15 APR 2018
Everyone’s a winner. ELCAS and the fantastic pool of ex-military candidates waiting to add value to your college and inspire your students.
At a time where a number of FE subject areas are experiencing difficulty in attracting high calibre, experienced teaching professionals, it is more important than ever as a recruiter to think ‘outside the box’ when it comes to considering and advertising those ‘skills shortage’ roles.
Ex-military personnel are encouraged to enter the Education sector
The military provides an excellent source of talented, dedicated candidates, whether retiring from the forces with a wealth of experience, leaving to achieve a more favourable work / life balance and crossover to a civilian area or looking to retrain in a completely new field. The Ministry of Defence’s Enhanced Learning Credits Administration Service (ELCAS) is a scheme set up to support the learning of those currently serving and those planning to leaving the forces. Courses are supplied by a large number of Approved Learning Providers throughout the country and participants receive funding for up to 3 years to achieve nationally-recognised qualifications, including teaching.
The UK Government also recognises the valuable talents ex-military personnel have and have identified how beneficial their skills can be in teaching the next generation. A new scheme launched in March 2018 offers £40,000 bursaries to service men and women to move into the education sector and retrain specifically as teachers.
An extensive range of skills and experience perfect for FE roles
The military covers such a broad spectrum of skillsets and expertise, the potential candidates from this area come with rich and diverse capabilities covering a multitude of subject areas. From the expected Engineering and Mechanics areas through to IT, Nursing and Medical specialisms, candidates with these hands-on experiences can work with ELCAS to gain teaching qualifications and bring inspirational real-life knowledge to students.
But this large pool of highly skilled, trained and disciplined future employees are not just suitable for teaching roles. Leadership skills honed in the military are obviously second to none and a host of other transferrable skills in disciplines such as Financial and Budgetary Management and Project Management are also prevalent. Recruiting for FE Management Teams from ex-military personnel can add to the diversity of experience of the team and allow fresh perspectives to enhance the running of FE Colleges.
FE offers an array of attractive benefits
While recruiting from business and commerce into Further Education can often face issues such as discrepancies in salary expectations, military and education remuneration are more closely aligned and with the extensive array of attractive benefits available to those joining the Further Education community, the whole ‘FE package’ is favourable and attractive for those looking to take their next step after leaving military service.
A fresh perspective on recruitment advertising to target ex-military personnel
Have a think about including an ex-military view on your next FE vacancy. Our experience is that there have been some great benefits to clients in using this strategy.
One such is example is The Times Educational Supplement Further Education College of the Year 2018 Fareham College, who found targeting this pool of talent fruitful when they were recently recruiting for Engineering and Construction teaching roles.
When including this in any campaign, we target and employ the best recruitment advertising methods, including candidate search, to ensure FE college opportunities are seen by ex-military personnel both actively looking and those who had not yet considered teaching and the education sector as viable options.
As experienced recruitment advertising management specialists for the FE sector, we also recognise that many ex-military personnel may not have ever applied for civilian roles before and will be unfamiliar with application processes. As part of our fixed fee approach, we also help guide potential candidates through the initial application process to ensure your HR department receives fully completed applications, ready for you to assess.
If you would like a fresh perspective on recruitment advertising for your FE College and practical, pro-active advertising campaigns that tackle even those hard-to-fill skill shortage roles, we would be only too happy to help. Get in touch today.