In a series of blogs Ady Tomsa, Director of People at Futura Learning Partnership, outlines his views on why a People Strategy is crucial to ensuring the pupils in schools achieve the outcomes they deserve, why the approach to recruitment needs a rethink and how we need to look outside the sector for inspiration.
In previous blogs, I have discussed the need to look outside the sector for ideas and approaches to developing a people strategy, but I wanted to dedicate a whole blog to recruitment. Now before I start, I am incredibly biased in my opinion that recruitment is the most important aspect in any people strategy, as I spent the first 11 years of my career as a recruiter! However, I genuinely believe that if you get recruitment right, managing any organisation and workforce is demonstrably easier than if you get it wrong. Imagine if your school or Trust had no resource gaps, what would that do for morale and wellbeing?
Doing research prior to joining the sector and during my onboarding, I was bombarded with numerous articles, opinions, stats, and blogs (ironic that I now too am adding to it) on the recruitment crisis facing the sector. Numbers don't lie; the number of Teacher vacancies has doubled prior to the pandemic. This article will not discuss the myriad of reasons why, rather what we are doing about it.
Let me be blunt, this does not surprise me. There are many issues, some of which we cannot control, but the two we can is the impression being presented of the profession and secondly, the importance placed (or lack of) on the recruitment process.
Let's look at the perception of the teaching profession. One quick google will tell you Teachers are overworked, stressed, and underpaid. That may be true, and the sector certainly has work to do to improve conditions (hence the need for People Strategies ....) however, and I am wincing as I write this expecting the inevitable backlash.... so do many other professions. I have worked across multiple sectors who all have their own challenges, and these topics are raised and discussed regularly. What the Education sector is particularly good at though, is placing an emphasis on the negative aspects externally.
For clarity, those issues are real and need to be addressed, but it is no coincidence that recruitment numbers are down when that is the picture being presented. We need to shout about the wonderful things that are unique to the profession. Many organisations try to tap into or manufacture a 'purpose' as a motivator for its people, as it is one of the largest contributors to engagement, but that can be difficult when the aim of the organisation is to increase shareholder returns, Teaching has purpose in spades! This generation are searching for more than just a job, Teaching provides that and as someone new to the sector, I can see how rewarding the profession can be.
Moving away from the fulfilment and job satisfaction, lets talk about the benefits. It can often feel like talking about money and benefits is frowned on as Teaching should be a calling, but with the cost of living as it is, our teachers need to pay the bills. What are the unique selling points (USP’s)? The now almost guaranteed yearly increments are something you won't find outside the public sector. The pension is outstanding, yet most Teachers or potential recruits don't know how beneficial and valuable it is versus a standard defined contribution scheme you would find in other professions. Then there are holidays .... another backlash moment coming, they are hugely beneficial. Yes, it is likely some work will be required in some of the holidays but even taking that into account it is likely the allocation will still be almost double the starting average entitlement in the private sector (21-23 days per annum). Teachers deserve those, as in term it is a full-on sprint and comes with sacrifices in terms of flexibility when compared to other sectors, but it is a huge benefit that can't be undersold. Let us stop focusing on what we don’t have, celebrate what we do.
Next, is how recruitment is prioritised. This is a bit of a generalisation as there are some who do it well, but in my opinion the Education sector treats it as an administrative burden which in turn means it is under invested and in comparison, to other industries with recruitment challenges, is decades behind. If this is a crisis, surely more investment and focus should be put on it? Yes, keep lobbying for change and funding at a national and political level, but take ownership at a local level.
When unemployment is high and you have vast number of potential candidates on the market, recruitment is easy. Pop an advert up and those candidates will jump through hoops for the job. When there are more jobs than candidates, the job becomes much harder. You need to look at where you place adverts and how you word them, the experience the candidate has in the process (think length of time applying and user experience) the speed at which you respond and engage with them, how you onboard and make them feel about you as an organisation. What if there are no applicants? You need to go hunting! You need to attract the passive candidate; those content but not overtly motivated to apply due to time constraints. General marketing and engagement need to be factored into your approach.
To emphasise, my first meaningful change I implemented when I joined was to hire a Talent Acquisition Manager, an expert in recruitment. Our systems, approach, process, spend, data and content all needed review. Some of these areas will take a few years to turn around and we are early in our journey, but at time of writing 3 months after they started, we are already seeing a 25% increase in applicants and significant savings on previous spend. Who knows what impact that will have down the line, but its a positive step change.
I am conscious I may have raised some topics here which will evoke emotional responses, my ambition was not to diminish in any way the challenges facing the profession, we have those in our Trust, and we are exploring how to overcome and tackle. My aim is to flip the script a little and look at what is within our control to change and start viewing the profession as I feel it should be seen, as an incredibly rewarding, challenging, and interesting career where you really can make a difference.