The challenge
SupaJam Education in Music and Media – also known as SupaJam – is an award winning, unique educational provider set up by David Court and Nick Stillwell. The specialist college works with students aged 16-18, and those 19+ with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and education, health and care plans.
One of SupaJam’s founders and CEOs, Nick Stillwell, said: “We’re quite unlike any other educational organisation – we work with the young adults that other organisations won’t take on.”
Given this remit, the specialist college needed to find a very specific type of education professional. Nick continued: “Like many other schools, we were quite limited on time and HR resource, so we needed support. We needed to find a teacher who was flexible, had a musical background, and was able to teach vulnerable and disadvantaged young people.”
SupaJam had worked with Reed Regional Manager and further education specialist Bharvi Patel before. She said: “The biggest challenge was to find someone who understood the environment they would be working in and that they could teach at the right level and tone for the students.”
Many candidates said they were able to teach music and were happy to work with disadvantaged students but “we were looking for professionals who could get the best out of the students,” Bharvi explained.
Bharvi genuinely works with us to source the best candidates, which saves us time and money. The process has always been professional and within my timeframe. This support from Bharvi and her team provides us with more time to focus on supporting our students.
Founder and CEO of SupaJam
The solution
Nick explained the process from his perspective: “Bharvi engaged her team to really find out and understand our teaching requirements and ethos. They worked hard to put forward professionals that would genuinely thrive in our unique educational environment.
“She always goes above and beyond; she senses when to give me a little more time on things. She sends reminders when I’ve missed someone and supports us superbly when we are interviewing.”
Bharvi ensured her team understood the unique selling points and the differences between this specialist college and others: “To screen the potential candidates, we had to understand each student and assess the fit – we conducted thorough telephone interviews and the full vetting process.
“Every CV we submitted was accompanied with a profile which used five to six bullet points to outline the key skills and experience for each that were relevant to the role.”
The successful candidate was Barbara Maggs, who stated: “It was my first attempt to find employment after gaining my PGCE. After I registered with them, lovely Reed recruiter Bharvi contacted me almost immediately. Throughout the process, she kept me updated and reassured.”
The results
Nick explained why he would recommend Bharvi and Reed “without hesitation”: “The vast majority of candidates put forward by Reed have been exemplary and have performed fantastically. We will continue to hire through Reed as SupaJam grows due to its success.
“Bharvi genuinely works with us to source the best candidates, which saves us time and money. The process has always been professional and within my timeframe. This support from Bharvi and her team provides us with more time to focus on supporting our students.”
Bharvi has received excellent feedback from both SupaJam and the candidate. She said: “The candidate has fitted in very well and all follow-up communication with the client indicates that they are happy, and Barbara has settled in well to her role.”
Barbara stated that this role was exactly what she was looking for: “It offered the opportunity to work with SEND students, in a small setting, at a college with a good ethos. I found the curriculum to be interesting and was happy to be teaching music.”
She also went on to thank Bharvi and her team for their help and support throughout the recruitment process. “Looking for a job with Reed’s help was a pleasant experience; I felt valued and appreciated. The team had a very professional and efficient approach that was smooth and quick.
“I will definitely work with them again if I ever need another job in the future.”
