Education Recruitment Software

Schools and trusts are looking for more effective ways to manage their teacher recruitment, staff retention and HR processes.

Recruitment software tailored to the education sector makes attracting, hiring, and retaining the best teaching staff easier.

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Boost your teacher recruitment strategy with specialist WFM software

Effective education recruitment attracts the right teaching staff for the right roles. But in the fast-paced, high-stakes world of education hiring, that’s not always easy.

To improve your recruitment strategy, you can use specialist education recruitment software, which can help you to reduce admin and speed up the recruitment process. It enables you to quickly respond to applicants, and easily view ongoing recruitment efforts in a centralised workforce management system (WFM).

teacher showing a new recruit around the school

Take the pressure off teacher recruitment by improving retention

Recruiting the right teaching talent is important, but it’s not the only action schools and trusts can take amidst teacher shortages.

By focusing on the staff you already have, your recruitment efforts won’t go to waste when new talent does come aboard. Schools and trusts can use HR software to achieve this by:

Supporting school staff with training and CPD; education-specific solutions like Every HR have core training and development modules.
Providing management with the means to process and accommodate flexible working for teachers and school staff
Using school or trust-wide data to improve policy and decision-making

What are the recruitment and retention advantages of workforce management software?

One benefit of education-specific workforce management (WFM) software is helping your school or MAT with its recruitment processes. Let’s explore this further and look at some significant advantages.

Effective, cost-efficient teacher recruitment

Rather than using a separate HR system or paying a teacher recruitment agency to track applications and job adverts, you can use integrated software that stores recruitment and applicant data in one place. This reduces potential outsourcing costs.

For instance, instead of logging into your website to manually upload job vacancies, HR software automatically uploads and manages your job adverts (both live and closed). This streamlines the process for your administrative teams and speeds up the recruitment journey overall.
Improve the onboarding process

Your education recruitment process doesn’t end when someone signs their offer letter. An effective workforce management system handles all your essential onboarding processes, saving time for new starters and your administrative team.

HR systems can also help new starters (particularly early career teachers) feel at ease in their new work environment. They can access all the essential resources and training they need without searching in different places.

Let’s say a new TA starts at your school. With a cloud HR system, your administrative team doesn’t have to print stacks of documents for your new starter to view or sign. Instead, they can read and sign digital copies and submit them to a centralised system when completed.
Promoting career development and learning
Schools and trusts can use HR software with training and CPD capabilities to support staff and help progress their careers.

A good HR system will allow teachers to:
- Find and complete training and courses that help with their professional development. For instance, a teacher might want to increase their knowledge of ADHD or autism in children to help support their SENDCO students. With an HR system, they can access a list of relevant e-learning or in-person courses in their area.
- Log their training hours using a self-service portal. As part of their development plan, they may have to complete a set amount of training every term. An integrated HR system allows them to monitor their progress and gives them a sense of accomplishment.
Manage performance

A built-in HR system allows you to manage and monitor the performance of every staff member, from teaching assistants to senior leaders.

If school staff are unclear about their targets or don’t feel their career aspirations are being taken into account, they may well look for opportunities elsewhere. Training and development software that’s part of your HR system allows you to set clear goals, monitor progression, and pinpoint areas for improvement.

It also allows managers to easily spot when staff are having trouble completing CPD modules, so solutions can be provided. If a teacher never has time to do training, you can put measures in place to ensure they can prioritise their development – e.g. reduce immediate workload or provide cover so the teacher has time to complete the training.
Standardise performance to support career progression

Whether you’re a school or trust, maintaining consistent performance management across your teams can help improve retention.

There’s a lot of value in establishing consistency when it comes to performance management. A standardised approach makes it easier to outline role competencies and create a career framework, offering staff a clear route to pursuing career aspirations, which helps improve retention.

Great workforce management software makes all this simple, offering pre-defined templates based on best practices. When everyone’s on the same page, leadership can get an accurate reading of strengths and weaknesses, allowing for better decision-making.
Improving cover management

With the right HR software which features an absence management system, schools can create and maintain a pool of substitute teaching talent they can call on.

This means that when a teacher can’t make it into school, management can find suitable cover for the class without leaning on existing teaching staff to fill in the gaps. This keeps pressure off teachers and helps improve teacher retention.

It also provides a good alternative to relying on teacher recruitment agencies, which may send teachers unfamiliar with your students or school environment.

Acknowledging the challenges of staff shortages and putting plans in place to address them guide thumbnail image

Featured Guide

Download your free guide to education recruitment and school staff retention

Discover better ways to attract, recruit and retain staff at your school or trust.

Download our value-packed guide to find out how to:

Motivate your staff
Create a desirable workplace
Reduce teacher shortages at your school
Improve your talent management strategy
Manage performance using software

Get the guide

a teacher using cloud-based HR software with an integrated recruitment system

Sharing resources drives success across schools and trusts

Cloud-based HR systems allow you to share resources across your school or trust and enhance your decision-making.

Instead of hiring an external training specialist or provider to upskill staff, use the talent that’s already available to you.

Great HR software can help you carry out a skills mapping exercise to determine what kinds of expertise your current staff has. If one school in your trust excels at behaviour management, for example, use the data to assign skilled individuals to run sessions detailing how they’ve achieved success. 

This not only offers teachers the chance to develop their skills and connect with new colleagues, but it also provides speakers the opportunity to develop their leadership skills.

Every HR by IRIS: staff development made simple

IRIS Education understands HR and staff development. That’s why we’re an officially recognised Great Place to Work®.

Our cloud-based HR software, Every HR, streamlines Human Resources activities and teacher recruitment for schools and trusts and supports your recruitment, development and retention of school staff.

Every HR By IRIS

“The training area together with the Employee Portal can allow for an effective onboarding experience before they formally join. It will also allow Line Managers and HR to track the progress of any onboarding training.”