Ambleglow Client Services Manager, Nicola Anderson, shares her knowledge and experience in strengthening candidate response. From showcasing your school through staff testimonials to tips around advert copy, watch now for Ambleglow’s five essentials to help your school attract candidates.
This video is for you if you:
- Look after recruitment within any type of school (independent, state, MAT etc.).
- Struggle with candidate attraction to your school.
- Want to increase application numbers but aren’t sure how.
Watch time: 3 minutes
Transcript
Nicola 0:00
Here are Ambleglow’s five essentials to help your school attract candidates.
1.) Staff testimonials 00:16
At number one, I would say, staff testimonials is really important. Like when you would make a purchase online, or make a booking for a restaurant, you usually go to someone like Trustpilot to get an honest review. It’s the same for a job seeker, they’d be looking at your website to see what your staff had to say about your school. So, if possible, try and include some staff testimonials in your advert copy, but certainly on your website and recruitment marketing materials. If you can make these quick, one minute videos as well, that would be even better.
2.) The candidate pack 00:48
At number two, I would say candidate packs, they are very important. Your advert copy is there to wet the appetite of the candidate and get them interested in your school. But the candidate pack is there to really do the hard work. It’s your shop front, and to showcase your school to them in that first instance. So, you can include information such as the values and ethos of your school, the CPD opportunities that are there, and all the benefits that you offer.
3.) Advert copy 01:20
At three, we have good advert copy that tells an engaging story. There’s no point in wasting space on your advert copy talking about how an English teacher needs to teach English. You’re better off including real life stories to help engage your audience. So, things such as whether your English department has had an increase in the results in a particular year, or if you have a pupil that has become really successful in English now through the help of any particular staff member or department. That’s going to help engage your audience and make them feel that they want to be part of your team and contributing to that success.
4.) User-friendly process 02:02
At four, we have a user-friendly application process and this is really important in this digital age. You’d be surprised at how many forms we see from some of our clients that you physically can’t complete digitally. So, it’s really important to make sure the process is as smooth as possible for them, to avoid that drop off from them clicking on Apply to then actually submitting their application form to you. If you feel that you are unsure about this, it’s always good to have a look at what your competitors are doing to get an idea of current best processes for candidates to apply.
5.) Web page content 02:43
And last but not least, having a strong TES career site and a recruitment page with engaging content, such as a welcome from the head, up-to-date imagery and video content, will all go a long way in helping give candidates a glimpse into what life is like at your school and encourage them to make that all important application to you.
