The challenge
Oldham Sixth Form College was approached by Luke Webster, a Reed Recruitment Consultant specialising in further education, after discovering a potential candidate that would be suitable for one of their advertised roles. Whilst this did not materialise, Megan Jones, Senior HR Assistant at Oldham Sixth Form College, arranged a meeting with Luke to discuss working together on a niche temporary music teacher role.
Megan said: “At the time of this role coming up, all we knew was that we required cover for a music teacher, we weren’t sure on the hours required or length of cover need.”
This gave Luke the challenge of quickly understanding the required level of qualification and candidate expectations Megan required but also needed him to work with a broad spectrum of candidates with a varied amount of experience and availability.
Brett has been excellent; he has made a huge impact on the team as he is covering all of the teaching for his subject area, so without having him in the post, the students would be missing out on valuable learning.
Senior HR Assistant at Oldham Sixth Form College
The solution
Luke began tackling the brief by contacting potential candidates located near the college that had the niche subject specialist knowledge and qualifications. He then began understanding which candidates met the college’s criteria by conducting thorough phone interviews with them. On the same day that he had narrowed down this pool to a select number of potential candidates, Luke sent them to Megan to review.
Megan expressed her appreciation for not only the timely turnaround, but the high-calibre candidate CVs she received: “With other recruitment firms it has been tricky to get suitable CVs and the quality of candidates have created issues further down the line, but Luke came back really quickly and provided excellent options.”
Once Megan reviewed the candidates, she selected one she was keen to interview, with Luke arranging the interview and ensuring smooth communications between the two.
The results
The client was very happy with the calibre of the candidate, and Brett Baker was offered the temporary music teacher position, with his initial contract period later being extended because of his excellent work and experience.
“Brett has been excellent; he has made a huge impact on the team as he is covering all of the teaching for his subject area, so without having him in the post, the students would be missing out on valuable learning,” said Megan.
Similarly Brett, who was previously registered with Reed, said: “My experience with Reed and the team has been great, the role has been a good fit, they kept me up to date throughout the process, explained the position in detail, which is important with my specialism, and now thanks to Luke I will be with this college for a longer-term than expected.”
