While currently still in development, Gov.uk are trialling a new website for schools to promote their job vacancies. It will cost nothing. Assuming they make a great job of it, it promises to shake up the sector and could save schools and colleges significant sums paid to the traditional channels for job promotion. The likes of TES Jobs and Guardian Jobs might find they need to make their services more affordable. That's certainly the aim.

But what does it mean for you when it comes to managing your website? What options are there to ensure that you're able to use the new teaching jobs Gov website effectively?

How to promote your school jobs without spending fortunes

It's always been that case it is very expensive to promote any kind of job if you want to attract the right candidates, no matter what sector you're in. It's especially true within the education sector. A handful of companies have it all tied up and while the reach is fantastic, schools and colleges spend vast sums on promoting vacancies.

The new teaching jobs Gov website is launching specifically to address this. Time will tell how things will play out. Currently the website is only being trialled in Cambridgeshire and the North East.

In the meantime, what are the best ways to promote your job vacancies without breaking the bank? Here's our top tips.

• Make the most of your local authority provision. Often, if you search for, say 'teaching jobs Lancashire' the results will include your local authority job listings. It may cost you as part of your bought in services but this is a great way to reach potential candidates and is usually cheaper than using the big boys.
• Promote your job vacancies socially. If you feel comfortable promoting jobs to an audience that might include your parents then share your job vacancies socially. Use appropriate tags to extend your reach while you're at it and make sure the right person is available on social channels to pick up any queries.
• Use your website! This is the single most important thing you can do to recruit the right people. Of course, it's vital that you share job vacancy listings so they're not solely on your website but, adding them to your website is so important. We find that job vacancy pages are right up there among the most popular pages on school websites.

How do you currently add job vacancies to your school website? If you're using just standard pages and a long list of files, there is a better way.

Using your school website to promote your vacancies

Lots of schools don't place job adverts on their websites at all. Of those that do, most use a standard page template to add the information. The Schudio School Website Software has specific features to enable you to quickly and efficiently add job vacancy information in a format that is easy to use and easy to format. All the key pieces of information are there, you simply need to add the details.

If that's not an option for you, here's everything you should be listing on a job vacancy advert on your school website;

• Job Title
• Reference Number
• Department / Categories
• Job Type (Permanent / Temporary / Part Time)
• Description
• Salary
• Relevant Dates
• Any supporting documents (Job Description / Person Specification / Equal Ops Form / Confidential Disclosure Form / Application Form

Once you've added the information to your website it's vital that your website visitors can find the job. It's really important to explore ways of sharing your job vacancies to raise the profile. This might involved sharing socially but it must involved making sure your vacancies page is easy to find on your website. Burton Borough School (pictured below) have a clear link to their Vacancies page in the very top of their homepage. It's not intrusive of the main messages the school needs to promote, but it is clear and easy to find.

HR & Recruitment Technology to streamline the recruitment process

Your website is such a powerful tool in so many ways. Promoting job vacancies is just one of very many. The new teaching jobs gov website promises to help somewhat. It's difficult to say how much because the powers that be aren't going to like it very much. In the meantime, there are things you can do to help recruit good staff.

In terms of your processes for recruitment, have you considered the options available to you to streamline and improve the process of recruiting the best staff?

Every part of the process; from shortlisting to emailing referees can all be done using tools that are built for the job. The Schudio HR software ties directly into your website and allows you to manage your job vacancy applications directly within your software. You can set job specific person specifications, review applications, assign roles to staff to carry out shortlisting, send interview and referee requests.

If you're struggling with your job vacancy management and are looking for a way to save time and money then chat to us. We'd love to show you around the software.