Teacher technology!

Recruiting suitably qualified teachers must surely be one of the biggest nightmares for a Head Teacher. Fast disappearing are the days of selection panels where the school makes a choice. Now you have got to be quick or the candidate will be placed elsewhere. So the hunt is on and there are an increasing number of internationally qualified teachers looking to fill the recruitment gap in the UK.

But the speed of recruiting these new staff members is fast and furious. Head Teachers have to move quickly if they want to recruit them. They are not able to have a face-to-face interview so a telephone interview is about the limit.

One innovative recruiter is doing things a little differently. Not content to send out plain text CVs they present video CVs called Talking CV!ô

Jane Mercer, MD of Mercer Shaw Matthews explains: Recruitment agencies have a shocking reputation for service and quality in this sector. We wanted to do things differently giving Head Teachers an amazing service. Specialising in the placement of International teachers who want to work in the UK we source candidates from many global locations like India & South Africa, and needed an effective tool to gather & present candidate data. The result was Talking CV!ô.î

Mercer Shaw Matthews pride themselves on their process: ìWe use Talking CV!ô in our International offices to video interview the candidates. The teachers answer questions in a structured manner so we gather huge amounts of quality information on their skill, experience and of course personality. Head Teachers are then able to log on to a secure website and view the candidates ñ the CV literally comes to life and the Head Teacher is able to make an informed decision on the candidates.î

ìIt is a revolutionary way of communicating CVsî says Peter Thomas, Deputy Head of Uxbridge High School ñ ìit certainly brings the written page to life.î

Janet Cullen-Cornelius, Principal of Lea Valley High School said: ìRecruiting teaching staff from overseas has given us access to a wide choice of good experienced teachers. Using Talking CV!ô enables us to get a positive overview of potential candidates in an interview type situation which would be impossible from paper CVs and telephone interviews. For us at Lea Valley it has proved to be the way forward.î

Stewart Keiller, MD of isero.com, the creators of Talking CV!ô said: ìMercer Shaw Matthews have really embraced the scope of the product and are reaping the benefits. The recruitment of International teachers for the UK market is clearly an excellent use of the product. The technology was very easy to set up in Mercer Shaw Matthewsí India office and the travelling laptop unit gives us total flexibility.î

Is the future of the global candidate resourcing in the hands of video profiling? Time will tell.

www.isero.com/demos