An Education Recruitment Consultant at Zest Education plays a pivotal role in connecting primary, secondary and SEND schools/provisions with qualified teaching staff, as well as office and technical personnel. They are responsible for sourcing, registering, and placing candidates into suitable roles by understanding both the needs of the schools and the skills, experience, and career goals of candidates. This involves building strong relationships with both clients and candidates, whilst managing the 360 degree, end-to-end recruitment process. Our recruitment consultants are supported by our strong compliance department who ensure the safeguarding of each and every candidate is of the highest order (we hold APSco Compliance & Accreditation). This is all carried out using effective communication, negotiation, and providing ongoing support, so the candidate feels valued every step of the way and throughout their placements with Zest Education.
Communication
Communication and relationship building really is key within this role. Our consultants are on the phones to schools and candidates on a daily basis, whether that’s through managing short-term bookings, immediate placements in schools (called day-to-day bookings), or arranging longer term placements, such as maternity covers. The role involves liaising with schools to ascertain their needs, and reaching out to potential new business. We believe the importance of having face-to-face contact with our schools is also crucial and our consultants make every effort to build relationships and communicate with clients, in person, on client visits. Sitting down with our clients not only helps to build trust and strengthen working relationships, but also helps our consultants to understand the specific individual needs within each school.
Organisation
It goes without saying that our Zest consultants need to be highly organised, methodical and proactive to be successful within the role. Each desk requires careful daily management of existing schools and candidates, but consultants also need to be able to grow their desk and win business from new schools, so time management and the ability to meet deadlines is essential.
In order to run a sustainable and profitable desk, consultants are responsible for a lot! Advertising roles through various platforms, receiving and reviewing applications, managing registration interviews, requesting references, preparing CV’s, and briefing candidates about potential roles, all take place before you start billing and being a constant source of support, knowledge and trust to your candidate base. Our values here at Zest Education are that we are personable, honest and professional and we demonstrate this through every interaction, booking, and placement.
Resilience
The day to day life of a Zest consultant can be tough and we certainly don’t sugar coat things! Early starts and hectic, frenetic mornings and afternoons are all part of the rollercoaster ride of a role in education recruitment. Our consultant roles can be all encompassing and require a huge amount of determination and resilience. Schools may get in touch as early as 6.30am to book cover for an emergency absence, so knowing your candidate availability is key and having a positive attitude and showing attention to detail make all the difference. Our consultants have some non-negotiables for their clients and meeting these lofty standards mean Zest are the first port of call for so many schools and candidates.
Being able to confidently sell is also part of the recruitment consultant role and we expect all our consultants to have a professional and ethical approach to winning business and we help them to gain the necessary tools and skills to handle issues and objections when they arise. Our consultants are self motivated and can work on their own initiative, but being a team player is vital. We win together and, such as the industry, we lose together too. Recruitment really is a rollercoaster which is why it is such a great industry to be involved in if you are competitive and up for a real challenge.
Our Zest consultants are rewarded for their hard work with competitive salaries, commission on the placements they make as well as individual and team rewards for hitting milestones.
Interested in finding out more? Hit the link to view are current vacancies.
https://www.zesteducation.co.uk/find-a-job
Zest Education is an award winning recruitment agency specialising in education recruitment, supplying teaching and support staff to educational settings across London, Staffordshire and the West Midlands.
Since 2014 Zest Education has been using their vast experience to build genuine relationships, making perfect matches for candidates and schools and ensuring the best results for everyone.
For further information on how Zest Education Ltd. can support your school, please visit www.zesteducation.co.uk