Trotter’s guide to happy hiring

13th January 1995, 12:00am

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Trotter’s guide to happy hiring

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/trotters-guide-happy-hiring
Kevin Mattinson and Richard Dunnill say cutting corners in the appointment process can be costly for employers and unfair to applicants. On the look-out for a good deal on a new or slightly used teacher? Here is some recruitment guidance from the TTA (Trotter’s Teaching Appointments).

“After a good, cheap member of staff? Strapped for time? Need some kind of reference ASAP? An (almost) immediate response is guaranteed if you USE THE FAX! It’s a dream . . . cushti! (‘ere Rodders, help me wiv these boxes!)” Thank you, Del. But how well does this advice meet the needs of the schoolcollege or the applicant?

Picture the scene - Doreen is a busy secretary at a school or college which is involved in helping a local university to train teachers. She is in the middle of an important job . . . the phone rings - it’s Peckham Rye Comprehensive brusquely demanding that a reference for Sally X be faxed immediately if not sooner! When Doreen politely enquires if job or person specification details will be sent she is told bluntly that there is no time - Peckham Rye is shortlisting now and the interview is tomorrow! The message is clear . . . no reference, no interview. . . no interview, no job!

Doreen has a problem - Sally’s school mentor is teaching. There is her last reference on file, of course, but is it suitable for this particular job? What to do? Disrupt the work of a teacher and a class? Send an inappropriate reference? And all the time, her other work is not getting done . . . and this is the fourth time it has happened this week!

Meanwhile, the same thing is happening at Sally’s university where an equally busy Tracey is facing exactly the same dilemma.

Both secretaries reluctantly disturb the mentor and tutor who feel caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.

Of course, the reference gets sent - the referees together with Doreen and Tracey have been given no choice. However, whether Peckham Rye has had the best information from which to select a new teacher is questionable.

Meanwhile, here’s some more of Del’s advice: “Got the runners down to six and trying to pick a winner? No problem - keep ‘em in the dark, get each of `em to do some of your work for you, then fire a few questions at ‘em to decide who’s the lucky winner. That way, you make a nice little profit on the day and pick a winner - ‘ere Rodders, that’s how I got landed wiv you, I lost the bet wiv Trigger!” So, Peckham Rye Comprehensive receives the reference, and invites Sally to interview. She has just a few hours to work on a task such as: an outline scheme of work for the business systems unit for GNVQ advanced business; a 20-minute lesson on trade to teach to a Year 9 group; a presentation to governors on a classroom scenario involving gifted children . . . and there’s the interview too!

By 3.30pm the following day, the interviewing team at Peckham Rye has collected some thoughtful and creative schemes of work for business systems, has gained a set of stimulating ideas on how to teach trade to Year 9 and has information on how to develop classroom strategies for gifted children. Undoubtedly, all these will help with the Office for Standards in Education inspection next term but what about the candidates?

Unfortunately, they all withdrew at lunchtime! They explained to a bemused headteacher that: * they hadn’t really had enough information when applying; * on experiencing the school and finding out more about the job, they had begun to wonder if it was the school for them; * they had been frustrated by the poor organisation of the school’s selection process; * the tetchy and vacant response to questions about starting salary and the temporary basis of the contract had proved to be the deciding factor.

Does all this really matter you might ask? Well, you can view its importance in three ways. First, a newly qualified teacher will be entrusted with the academic and general welfare of a significant number of children. Isn’t it crucial to appoint the best person for the job?

Second, from a financial point of view, a newly qualified teacher starting on point 2 of the common pay spine will cost your schoolcollege around Pounds 12,500 per annum plus on costs - and more each year with increments. Over five years, the cost could be in excess of Pounds 80,000.

Third, job applicants are becoming increasingly aware that some schoolscolleges are better employers than others. Many applicants are mature entrants from industry or have travelled the world. They will be real assets to an institution and they interview the schoolcollege, rather than the other way about.

All the above examples have happened this year. Of course, with local management of schools and the pressures everyone is under these days, there are bound to be problems and encouragingly, most school and colleges do manage to cope with these same pressures and still send job details with reference requests in plenty of time.

However, in our experience, a small but growing number of schoolcolleges are not giving themselves a fair chance to select the best new staff for their institutions by not giving the candidates, or their referees, a proper crack of the whip. For such places, here are some questions to ponder: * How long would you spend before deciding to invest Pounds 80,000 on new IT equipment or a building extension? (Would an hour be sufficient?) * How detailed would your specification be to the suppliers? (With no specification, suppliers would not know what to offer you) * What quality of information would you want about the performance of the various products? (Would you buy without external evidence of product performance?) * What kind of demonstration would you require? (Would a hurried demonstration in artificial conditions be satisfactory?) * How will you explain to students and parents that you don’t do things properly? (Would your recruitment and selection practices gain you a pass at business studies A-level or GNVQ Advanced?) Or would you want as much high quality information as possible before deciding? To respond to Trotter’s advice, maybe rummaging around the stuff that’s fallen off the back of a Reliant van isn’t the best place to find your new teacher . . . what do you say to that, Del?

Kevin Mattinson is senior lecturer in education at the Manchester Metropolitan University. Richard Dunnill is a lecturer in education at the University of Manchester.

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