Finding the right employee

[MattHB]

I would imagine that there are a lot of very well qualified electronic engineers that have lost their jobs in recent years due to the decimation of the industry. I guess a lot of them like me have learn't to move on to others things and don't particularly see themselves as teachers to people entering a dead end industry. I can't for the life of me see why universities are still training UK based students in electronics unless they are thinking of moving to central Europe or the far east.

Its certainly a shrinking market, but we seem to have some very stable apprenticeship ties at the moment with companies like Siemans and the like that appear to be keeping our numbers up. Demand seems to be there at least locally for us.

Have you advertised on geekschat?

no and thats a good idea. Ill do that.

 

[marinyork]

what gives?! We'll even take people with no teaching experience so long as theyre prepared to do teacher training (a 2 year evening course).

Madness. Surprised you haven't been swamped with four or five hundred applications.

 

[gbb]

I don't think anythings changed in years re finding good labour...
Circa 25 years ago, i was offered a job near Leytonstone...i was living in Peterborough. I asked why would they pay the considerably higher wages to make it worth my while travelling when they could get someone local ?
Their reply ? Its so so hard to find good employees....sometimes, you just have to pay whats neccessary.

 

[NotthatJasonKenny]

I feel your pain, I've been trying to find a car salesperson to join our team for months!

 

[NotthatJasonKenny]

Can't see any posts that sound like the ones you mentioned, but I've just seen the SALARY they're offering for a deputy librarian

I've got to get out of the motor trade!

You'd make a good teacher actually Smokey!

 

[MattHB]

I used to be motor trade, and sales skills are highly transferable to teaching. Rapport building and a lot of the psychology is very appropriate for both roles. You need to be passionate about your subject, able to handle a large workload, love helping people reach, apsire to and exceed their potential.. but more than anything, you need to be a natural show off!! In colleges we are about 40% teacher, 60% entertainer! If you can make a subject interesting, you have it all.

 

[smokeysmoo]

You'd make a good teacher actually Smokey!

This is between you me and the gatepost Mr K

 

[Night Train]

I used to be motor trade, and sales skills are highly transferable to teaching. Rapport building and a lot of the psychology is very appropriate for both roles. You need to be passionate about your subject, able to handle a large workload, love helping people reach, apsire to and exceed their potential.. but more than anything, you need to be a natural show off!! In colleges we are about 40% teacher, 60% entertainer! If you can make a subject interesting, you have it all.

I also used to be in the motor trade, albeit about 28 years ago.
I love teaching and still am passionate about my subject, and what you say is very true. I also act as well as teach and so I really enjoyed the role and my students really liked me. I took time to make the lessons lively and interesting, with lots of participation. Sadly the college didn't like me.

Smokey, it is hard work, long hours and very challenging, but so rewarding when you fit in with the college. I hope it works out for you.

 

[NotthatJasonKenny]

This is between you me and the gatepost Mr K

Absolutely!!

 

[Pauluk]

Its certainly a shrinking market, but we seem to have some very stable apprenticeship ties at the moment with companies like Siemans and the like that appear to be keeping our numbers up. Demand seems to be there at least locally for us.

Well then that's good news and Siemens have always been a good company. Its such a shame there are not more but I guess that's the way most things go. With a reduced market I guess you are going to have more problems these days. With less industry and therefore less people, spread thinly all over the country I suppose its a lot harder to recruit than it was say 15 years ago. I must admit I don't envy your position, it can be really frustrating not to mention time consuming.

That being said I think its a case of just sticking at it. In my experience someone who fits the bill will turn up eventually. We used to remind ourselves of the saying: "Eagles don't fly in flocks".

 

[MattHB]

Well then that's good news and Siemens have always been a good company. Its such a shame there are not more but I guess that's the way most things go. With a reduced market I guess you are going to have more problems these days. With less industry and therefore less people, spread thinly all over the country I suppose its a lot harder to recruit than it was say 15 years ago. I must admit I don't envy your position, it can be really frustrating not to mention time consuming.

That being said I think its a case of just sticking at it. In my experience someone who fits the bill will turn up eventually. We used to remind ourselves of the saying: "Eagles don't fly in flocks".

I like that Im running out of time is the issue. Ill have to go to agency staff which is a pain as they generally dont have the same motivation as a full timer. We have a few people that are interested who look good on paper, but its often a whole different ball-game when you get them in front of you!

 

[Pauluk]

We have a few people that are interested who look good on paper, but its often a whole different ball-game when you get them in front of you!

I know what you mean and often it can be readily seen during an interview when a person isn't right and there is nothing worse than recruiting the wrong person. However, sometimes suitable people don't always interview well. I found from experience that getting the most out of somebody can be a real challenge for the interviewer. Another saying we used to remind ourselves of was: "There are no such thing as losers, losers are just winners in disguise". Sometimes we just need to let go of our fixations or paradigms.

I always said that recruiting someone is like buying a second hand car. You take precautions but you don't really know what you have got until you've had it for for a while.

 

[vernon]

[QUOTE 1986593, member: 76"]I teach in the NHS. All sorts of subjects, including trying to engage people more with blended learning and newer technology. But blimey, I get paid a lot more than that, and Ofsted never darken my door![/quote]

FE does not pay as well as it used to compared with secondary school teaching. When I first started teaching, getting a job in FE meant more money than teaching and a lot fewer contact hours. Teachers would be green with envy if one of their collegues managed to transfer to the FE sector.

University lecturing was also seen as plum job but its salary range is now way behind that of teaching. The lowest position that would offer salary equivalence for me would be senior lecturer.

School's will be heading the same way by stealth...academies do not have to employ qualified teachers and can decide their own salaries for new staff.

 

[marinyork]

FE does not pay as well as it used to compared with secondary school teaching. When I first started teaching, getting a job in FE meant more money than teaching and a lot fewer contact hours. Teachwrs would be green with envy if one of thier collegues managed to transfer to the FE sector.

University lecturing was also seen as plum job but its salaray range is now way behind that of teaching. The lowest position that would offer salary equivalence for me would be senior lecturer.

School's will be heading the same way by stealth...academies do not have to employ qualified teachers and can decide their own salaries for new staff.

FE is awful now relative to others really if you take the conditions into account. Although what is being taught in FE colleges is sadly evolving downward in some cases. Some might even argue that for what you're teaching a few roles in FE pay quite good money (miles below what maggot's talking about). Desperately sad really, and things have accelerated in the very short few years since I was studying properly at an FE college. Apart from the new proposed tech college round here it's very much a downward trend.

 

[Yellow Fang]

Strange really, jobs in hi-tech industries are never very secure, where as it sounds these jobs are quite secure. You'd have thought some fifty-year-old who's just been made redundant might be prepared to retrain. Very techy people are often not very great communicators though.