You’re already well aware that school recruitment is a candidate-driven market. The teacher shortage persists, budgets are being squeezed further, and the vast majority of school heads report they are finding it increasingly difficult to attract top talent – let alone recruit and retain them.
What does this mean? Well, put simply, schools must think outside the box when it comes to their recruitment process in order to succeed. Standard, copy-and-paste style job adverts, posted on generalist jobs boards, simply don’t cut it with today’s top talent.
Stand out from the crowd
To give schools a helping hand, we recently shared our top tips for delivering a quality candidate experience, as well as avoiding common mistakes that might mean your ads aren’t attracting the right candidates.
So, how do you make your school and job ads stand out – in a good way? Well, in our opinion, if you focus on making your school stand out, your job ads should follow suit (provided you’ve followed our advice). Here are some pointers:
Drum up interest with engaging content
A candidate’s experience of your school shouldn’t start and finish with the job ad. A crucial stage that comes before this involves raising awareness of your school – and one way to achieve this is through writing and sharing inspiring content on your website and social channels.
Blogging will raise your online visibility (key to successful recruitment in today’s landscape) and is a great way to smash down communication barriers and engage with candidates on a more personal level. You might want to tackle hot topics in the industry, have your teachers share top classroom tips, or offer useful guidance for candidates.
Don’t forget to share regular blogs focusing on your school’s USPs – for instance, by writing about how your school is embracing a flexible working culture (a current hot topic). It’s these types of blogs that will leave candidates thinking, “I want to be part of that,” and inspire them to find out what vacancies you have.
Incentivise candidates and staff
Incentives offered in any role or industry can help convince candidates to convert to applicants. If feasible, an incentive for new-starters could include a cash bonus or voucher after joining your school or after a set number of years, or additional free time on their timetable. You could extend incentives to current staff members, offering them a voucher or cash bonus if they put forward a worthwhile recommendation.
What’s important, though, is to make the distinction between incentives and benefits. Benefits are things staff new and old can take advantage of, and should also be communicated to candidates in your ads. These might include job-sharing and part-time options, and any opportunities for career progression.
Offer candidate up-skilling
It might be the case that quality candidates aren’t converting to applicants because they feel they don’t have the exact skills or experience necessary – they essentially rule themselves out even before applying.
While your school wants to attract the highest calibre of candidates, there might be times where you could consider accepting candidates without the desired skills or experience, but provide them with training in-house. With a quality training programme in place, you can help these teachers develop new skills and knowledge, and at the same time encourage retention as you’ll be demonstrating a commitment to their continuing professional development (CPD).
Our final tip on making your school and job ads stand out is to pair up with the experts at Eteach! We’ve got the tools and know-how to help you attract, recruit and retain top talent – find out more by calling our team on 0845 226 1906 today.