When you go fishing, you could take any old bait, any old rod, any old hook, and just throw it over the side of the boat in any old place at any old time, and then – well, just sit back and hope for the best.
But you could be waiting a while. And any fish you do manage to catch may not exactly be the best fish in the sea.
But if you put a bit more thought and effort into it, carefully considering every factor, and using the right equipment – you give yourself a much better chance of landing the big prize.
And so it is with teacher recruitment.
When times were good (and the fish were biting) you could get good results with relatively little thought or effort. But with the tough recruitment market and The Great Teacher Lockout, you need to work a lot harder to ‘catch’ the type of good quality teachers that everyone wants in their school.
By 2024, it is estimated the UK will have 47,000 unfilled teacher vacancies. And the number of pupils in the UK is set to increase by 500,000 over the next 5 years. That means the best quality teachers are going to have an awful lot of choice about where they end up working.
And that means you need to make your school stand out. You need to make sure you have the right tools in place that get you noticed by the teachers that are really in demand. And you need to make sure that once you’ve been noticed, it’s easy for them to make contact. Have a conversation. Get to know you. And you need to make sure there are no unnecessary obstacles in their way that might make them give up on your school and go elsewhere.
With a Tes Recruitment Subscription you can reach a huge audience of potential candidates, with 81% of teachers visiting tes.com every week. Our Applicant Tracking System offers some great ways to help you attract the teachers who’ll be the best fit for your school and keep them informed and engaged at every stage of the process.
- With the Career Site feature you can make your school stand out from the rest, and position it as an attractive workplace. You can provide candidates with more detail so that you only attract the type of teachers who feel they are a good fit for you, who match your school’s culture and values.
- When they apply online you can customise your application form to ask the questions that really matter to you. Again, this helps position your school as unique, receive 3x more applications and further helps you attract the specific type of motivated teachers who want to work at your school.
- With Post to followers you can reach more teachers and further promote your school with content such as blogs and school news, improving your school’s visibility and reputation.
- smartReach goes beyond the regular audience of jobseekers and promotes your advert to a targeted audience of teachers across tes.com who more specifically match your requirements and who could be a perfect fit for your school.
It’s a tough market out there. And like those days when the fish just will not bite, you need a box of tools you can use to catch the prize. Right bait, right line, right place, right time.
So make sure you have the right tools, in the right place, at the right time to attract the type of quality, motivated teachers that match your school's needs and values.
Find out more about our Recruitment Subscriptions and make sure your school isn’t missing out on the teachers that everyone wants.
