Teachers and faculty staff want more than just a paycheck. They want to work for a school where they feel valued and respected whilst being able to develop and grow.

With the current UK skills shortage and the lack of qualified teachers, schools have to do a lot more to stand out from the competition to make sure the best talent comes their way. Many schools, however, are struggling to attract, recruit and retain the best talent, especially when it comes to attracting and retaining well-qualified teachers.

To attract and recruit the best staff; your school has to make a great impression on its candidates. These candidates, after all, are making a big life decision and need to be assured that your school is the right choice for them.

It’s not just attracting candidates though, as an institution, you have to ensure throughout the recruiting process and beyond, your candidates and new hires are not having second thoughts about working for you, especially when there are plenty of other institutions and opportunities available to tempt them away.

It is important to keep candidates engaged throughout the recruitment process, with the right tools you have the power to assure candidates that your school is the best place to work for at every stage from attraction to onboarding and beyond.

Engaging with potential candidates

The majority of the best talent is already in employment and not necessarily searching for other opportunities, but this does not mean they won’t change their mind, especially if they are having a particularly bad week at the school.

It is therefore important to maximise the chances of appealing to potential candidates to convince them to join your school over other institutions, with one of the most effective ways of standing out being an effective employer brand.

By utilising your school’s employer brand, you can show off your schools culture and values to engage, inform and entice potential candidates to apply for one of your school’s open opportunities.

Many potential candidates view a school’s careers site before making an informed decision as to whether they should apply or not; a careers site is the perfect place to showcase why your school is an employer of choice. With an optimised and customisable careers site which fully integrates with the rest of your content and branding, not only will your page look visually fantastic but you will be able to stand out, engage and drive like-minded candidates into your recruitment process.

Communicate effectively throughout the recruitment process

Attracting the best candidates means nothing if you can’t get them through the door, with many candidates being put off from applying to a school or college due to unclear job descriptions, lengthy applications and a lack of clarity over the hiring process, resulting in candidates getting frustrated and deciding to look elsewhere instead.

Candidates often spend vast amounts of time on an application, only for it to disappear into a black hole and not hear anything back, even if a candidate makes it through to the interview stage, they might find little communication or feedback.

Failing to communicate during the candidate journey could negatively affect your schools brand and damage your chance of attracting the best talent. It could also increase the risk of no-shows, by not investing in your potential employees, your candidates could become disinterested and be put off from working for your institution.

Ensuring new staff are engaged from day one

After the hard work of attracting and recruiting a talented new hire, many schools make the mistake of failing to engage with a new employee during their notice period, with many being left in the dark until they turn up on their first day- if they still decide to turn up.

Schools that fail to communicate during this period could risk disengaging their new hires. A new teacher or faculty employee might have been enthusiastic and engaged during the interview process but, through lack of communication, could start to doubt whether they have made the right decision. Your new hire could be tempted by opportunities elsewhere, which could result in them leaving before they have even started and you having to find a replacement.

By communicating from the point of a job offer, by sharing culture, values, and benefits, you can make good on the promises made during the recruitment and interview process and reinforce to your new hire that they have made the right decision in working for your school.

Interaction with new colleagues can help new hires be brought up to speed with what’s going on both in and outside of the classroom, not only will your new hire be engaged and excited to start but they will be able to hit the ground running from day one.

With the right tools, your school can positively manage its candidate’s expectations and ensure that they continue to see your school as a fantastic place to work and one where they want to work for years to come.

To find out how UK Schools Jobs can help you engage more effectively with candidates, click here.