Ever considered a career in Education Recruitment, or you’d like to know more about what goes into being a recruitment consultant?

Thrive (Education) Recruitment Limited specialise in roles within the Education sector. Today we thought it may be useful to share the day-to-day experiences of our recruitment consultant. Ellis has shared below how a typical day at Thrive Education runs including recruiting for roles such as:

• Early years practitioners
• Teaching Assistants
• Primary Teachers
• SEN / SEMH specialists
• School Business Managers
• Senior Leadership
• School Support

Let us take you through a typical day in the life of an Education recruitment consultant here at Thrive Education. In the words of Ellis Thorne:

Early morning

Routine is so important for me. I wake up, check emails and get ready for the day ahead. My suit is freshly ironed, and lunch/breakfast has already been made the evening before. Being organised allows me to be ready for the influx of phone calls we’ll receive later that morning from the school cover coordinators. It’s not unusual for them to call in requesting supply teachers anywhere from 6.30am onwards. Being up and ready to help and support these school even at these early hours is a must, I love being able to support my schools at any time of the day.

After supply bookings are filled, I arrive at the office and start sending candidate confirmations to the schools who have booked that morning, ensuring the schools receive the information prior to the practitioner arriving at each setting.

Morning

Now the chaos of the early morning is over I can now review my to-do-list (usually written the day before) and prioritise all my tasks ensuring I have a productive plan for the day.
Responding to emails is always top of my list. Regardless of whether it is from a candidate, client or even a work colleague. After all, being a good recruiter is all about delivering a high-quality service and being punctual is a key trait.
With the types of jobs, I recruit for, more often than not, I can receive a large number of applications, so taking the time to review the applications is paramount to ensure I am making the right decisions. The candidates who are most suitable and comparable to the setting I am recruiting for I will call later that morning. Those not so suitable I will send a follow up email highlighting why they are not suitable and what they need to do to become successful in the future. I always try to ensure that the feedback I provide is constructive, just because one role isn’t suitable doesn’t mean another role isn’t.
The rest of the morning consists of CV Searching, Social Media engagement and business development.

Afternoon

Successful candidate attraction is one of the most important components to any recruitment agency, especially in a candidate short market like the Education sector. Once I have exhausted the job boards at my disposal, I will then get on the phone and start calling applicants to have an initial chat with them. An important thing to remember as a recruiter is that you are ALWAYS selling in some shape or form, regardless of who you are speaking to. When speaking to the prospective candidates it is important to know your business, know what USP’s you can offer that your competitors don’t and for crying out loud, BE GENUINE AND TRANSPARENT!

At Thrive Education we aim to ensure that all of our candidates are dedicated, enthusiastic and passionate about education just like we are. Therefore, I like to establish the reason behind why each individual has applied for the specific role, qualifying their suitability for the role as well as ensuring we are the right company for them. If a candidate is eligible to work for Thrive Education and can pass our vigorous safeguarding and compliance checks I will then arrange a meeting with them to get them registered and onboarded. I always prefer to do these in person, however due to recent Covid-19 restrictions I will set up a Skype/Zoom call. The purpose of this meeting is to go into further detail about the candidates’ skills, work history, personality, motivations, and establish what type of school settings and roles they will be best suited to.

The majority of our clients tend to look for a ‘personality fit’ along with qualifications and experience. So being able to speak to my candidates face to face allows me to get to know them better. Whether it be a single day of supply or a permanent role, I always ensure that the people I put forward for a role is not just a skills match, I genuinely believe that they would be a great fit for my clients setting; more importantly the BEST match for the pupils.
My afternoon is spent calling my client and candidates to receive feedback on how placements have gone. In recruitment it is quite easy to get lost in the day-to-day running of the business and assuming that everything is running smoothly.

People commonly say that a day in recruitment is never the same, I completely agree. I believe a good recruiter to be someone that focuses on productivity, opposed to who spends the most time in the office.

Evening

Recruiting for the day isn’t over once I get home. Having an out of hours mobile allows candidates and clients communicate with me throughout the evenings, as most of them are working throughout the day. Being available 24/7 is crucial to the running of Thrive Education – we’re a small agency but a personable one, I want all our candidates to be able to come us with anything.

Recruitment is very fast-paced, demanding, and incredibly challenging on a day-to-day basis. It’s not a 9-5 kind of job. You need to use so many different skills every day and wear lots of different hats. That being said it is super rewarding – especially in the education sector.

If you are looking for a career where you get out what you put in, being a recruitment consultant is for you!

“This supply teacher mission Jim, should you choose to accept it…”

Before Tom Cruise took over the mantle of the Mission Impossible franchise I remember the original 1960s TV series. It had a funky intro track and the cool dude main secret agent listening to a message on a mini-tape recorder that would self-destruct. This was followed by the words, “This mission Jim, should you choose to accept it…”

However it was what he did next that would come to float back into my mind years later when I began my long apprenticeship as a Primary Supply Teacher. The top secret operative would sit on his sofa in his hip 1960s pad and look through a folder of photos showing potential agents he could choose for his next daring mission.

He would read their resumes, selecting carefully, based on their specific skill sets, experience and abilities. This always resulted in a successful mission outcome. The world was saved for another week and every one (except the bad guys of course) was very happy.

Now let’s spin that 1960s tape recorder forward to the present and have a wee look at the life of a typical supply teacher. First, to use another analogy, it really depends on the cards you are dealt in your fantasy gaming online app ‘Get through Your School Day in one Piece’ … multiple levels, fun for all, amaze your friends!

 

Your Best Gaming Card:

Your supply day is pre-planned (no lying on your bed by the phone yearning after just one more slice of toast). You arrive to be met by the regular class teacher – hurrah! who talks you through your day with useful hints about interesting children, etc., and then finishes with the gold standard phrase, “I’m around if you need me”. This is the teaching equivalent of a loo on a long distance coach trip. i.e. if there is one, you know you won’t need it, if there isn’t, cross your legs and pray.

 

Next Level Gaming Card:

Your day is planned, you arrive at your class room and the notes left by the regular class teacher are in a known European language and they make sense! Now for the cherry on the cake… the class TA (your new best friend) will be with you all day. Not to over egg the pudding here but I always make sure that I have a car boot full of freshly cut palm fronds, Belgian chocolates, wine, a small super cute furry pet, vouchers for a Weekend in Paris… you get the idea. OK, let’s move on to the…

Day of Doom Card:

Cue the opening scene to any of your favourite gothic movies. You get the call (make sure there are no toast crumbs on your shirt or blouse). You arrive at the school and realise that you have suddenly acquired an unwanted super power,you have become “Teflon Teacher”. In real terms, this means nobody actually has time for you. Everyone is dealing with the fact that the regular class teacher has phoned in sick and is currently boiling an egg on their forehead. The teacher in the class next door now has the unenviable task of sorting out your learning day as well as theirs. To be fair I have experienced wonderfully patient teachers who really go the extra mile to help you out. On other occasions I have been greeted as if I have personally brought over the Black Death to Merry Olde England on the ferry from Calais.

This is the moment when I am reminded of the supercool Mission Impossible agent choosing their fellow operatives with such care; it’s now that it really counts, the agent is the recruitment agency, you get the idea…

All teaching supply agencies exist to make money – that’s the real world – that’s OK. Sadly only some agencies have read the memo from Mission Impossible.

Supply Teachers are people just like everyone else. Some of us can cope and even thrive on the challenge of a hastily written note saying:

• “This might be the password to the class laptop.
• Teach maths then literacy.
• The plans are on the teacher drive under Morning Work under sub file My Daughters Birthday, vie extension My Pets name” ,etc.

Other supply teachers find this a real struggle. Some people can cope with having a TA that has their name on the classroom door but mysteriously seems to have emigrated to a completely different year group, others find this extremely challenging and naturally not the best setting to really demonstrate their teaching skills.

Then let’s finish with the slam dunk scenario. You sit slightly battered in you lonely chair in the classroom, chomping on your stale petrol station sandwich, (nobody really had time to show you where the staff room or the staff bathrooms are and you begin to wonder if anyone will notice if you do something unspeakably awful into the neglected rubber plant in the corner).

A hastily written note arrives with the killer line, “This afternoon please go to the stock cupboard and link up the interactive keyboards for music before the dance class and the following hand painting activity. It is essential the classroom is left tidy”. You look at the clock, you have 15 minutes to put this perfect storm afternoon together.

So, back to our secret agent choosing his team. Yes the agent is the agency, remember!

Assuming that all recruitment companies carry out a vigorous and effective interview process, it can then be taken as read that they know their staff and have absolute faith in their ability to teach effectively. The secret must therefore be to make each placement as successful as possible for everyone by considering every teacher as an individual and then matching their unique skills to the right school on the right day.

Sometimes it’s not always about making money but rather attempting to form positive meaningful relationships with staff and schools.  We all know that manure occurs and that every now and then life just happens. As a supply teacher you should be able to cope with most of what is thrown at us, we are qualified practitioners after all

So Mission Impossible fans let’s remember that a recruitment agency that stays ’people skills sensitive’ and keeps this ethos at the centre of their business model is guaranteed to thrive!

This mission, should you choose to accept it…

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