To take control of your recruitment you need to approach it with a proactive strategy. Schools that tend to resort to costly ‘fire fighting’ recruitment strategies should dedicate time (not money) now to updating their approach.
If you apply lower cost options, such as online advertising, more effectively in order to cast your net wider, you can get a better response from a lower advertising spend, whilst slashing your need to fall back on headhunter fees. So what behaviours can schools adopt to ensure their adverts are seen by more – and more relevant – teachers?
Groundwork
First, back up your ‘employer brand’ with a career site. Our candidates tell us that applying for a teaching job can often take them an incredible two hours, and that as a result they now research schools thoroughly before choosing which to apply to. The aim of a career site is to position you as an employer of choice (see coombeshead.careers.eteach.com for an example) while making the application process as straightforward as possible. They can also include a prominent link back to your own school website so that candidates can easily find out more about you.
Reach out
The next step is to use cheap and free resources to extend your reach yet further. A typical advert on an online job board will be seen by around 400 teachers; backed up by effective social media marketing, that number can increase to over 800. Have every parent and teacher in the school share the vacancy once it’s posted – teachers know other teachers, and parents will obviously know others living nearby.
Start a talent pool Large employers will often look to build a community of people who have at one point thought ‘I could work there’. You can use talent pooling software (see eploy.co.uk and hirestorm.com for examples) or a manual method of your own to retain and organise candidates’ details so that they can be considered for future vacancies. Done right, this can double the return of your previous job adverts, providing you with a free pond of brand advocates from which to fish an already receptive candidate – plus any other candidates registering an interest via your career site.
Shop around
Finally, look for a service provider who will offer more bang for your buck. Using an education-only job board for your recruitment advertising will give you a large but very specific audience that extends nationally and internationally.
Search for a job board annual licence that provides good value for money – ours, for instance, incudes a bespoke career site for your school and unlimited advertising that covers leadership vacancies.
Katie Newell is a content specialist at the education recruitment provider Eteach
