5 years of recruiting for the Harrow International Schools!

Published on 31st August, 2012 by Gemma McSweeney. Published in Publicity / TIC News

TIC started working with the Harrow International Schools in 2007. Over the past five years we have recruited 250+ teachers for the three international schools, Bangkok, Beijing and Hong Kong, which form the Harrow International Schools Group.

In the beginning we helped fill last minute vacancies such as maternity and sickness absences at the Harrow School in Bangkok but we now handle 95% of the recruitment of teaching and leadership staff for all three schools.

Harrow International School Bangkok

The relationship has gone from strength to strength over the years and as a dedicated recruitment partner we know very well what kind of teachers and leaders the schools like to employ. This comes from a deep understanding of the school’s philosophy, curriculum and long term goals. It also comes from frequent visits to the schools and our many meetings with the Harrow leadership teams.

Having this long term relationship means that as soon as we meet, or speak, to suitable teachers we can immediately guide them to future vacancies that will arise at the schools. This works well as we often have a good pool of candidates ready for the schools before they know what their vacancies will be.

We promote the schools all year round, through our website, seminars, social media sites, and webinars and in press releases where we focus specifically on case studies involving Harrow teachers. So, when it comes to advertising vacancies we have a number of outlets and not just the TES.

Harrow International School Hong Kong

We believe the recruitment process we have developed with Harrow is not only very effective in finding high quality teachers but saves time and is extremely cost effective.
We process over a 1000 applications each advertising run and normally interview up to 70 candidates at a time. Our office staff handles all initial applications and enquiries and we use criteria agreed with Harrow to narrow down the field of applicants. We then produce a long list which is presented to each Head via an online portal. This means that the leadership teams are not wasting time wading through CV’s and applications that are not suitable.

Once selected, we keep in constant contact with teachers who are shortlisted by the Harrow team and we request their references. Interviews arrangements are managed by us and the Harrow interview team are presented with a schedule when they arrive in the UK. Once candidates have been made offers we contact the rest of the applicants to let them know they have been unsuccessful.

Harrow International School Beijing

One big advantage for the schools in Asia is that they have a good contact base in the UK. Our office is able to deal easily and quickly with 100’s of enquiries from candidates and successful applicants who are very often based in the UK. We provide an important bridge in communication between the school and the candidate.

It’s a smooth running process that has resulted in fantastic appointments for all the schools.

Here’s to 5 more years and more….

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Gemma McSweeney

Gemma is our Associate Director, having joined TIC in 2009. With over 15 years experience of recruitment and selection methods, she specialises in matching teachers and leaders with our international school partners. She has attended many international education conferences and has visited a number of international schools over the years. She uses this experience to best advise our teachers, leaders and schools and manage our team and UK operations.