Applicant shortage? Here's what you might be doing wrong
Is your school struggling to attract the teachers you need, despite your best efforts? You know that you need to boost response rates to your ads, but sometimes it can be hard pin-pointing which parts of your recruitment process need fine-tuning.
Here are some high-impact problem areas that could be causing the current shortage of applicants to your ads:
1. You’re not building hype around your school
If a potential applicant reads your ad, they are likely to follow up immediately after by finding out more information on the internet. It’s this stage where you could be losing would-be applicants – especially if they don’t ‘feel’ the excitement of your school.
Take a look at your corporate website and social media channels: do they drum up hype around your school? These sites need to be authentic, engaging and promote all the amazing things your school does, not to mention its amazing people. Boast about all of your ‘job excitement and attraction’ factors and demonstrate how your school makes a positive difference.
2. You’re not harnessing data
Data can be invaluable in helping you to refine your recruitment process. First off, make sure your job postings are data-driven to include the right ‘job attraction factors’ to excite candidates. Incorporate keywords (as naturally as possible) into the content to help candidates easily locate your relevant ad on a job site with thousands of postings – advertising on an education-only job board is a great way to get your ads noticed.
As well as informing the content of your ads, data can be used for insights on your process. Eteach’s recruitment software, for instance, harnesses data analytics that allow you to learn where your candidates are coming from and which channels offer you the best ROI. The result? More targeted (and effective) recruitment and optimised spending on candidate sourcing.
3. Referrals aren’t part of your strategy
Your teachers can be powerful advocates for your school – why? Because people trust people more than companies. You can talk about how great your school is in your job ads, but candidates are far more likely to believe it coming straight from the horse’s mouth – i.e. from the teachers working for you.
Employee referrals should form a fundamental part of your recruitment strategy. Think of how to inspire staff to promote your school, share ads and recommend candidates when vacancies arise. Just remember: you need to provide your staff with an excellent working environment if you want them to help you recruit.
4. You have a frustrating application process
You’ve just grabbed the attention of a potential candidate with an engaging job ad – don’t lose them with a complicated, time-consuming application process! Between 60-80% of candidates drop off before they complete an application. Offer fast-apply, which instantly uploads data from their choice of online profile, or digital forms that scroll perfectly on phones.
5. You don’t appeal to NQTs
To catch the attention of NQTs, be where they are. Only use mobile-optimised adverts (70% of job seeker traffic to eteach.com is now on mobile), use social media strategies to distribute your advert via all your communities, and offer Fast-apply from mobiles.
If you want to appeal to NQTs, you need to become well-known for having a fantastic induction proposition. Even British International Schools can offer a teaching induction year now for NQTs. It pays to ask all relevant staff if they would like to mentor; you may be surprised at who is keen to take on the task for their own professional development. Importantly, shout about this on your career page. A testimonial from a current teacher who inducted with you goes a long way.
6. Your recruiters are only reactive
If your HR team are only posting an advert when you have a vacancy, you are only ever recruiting in a small time frame and missing out on a huge flow of talent. Your HR team should also be proactively recruiting for you year round, attending university events, trawling LinkedIn for ‘passive’ target candidates and advertising for local talented people to be joining your Talent Pool year round.
If you recruit with Eteach, we can provide you with the tools to exponentially improve your candidate experience. You’ll be able to build a mobile-optimised careers site to promote your school and provide streamlined digital application forms with one-click options – which are also easily accessible via mobile devices.
Put an end to your applicant shortage with Eteach
There are many reasons to recruit with Eteach. We’re the UK’s leading education recruitment specialist and the #1 global education job board, boasting over 1.8 million registered candidates and five million monthly page views.
If you want to talk about advertising with us or how we can help to bolster your recruitment efforts with our industry-leading software, get in touch today.