A new teacher recruitment platform, developed by educators, is helping to break down barriers for principals seeking the ‘right fit’ staff for their school and address Australia’s teacher shortage.
Reports show that in NSW alone, six out of 25.7 full-time equivalent positions have remained unfilled, some for over a year. One report by the NSW Education Department revealed more than 1,000 vacancies across regional areas where the issue is being most keenly felt.
Meanwhile, in Victoria, a recent survey found just 30% of Victoria’s educators intend to stay in public schools until retirement, and nearly 40% are uncertain about their future in the system.
Employo’s CEO, Tyson Wood, has more than 20 years’ experience years of education recruitment consulting and leadership experience in Australia. He says teacher shortages can be offset by broadening recruitment across the country.
The web-based Employo platform allows schools to proactively showcase their employee value proposition and widen their advertising reach. This helps schools access an otherwise untapped audience of engaged educators.
‘An all-in-one solution’
According to Wood, the most unique aspect of the platform is that it’s “not just a job board, but a 365-day, virtual career fair for schools to showcase their employer of choice brand.”
“Our unique offerings cover many of the 100+ features that make Employo work for schools and candidates,” Wood told The Educator. “Our platform draws teachers and candidates for every school position. The schools using Employo are getting as many non-teacher roles filled as teaching roles.”
Wood said the platform – offering the flexibility required to service all schools – is used as an “all-in-one solution” for some schools while others select a subscription that can benefit their existing systems.
“Thanks to our tech, candidates can quickly find and follow schools to express interest in working there. Schools can then hire at will, saving heaps of time and cost,” he said.
“If schools are advertising, our platform lets them create a customised job advertisement in minutes. They can choose where to route applicants.”
When a candidate applies for a job on the Employo platform, they quickly move to the school's website, Seek, or its preferred Applicant Tracking System [ATS], Wood explained.
“A school can achieve this at the time of posting a job. There is no added build time or costs to achieve this level of customisation,” he said. “Meanwhile, more schools are using their secure ATS on our platform. That is because of the many unique components.”
When a candidate applies via Employo, the platform auto-validates their teacher license and other compliance. Then, once the application is complete, it goes to the ATS.
“It has compliance badges to aid decision-making and confirm safeguarding. Reference, interview and collaboration technology are all embedded,” Wood explained.
“Dashboard analytics populate with every job view, profile view, applicant or follower. For every criterion that defines a job, our Dashboard populates. A demo meeting can showcase the many other unique solutions a school can choose from.”
Wood said Employo is not only a leading software solution but also powered by a team of technical, marketing, recruitment support experts.
“We are ready to help in anyway as we understand how time-challenged schools can be,” he said.
“Finally, we are the only platform of its kind to be built solely for education. We spent the months before launch customising 20,000 schools and childcare centers. We have priced our products for education. Expect low-cost subscriptions that will do more for much less.”
The Rockhampton Grammar School: A case study
The Rockhampton Grammar School, an independent, co-educational boarding and day school, enrols more than 1,400 students and is Queensland’s largest boarding school.
Like many schools nationwide, it occasionally face challenges in recruiting teachers for specialised positions.
“To enhance our recruitment efforts, we sought to implement new strategies to reach a wider pool of potential candidates and streamline our application process,” HR & Compliance Officer Dani Donnelly told The Educator. “Employo has made this possible, allowing us to achieve these goals with just one click.”
One of the most impactful changes the School has experienced since adopting Employo is the expanded reach it now has in posting job vacancies across a greater number of job boards, both statewide and nationally, says Donnelly.
“Designed specifically for education, Employo is aware of the job boards that attract candidates and actively supports schools by offering tailored recommendations and opportunities,” she said.
“Another notable improvement is the platform's efficiency—it significantly reduces the time required to post vacancies and streamlines the shortlisting process for applications received through the portal.”
Donnelly said The Rockhampton Grammar School is proud to have played a role in the testing and development of Employo.
Finding quality candidates more quickly (and cheaply)
Australian schools have long relied on traditional job boards to advertise vacant staff positions, but Wood says despite having benefits, traditional job boards “can be hit-and-miss”.
“Over 40 job boards and social platforms work for education, both nationally and internationally. The problem is manually publishing to multiple job boards takes time,” Wood said. “Schools told us it could take up to four hours or need more hands on-deck.”
Wood said Employo's technology lets schools create a single ad in minutes.
“It auto-posts to 40 job boards and social platforms that work in education,” he said. “Schools can configure their accounts to paid job boards. Or, they can use Employo to post jobs. It saves time and costs less.”
Wood said the platform helps to address Australia’s shortage by making it significantly easier for candidates to find information on schools.
“Many jobs exist, but 99% of ads cover only the technical requirements. With so many ads, candidates are applying without the info they should have or want to find,” he said. “Schools are getting fewer applications or applicants that are not suitable for the vacancy. Our job board links to our school employment directory. So, all school employment info is available.”
Fixing the recruitment imbalance
Wood said Employo’s job and school searches and automations help candidates find the right opportunities while helping schools with unique profiles stand out.
“Candidates can search with ‘sea’ and ‘tree’ change automations or select housing and/or relocation offerings available. Jobs and schools based regionally will stand out,” he said. “Candidates can also search by sector, gender or religion. Filters for every type of school and automated matching give every school and job a great voice.”
Wood said Employo’s school employment directory fixes the recruitment imbalance by enabling a ‘365 presence’ of schools and candidates to elevate connections.
“A candidate may seek a job in a certain school(s) but the school is not advertising - or vice versa. This feature fixes that.”
Last but not least, says Wood, is how easy it is to apply for a job with Employo.
“Our research showed that candidates were not applying because of lengthy processes,” he said. “Online application forms and downloadable forms were too long. We have seen some that are over 10 pages.”
Wood said the team at Employo worked with schools to look at the absolute information needed to ‘long list’ and ‘shortlist’.
“We simplified the application process to four vital steps. Candidates are applying in under a minute or less - and they don't need to register,” he said. “With that said, the key information and compliance needed to take applicants to the next stage are present.”
Wood noted that building Employ took strong input from the school and candidate community.
“We spent months researching to ensure Employo meets the challenges of education recruitment,” he said. “There is more to come in the development pipeline. But school uptake and feedback are positive. Employo is built for education.”