How Caterham School recruits top talent with IRIS Recruitment
Strong partnership with IRIS since 2018
80% of roles are recruited through IRIS Recruitment
Streamlined and improved the recruitment process
Products used:
Caterham School is a multi-award-winning independent co-educational day and boarding school, located in Caterham, Surrey. As one of the leading co-educational schools in the country, Caterham School utilises IRIS Recruitment software to optimise their recruitment processes, allowing them to focus on their commitment to providing an environment where all pupils are challenged to reach their full potential.
Enhancing recruitment efficiency since 2018
Partnering with IRIS since March 2018, Caterham School uses the software to automate recruitment and remove manual processes from an online application form, scoring candidates and scheduling interviews. According to the school’s Director of People, Emma Golding, all four members of the HR team use it in their daily work.
“My day is very varied – it ranges from recruitment to just about everything else you can think of in the HR space! We also handle a lot of payroll, as well as all recruitment safeguarding checks, compliance, and policies,” says Emma about her day-to-day role. She shares that the school has recently expanded and added a couple of other schools to its family of institutions, making efficiency in back-office processes more important than ever.
The introduction of the software has eliminated the need for outdated manual processes. “I think we’ve encouraged a lot of people that using software for recruitment is the way forward. When you see the time benefits, it’s hard to argue against. Everything about the process is easier now that we’re using IRIS Recruitment, from posting the application to shortlisting to contacting the best candidates,” explains Emma.
Taking recruitment to the next level
With the help of the IRIS Recruitment team, Caterham School is exploring new ways the software can continue to ease their recruitment processes. The team recently updated the school’s employment advert template and career page to provide a more modern look and feel. “We’ve really invested our time into IRIS Recruitment in the last six months as we see what a beneficial tool it can be,” says Emma.
“We now use the shortlisting function, including panel shortlisting, which we didn’t have before. Our templates were outdated, so they’ve been updated and now look great. We also now have the new interface, which just looks and feels so much better. It’s been a big improvement over the past six months,” shares the school’s Director of People. “The changes made have made a noticeable difference internally.”
“We often have large panels reviewing applications, so it's incredibly useful that each member can individually access the system, review applications, and filter through them without needing to print anything. Once decisions are made, HR can seamlessly take over and contact candidates, streamlining a process that would otherwise be highly time-consuming without the software.”
Filling vacancies with ease with IRIS Recruitment
Caterham School fills roughly 80% of vacancies through IRIS Recruitment. “We do have a high success rate in filling positions, but there are certain roles we sometimes struggle with, which I imagine is the case for other schools too, whether that’s specific subjects in teaching or in the support staff team. That’s why it’s so important that you have good software that can help extend the reach of applicants and to make the job advert as strong as possible.”
Emma reflects on the positive impact of using IRIS Recruitment software: “IRIS Recruitment really helps to streamline the process. It makes things more efficient and cuts down on paper. I like that everything is in one place, and you can easily allocate tasks to different people. I definitely think it’s made our recruitment processes a lot better for us as staff, and for the those applying to join us. Coming from a place where we didn’t have this kind of portal and had to do everything manually, it’s been a game changer, and I would highly recommend it.”
