Background
The International Trilingual School of Warsaw first opened its doors to two students 10 years ago and today serves over 450 students. As the only trilingual school in Poland, and one of the rare trilingual schools in Europe, spaces at the school are in high demand.
Rapid growth comes with challenges for any organization, but for a school as unique as this, the challenges are magnified.
Such a unique school requires equally unique teachers and the school’s founder, Anna, takes her recruitment very seriously. She recruits almost all of her staff herself and because the school offers instruction in five languages (English, French, Spanish, Polish and Chinese), she spends about five times more time on recruitment than other international schools.
Finding and attracting teachers with the right skill sets was critical to the success of the school and, for Anna, was a constant challenge.
The Challenge
The teacher profile that Anna was looking for was unlike that of a typical international school. First, excellent language skills were a must. Good English was essential, and she needed English-speaking language instructors for the school’s five languages of instruction. She also needed licensed teachers who, with five different curricula in operation, could be highly flexible and adaptable.
The school’s location contributed an additional recruitment challenge. Without the international prestige of other European cities, many teachers were reluctant to move to Warsaw, and the city’s small expat community made local recruitment impossible. High taxes in Europe and the school’s lower tuition fees also meant they couldn’t compete with high international school salaries in other parts of the world.
In her previous recruitment efforts, Anna struggled to find the right candidates through various ESL and domestic teacher recruitment sites. Either the candidates didn’t match her criteria (as they were ESL teachers rather than licensed teachers), or if they were qualified, they weren’t interested in relocating to teach abroad.
The school’s location and compensation quickly ruled out candidates motivated by money or an expat lifestyle. Anna needed teachers who were motivated to become part of the school’s community out of curiosity about nurturing trilingual students and shared enthusiasm for her multicultural vision.
Our Solution
Teach Away’s annual subscription proved to be the long-term solution Anna needed.
After finding us through an online search three years ago, Anna was pleasantly surprised when she posted her first job ad on Teach Away. She received lots of responses from certified, English-speaking teachers who were interested in relocating overseas – exactly who she was looking for.
“What attracted me to Teach Away was that they worked with a large variety of clients. As we are a small school, they give us the ability to attract candidates who consider very different positions – not only candidates looking to make a certain amount of money or work in a certain international system.”
She liked her initial experience so much that she upgraded to an annual subscription, giving her access to unlimited job posts on our platform all year round, for a set fee. This means Anna can take her time finding candidates that are a perfect match for the school, and feel confident that her job ads will get in front of a network of teachers who meet the profile she’s looking to hire.
The Impact
Since they started working with us, the International Trilingual School of Warsaw has filled 80% of their English teaching roles through Teach Away.
Using our platform gives Anna peace of mind that she’ll get plenty of good candidates for each job posting, giving her the autonomy to make the right choice for her school at her own pace. So far, she’s found a teacher that’s the right fit every time she’s posted a job with us; in fact, 35% of the school’s current teaching staff were hired through Teach Away.
“Through Teach Away I get a variety of candidates, enough candidates to meet my needs, and peace of mind that I can find the candidates I need for the upcoming school year.”
Once Anna finds something that works, she sticks with it. The International Trilingual School of Warsaw plans to keep using Teach Away’s platform to hire the right candidates as they grow in the future.
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