Page 91 - SEN116 January-February 2022

Recruitment
About the author
Ollie Parsons, a former Recruitment Consultant and now Education Recruitment Specialist for Teacher Booker.
hello@teacherbooker.com @teacherbooker @teacherbooker
“School budgets have been squeezed for what feels like forever”
Your pool of staff doesn’t need to be contained to your contacts alone. You could reach out to other schools in your local area, local authority or within academy chains, making your pool of trusted supply teachers and staff even bigger.
But what about the admin?
In addition to providing a tool to pool together your contacts, online platforms can also operate as an easy to access one- stop shop. Not only do they function as communicating a vacancy, but they can offer timesheet systems and approvals and payroll options too.
Balancing the budget
School budgets have been squeezed for what feels like forever and we know that the pandemic will continue to make balancing the books a headache, but there is no reason for agency spending to be part of that.
Agencies rely on their consultants to close deals and bring in revenue. It’s often a thankless job, requires long hours and can be extremely frustrating. The only way agencies can attract and retain good consultants is by paying them handsome commission. Depending on an agency’s commission structure, at some bandings recruitment consultants can earn up to 20% of their billings as commission, on top of their basic salary which is often over £40k.The education recruitment sector is worth over £1 billion and school budgets are funding these salaries.
To ensure these high salary expectations are met, agencies charge schools margins ranging from £30 - £80 a day on daily/ long term supply bookings and will levy engagement fees starting from 10% of annual salary up to 25% in some cases. As you know, it’s these huge expenses which can cripple school budgets, but which can also be excised through the successful application of technology.
Correctly built and calibrated, online booking systems remove the need for consultants who function as intermediaries and so the costs to schools can be drastically reduced as there is no longer the need to support and perpetuate the commission culture.
Making 2022 the year of
recruitment success
Things never happen overnight; new systems take time to create and bed-in but 2022 can definitely be the start of making recruitment a success for schools.
• Build your own pool. Employ a team of cover supervisors on direct contract to function as your first line of contingency staffing. The money you spend on these salaries will save thousands in agency fees and the job security provided will lead to consistency. The students will know who to expect for cover and things will go a lot smoother.
• Offer progression to support staff. Use staff that are already familiar with the school. Teaching Assistants are a great place to start. After a year, consider offering them additional responsibility as a cover supervisor and offer them a career path. If you can nurture the support staff you already employ, these people could become future teachers.
• If you work with agencies, limit the number you work with. Agencies want your business so don’t be afraid to negotiate hard. Find a consultant who actually listens to you and then go from there. Establish fixed rates
for supply teachers and do not deviate from them. Remember, unless you sign a contract with an agency for their services, you can always negotiate down rates.
• Treat supply staff well! Remember, supply teachers are providing an invaluable service. Make sure they receive a warm welcome and brief them on exactly what they will be doing/what you expect of them. They are there to help you and while not all supply teachers are the same, you want to ensure that supply staff are happy
- they do speak amongst themselves and stories of mismanagement, poor organisation or being treated dismissively will spread!
Schools have embraced a wide range of new technological solutions to help ensure they remain functional, an unwillingness to change has not been an option and recruitment has been no exception, but I believe now is the ideal time for schools to continue to drive forward this much needed change.
That’s not to say that there isn’t a role for traditional agencies, there absolutely is. But the development and use of recruitment technology gives you options like never before. It’s time to put the control back in our hands and reap the many benefits that come with it.
91
senmagazine.co.uk
SEN116