It sounds like you want a generalist search/attraction method to identify your next team member? Have you tried Indeed and LinkedIn?

Indeed is the default starting place. The signal-to-noise ratio is quite unfavourable, but a carefully worded advert and job title, with the right key words, can achieve a great deal without needing to splurge. You will, however, have to fend off endless sales calls from Indeed wanting to persuade you that with an investment of just a few hundred pounds you could reach thousands more candidates.

Do not.

(N.B. A paid account on Indeed is a great investment for some businesses and sectors and worth the money, but for a one-off role in a small public sector operation like a school... definitely not!)

In reply to Robey:

Thanks both. I've promoted on Linked In, but I've been burned with Indeed in the past - with little quality and a lot of 'noise' as mentioned. If that's where people will be looking though, it's worth dealing with! Thanks all.

Hi Nina

Will be interesting to see where those starting out their HR careers are looking, but the Apprenticeship service could be an option (a few HR apprentice roles are live on the portal)

It can be a bit admin heavy (particularly if you've not registered as an employer yet), but it's free to advertise roles as I understand it, and some of CIPD courses should covered under the levy.

Your situation may be more complicated depending on your school status (type of school and who the employer is, ie local authority)

If your employer is too small to participate in the apprentice levy (or has already allocated all of its levy funds), you can tap into the pots of larger companies that are struggling to spend their levy.

My company has struggled to spend our pot and we have supported the training of a few external apprentices via the levy transfer scheme. Again, bit of an admin headache (the Govt tool is rather clunky) but a possible funding source to assist with developing a new starter if it's not available within your own organisation.

Good luck
Joe

In reply to Joe :

Thanks Joe - that's a good option to explore.

HI Nina, have you explored advertising in universities or CIPD training providers. You might find some people exploring what to do once they have completed their formal training. It's only a section of the market but could be worth a try.

In reply to Sharon:

Yes, I've started the process with university job boards, but it's far more complex than it used to be! I used to regularly post to them, but it appears to me that in trying to make things better/more consistent for their graduates, they may actually have put people off!

Thanks for the suggestion though - it's really helpful.

The other thing that I'm finding useful is Reed CV search, if anyone else is in the same situation (not sure if there are other similar providers to Reed in the market, and I'm certainly not trying to promote a brand here). But being able to search candidates in a specific geographical area who are looking for specific roles, and then email them, does help to target attention to people who might actually want this job!

Hi Nina,
I have just tended to use a local recruitment agency who then look for what I want. I have used boards in the past but if I add up my time in shortlisting and screening the agency have become much more viable in cost to do so. They screen the boards, linked in etc so I know they are in all the places I would go if I was doing it myself. I also work with them on all other vacancies so they know my business and culture. It is also just me and one other part timer so time is of the essence!

hope
that helps

Rachel

Hi Nina

When I was looking for HR Admin/Assistant roles last year, I mainly focused on Indeed, LinkedIn and CV Library.

In my current role, as I mainly deal with recruitment, one tool that's pretty useful (but can be costly!) is Indeed Resume. Similar to what you said above about Reed CV search, you can search for candidates using location, skills, job titles etc.

Goodluck :)

In reply to Liban:

Thanks Liban, I'd not heard of Indeed Resume. I'll check it out.

In reply to Rachel :

Thanks Rachel. I've not found a recruitment agency that I would want to use, which is probably as much my fault as theirs. My experiences as a recruit have been poor with most of them, so I worry about the damage that they would do to my organisation's reputation if used. Equally, that's probably because I've never spent the time building a good enough relationship with a recruiter, because I normally get better results dealing directly. Chicken/egg!

In reply to Nina Waters:

Correction, I believe it is now called Indeed CV