Read Again: The Cost of Recruitment

With many schools facing recruitment challenges, Clare Skinner emphasises the importance of thoughtful recruitment strategies, ensuring that staffing solutions not only meet immediate needs but also provide the best value for money

We operate in a sector that is struggling to attract employees for several reasons. Whilst political ambition wants to resolve this issue and make education an attractive place to work, we still have to fill vacancies in the meantime. In some settings, staffing costs are out of control. So, how can we ensure that we achieve the best value solution that we strive for in everything that we do?

First of all, breathe. It can be a natural response to throw out an advert and replace a role like-for-like – but never rush into anything; knee jerk reactions are not always the best. Work through these questions to establish what you need:

• Is the role as it stands still valid or do we need to change it? Get the job description fit for purpose as a starting point.
• Full time, part time, all year round, term time only? Is there an opportunity to reduce the cost of the position in the longer term?
• Is there scope to fill the role internally and therefore retain some of our best people? Do you have succession planning in place to identify who is being developed or could be developed to deliver the role successfully?

Attracting the talent

Now you know what you are recruiting for, think about how you will make the role attractive:

• What benefits can you offer and don’t miss out the obvious. The pension schemes we offer as a sector are incredible, don’t take them for granted. Do you have an EAP, a Cycle 2 Work Scheme, or gym facilities that employees can use – make them work for you as recruitment and retention tools.
• Can you offer flexible working including things like condensed hours, annualised hours, remote working for a couple of days a week or one every half term, and variable start/finish times? Don’t think that you have to deliver a Monday to Friday 8 am to 4 pm, mould things so you can attract the best candidate – always be prepared to consider flexible working within the remit of the operation and the role.
• Even though we are talking about the best value, do you need to consider offering a “golden handshake” to attract teachers in scarce subject areas? Physics, maths and languages can be very challenging posts to fill.

Know your strategy

Next, consider your recruitment strategy:

• Where will you advertise? So many of us rely on TES – if it delivers value for money then great – but don’t be afraid to try other options. The DfE recruitment website https://teaching-vacancies.service.gov.uk/ is growing in scope and scale so keep trying it, there is no cost attached and you have already developed a fantastic recruitment pack so you may as well maximise its use! Use your local council pages, and national recruitment websites such as Indeed and recruitment agencies. Don’t forget to advertise on your local SBP network website as well, you never know where talent may come from even posting on your local area’s Facebook page could turn up the ideal candidate.
• Consider pay scales carefully. If you have been able to fill the initial role internally and now you are backfilling then there are potential savings galore. Target contacts at your local teacher training hubs or universities that work with you on student placements to get people that you already know into the role and to underpin your succession planning in the longer term. Advertise clearly so people know what you are prepared to pay for and there are no surprises when you confirm the pay at the interview and offer stage.
• What about supply, don’t think it is always the more expensive option. Do the sums and check the terms and conditions to see if you can “try before you buy” for a permanent vacancy or if it works out cheaper to negotiate a good supply teacher to cover a maternity leave rather than recruit on a temporary contract.

Finally, consider the incidental recruitment costs such as the time of the people involved in developing the JD, pulling together the recruitment pack and advertisement costs. Look at the costs of the interview day running it and planning it; consider carefully who really needs to be involved (remember that they should be safer recruitment trained as well!). Then there are DBS checks, pre-employment health screening checks, visa costs as appropriate, drafting contracts, chasing references etc, etc, etc.

With all of these in mind, you can properly evaluate the cost of recruitment for each role that you are looking to fill and, hopefully, be confident that each round is truly value for money.  Then you just need to start induction, training and employment – we will come back to those costs another day I think!