Is there anybody out there?

How to attract quality support staff to your school

As budgets tighten and employment levels and skills shortages rise, it’s no surprise that recruiting and retaining quality support staff is becoming more and more difficult. In this piece, we explain why it doesn’t have to be this way and the important role recruitment agencies still play in today’s labour market.

 

Finding candidates

On the face of it, high employment and skills shortages reduces your pool of candidates but, in today’s labour market, people are more likely to move jobs or ‘trade-up.’ But how do you find these people? Established agencies not only monitor changes in the labour market but also the availability of appropriate staff. These can be candidates they’ve previously placed or their connections through social media, traditional advertising and their networks of contacts. They can quickly identify those that are suitable for your position and interested in ‘trading-up.’

 

 

Recruiting the right person

The aim of recruitment is to get the best person for the job and the importance of effective and fair recruitment should never be overlooked nor should the costs of ineffective recruitment. With support staff accounting for up to 30% of your school’s budget, it’s crucial that you not only recruit the right candidate but that your recruitment strategies demonstrate value for money. A recruitment agency can work with you to effectively and efficiently recruit the right person for the right price.

 

 

Widening the social net

style=”text-align: left;”>Whilst your school probably has a reasonable social media presence, it’s probably not focussed or managed well enough to have a significant impact on recruitment. An agency’s clear recruitment brand means their developed social media presence can access many more candidates than you can ever reach and their focus and experience can save you days in finding and filtering candidates.

 

 

Promoting yourselves as a good employer

To attract the right candidates, you should present your school as a positive place to work. Your website is likely to be the first place potential candidates will look so include profiles of your support staff as well as your teachers and highlight the benefits of working for you.

 

 

Further reducing the risks of recruitment

Providing training in HR recruitment and selection to the member of staff responsible for recruiting support staff is essential but also consider basic training for others. They can then share the burden of recruitment and, in bigger schools, even take responsibility for recruiting some roles.

About ESP Recruitment

With almost 20 years’ experience in education sector recruitment, we completely remove the hassle of recruiting the right candidates, leaving you to run your school.

If you would like more information about how we can help you to recruit for your next vacancy, please contact us for an informal chat on 0845 686 0690.

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