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Essex Early Years and Childcare Recruitment service

Essex early years settings can advertise job vacancies for free for a whole year (saving £300) per setting).

In light of the pressures faced with recruitment costs for early years and childcare settings, Essex County Council are pleased to offer funded annual subscriptions to the Essex Schools and early years jobs website for all Ofsted registered providers who register with the scheme. The subscription is usually £300 per setting.

To register for your free subscription, please complete the registration form. You will receive a confirmation email with log in details and information about how to get started managing your vacancies.

Even if you don't currently have a vacancy, we encourage you to register for the annual subscription so you can access the service throughout the year.

There is no limit to the number of adverts that are placed, and you will be able to view, shortlist and communicate with applicants directly from your account.

Benefits of subscribing

These are:

  • large pool of potential applicants from early years to college staff. Over 35,000 active applicants have already registered
  • interactive and user-friendly website
  • posts appear immediately
  • unlimited access to your account
  • you can view, shortlist, manage and communicate with applicants
  • contact applicants directly or communicate through the website

If you have any queries, please email workforcedevelopment@essex.gov.uk.

 

Make your early years job adverts stand out

We want to support Essex providers to fill your vacancies with good quality, capable practitioners who can help support your business to grow and thrive.

Highlight your strengths!  The job vacancy is a great opportunity to bring your setting to life!  You can do this by obtaining feedback from current staff members about what they love about working for you and the great opportunities that are available to develop within the sector.

 

Tips for writing an early years job description

  • Try to keep the job description concise - to reduce the length you can add a link to your website or Academy Trust so the candidate can find more information online

  • Avoid acronyms – not everyone will be familiar with the online learning tool or system you use, it’s important to keep the language simple wherever possible

  • Let the applicant know what it’s like working for you – showcase your successes and achievements

  • Mention incentives – these don’t have to be monetary; you can mention team events, incentive schemes of flexible working

  • Look wider than the current position where possible – could the job support part-time or term time working or a job share?

 

The job description

Once you know what you are looking for, you will need to write a short job description. This should help applicants identify if they have the relevant skills and training for the job.  If there is an opportunity for applicants to ‘train on the job’ make sure to make that clear. 

The job description should include:

  • The main purpose of the job (described in one sentence, if possible)

  • The main tasks of the job

  • The scope of the job (for senior positions)

 

The person specification

The next step is to outline the person specification. This focusses on the ideal candidate and specifically the skills and qualification required for the role.

You may want to mention some softer skills you’re looking for, for example, someone that’s creative, patient and playful. Make sure to reference the skills that the best practitioners have such as fabulous craft skills and enthusiastic singers. This will help applicant get a feel for the position and can bring the role to life.  This can be particularly useful for applicants who may be new to working in early years.

It’s important that the skills, knowledge, competencies and qualifications required are a realistic requirement of the job. We encourage you to review the person specification against each advert that you post.

By having a person specification linked to your advert, it ensures that employment legislation is being complied with and avoids any possible claims for unfair discrimination from any particular group.

 

Things to consider including in your person specification

  • What skills, knowledge and abilities are related to the job?

  • What type(s) of experience is necessary?

  • What competencies are necessary?

  • Are there specific qualifications or training that a successful applicant should have?

 

As part of our recruitment campaign, we have shared a Make a change. Build a future. provider toolkit to support providers with recruitment. This includes a variety of graphics and social media content.