategic measure with which companies position themselves as credible and attractive employers (Jepp 2014; Schuhmacher & Gschwill 2014; Biswas 2013). Employer branding can therefore be seen as a concept against the background of which an organization develops as a brand for potential employees and thus stands out from competing organizations. The focus is on so-called attractiveness factors that are relevant when choosing a school as a future employer.

The proposed paper is intended to be a theoretical-conceptual contribution. This article critically discusses the potential of the employer branding approach for the development of an employer brand for schools. The central question here is what contribution schools can make to build an employer brand and what makes an attractive workplace from the perspective of teachers. To this end, the proposed article first outlines the problem. The concept of employer branding is then developed and critically discuesse. The considerations provide an insight into various exemplary attractiveness factors from the perspective of teachers and school management, which we were able to generate as part of an initial exploratory study. The article ends with a summary conclusion.

The article is basically seen as a theoretical contribution in which the problem is first discussed and then the theoretical concept of employer branding is questioned with regard to its usability for school development processes. The article is enriched with the results of a first exploratory quantitative online survey in which 450 students were asked about their motives for choosing their future workplace.

In summary, a concept for developing an employer brand for schools is introduced and critically discussed. The aim of this is to convince potential applicants of their own school location. The article is enriched with initial empirical results that make a school attractive. Questions such as child care, as well as non-subject lessons or payment, should be mentioned here.

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