smartReach: helping your school to attract high-quality candidates 

When OneSchool Global (formally Focus Learning Trust) needed support increasing the number of suitable applicants they turned to smartReach. Recruitment business partner, Melissa Podlaski, explains what happened. 

Tes Marketing

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OneSchool Global UK 

OneSchool Global UK is an extensive and progressive network of schools and educational support services and it was established as a registered charity in 2003 for the advancement of education. 

Attracting enough applicants 

The key to attracting the right teacher for roles is to have a shortlist filled with candidates you’d actively consider hiring. The reality for many trusts, like OneSchool Global, is getting enough applications from suitable candidates isn’t easy. 

With 23 schools in 25 campuses and numerous roles to fill, OneSchool Global was struggling to attract the right candidates for the roles. 

‘‘The calibre of candidates coming through wasn’t great. Most of the time [those applying] weren’t eligible to work in the UK.” said Melissa. 

Time-consuming recruitment 

With such a low-level of quality applications, Melissa had to spend a lot of her own time on manual and tedious recruitment processes. 

“When I first started I did a lot more resourcing, I had to do a lot more headhunting myself.” She said. 

Support from Tes 

To help OneSchool Global UK attract better quality applicants; the trust’s Tes group account owners suggested upgrading to a Tes Priority Recruitment Subscription which included smartReach. 

“When I first tested smartReach… I saw the capabilities. I saw that it put [our] adverts in front of suitable candidates. smartReach was turned on for a few of our roles and we got more applications and that was enough for me to think that would work. I wanted that in my package.” 

smartReach 

smartReach allows schools to promote their job adverts across tes.com to reach teachers who match their job description, but may not actively be looking at jobs. If interested, these teachers have the option to apply for the role directly or send the schools questions to find out more about the role before applying in full. 

Quality over quantity 

After seeing the increase in applications, OneSchool Global upgraded to a Priority Recruitment Subscription. 

“smartReach is incredible,”  she said.

Even with smartReach, the amount of applications can vary. It can depend on the role advertised and the region, the difference is that it supports you to have enough applications from high-quality candidates, so you can choose one who you feel will help your school or trust achieve. 

She continued “We had a maths teacher role in the Midlands which had 15 applications and then we had an art teacher role and we got six applications – we interviewed four of the applicants and they were all great.” 

OneSchool Global UK are now getting better applicants through, ones that are right for the job and it has supported Melissa to have better control over her recruitment. 

‘‘For me smartReach is the best part of the upgrade to a Priority Subscription.” 

smartReach is available in Priority and Excel Recruitment Subscription packages. To find out how this feature could support your school’s recruitment click here.

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