About us
Teach First is a charity that understands that for a child growing up in poverty, all too often their future is already written. We know that education can flip the script. We find and train teachers to work in the schools that need them most, we equip school leaders with evidence-led training, we support local teacher training providers, and we plug education leaders into supportive professional networks. We’re at the centre of a movement, rewriting the future within the classroom and beyond, ensuring every child, no matter their background, gets the opportunities they need to thrive
About the team
This role sits within the Selection team, focused on identifying and selecting Teach First’s future changemakers through sector-leading, evidence-based practice. You’ll be part of a team designing and delivering best-in-class assessment models that select for potential and long-term impact, whilst consistently delivering a first-class candidate experience across a high-volume, demanding pipeline.
The team sits within the Programme Talent directorate. This directorate is responsible for finding the next generation of changemakers to join the Teach First movement. The directorate attracts prospective candidates and compels them to join our movement; selects candidates, by looking rigorously for the potential in applicants and onboards candidates, so that they are well-prepared and compliant, ready to start on our programmes and to make a difference towards closing the gap between rich and poor and how they do in education.
About the role
The Selection Officer is responsible for assessing candidates at application and Development Centre stage for our programmes. You’ll embrace rigorous, competencybased processes, designed to spot and nurture potential, to find future changemakers.
In this role you will:
Assess online application forms against screening guidelines; determining eligibility, assessing written communication, scoring objectively and making a decision on outcome.
Assess candidates at our Development Centres, using assessment rubrics to score our competencies, recording evidence and scores on our internal system. This is the biggest proportion of your day-to-day work (up to 80% of your week).
• Take part in discussions around candidate suitability, applying our fair and objective criteria to ensure we select the best candidates to join our programmes.
• Deliver a best-in-class candidate experience, fitting of a leading graduate employer, including giving clear feedback to support candidates in feeling at ease.
• Manage daily pipeline management processes, such as screening applications or scheduling candidates into assessment slots, ensuring a high degree of accuracy.
Embrace a culture of constant learning and innovation, including analysis and development of new selection materials and processes as required; undertaking regular training and opportunities for benchmarking your work against others.
Champion equality, diversity and inclusion in your work, proactively ensuring all applicants receive a holistic, unbiased approach.
Regularly support Admissions team work as needed, including supporting with high-volume onboarding and compliance work during peak periods.
Provide additional operational support, both within Selection, and beyond (e.g.
supporting with placement activity, attending in-person recruitment events, etc.).
You will report into:
Selection Manager
You will work closely with:
• Talent Officers, responsible for sourcing and cultivating talent for our programmes.
• Admissions team, responsible for candidate onboarding and compliance.
• Talent Coordinators, working cross-directorate to provide first-class support.
• Regional Partnerships, responsible for placing trainees into our partner schools.
About you
To be successful in this role you will be able to demonstrate the following skills, knowledge and experience.
In this role you will:
Have proven experience of excelling in a task-focused, process-driven environment, with a strong eye for detail.
Have proven experience of exercising your own judgement, being analytical and objective, confident to speak up and express contrary opinions when required, and provide sound rationale for decisions.
Be confident in getting to grips with new systems quickly and efficiently, ideally with prior experience of handling and analysing data sets.
Have exceptional relationship-building skills, able to leverage relationships effectively to secure desired outcomes.
Be an excellent communicator, verbally and in writing, experienced at adapting your approach to communication as needed.
Be autonomous in planning and organising your own time, able to adapt to unexpected shifts in priorities quickly and remaining solutions-focused when problems arise.
Be comfortable operating in an environment where change and uncertainty are common, embracing agility and collaboration to achieve shared goals.
• Be committed to delivering a positive experience for all and championing equality, diversity and inclusion.
At Teach First, we’re committed to building a diverse, high-performing team. We particularly welcome applications from candidates from underrepresented groups; and whose socio-economic background reflects that of the pupils we work with.
If you’re excited about this role but don’t tick every box, we still encourage you to apply. You may be exactly what we’re looking for — for this role or another.
Please be advised that this role requires some evening and weekend work in order to meet business need, and may include some overnight stays (e.g. if supporting with on-campus activity). As a minimum, you will need to commit to working four Saturdays across the year
to support our Development Centre schedule. Due to the nature of the assessment schedule, flexible working requests will be subject to review in line with business need.
Working for us
At Teach First, we want you to thrive because when you’re at your best, our mission moves forward. We offer pay, benefits and flexibility that support your wellbeing, and in return we ask you to bring your energy, commitment and passion to helping every child reach their potential. Find out more
Our culture: We live by our values. They underpin our culture and identity. And inform everything we do.
• Purpose: Ending educational disadvantage guides us - We stay focused on our mission and strive to get better every day.
Community: We are a movement for change - Together we are stronger, we support and learn from one another, working with and through the diverse communities we serve.
• Bravery: Change requires courage - We take bold risks and aren’t afraid to try, fail and learn in pursuit of our vision.
• Innovation: We will succeed through new ideas - We are restless for impact and creative with our solutions.
Diversity and inclusion: We want to be a place where everyone can perform, learn and contribute with the confidence to be themselves. We are passionate about building a work force that reflects the community we serve, and our employees are expected to contribute to advancing diversity and inclusion within the charity. Find out more
Safeguarding: Safeguarding children is at the heart of our work and a non-negotiable part of every role at Teach First. All colleagues must complete a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check before starting. We follow safer recruitment practices and expect our employees to share our commitment to keeping children safe.
Agile working: Our agile way of working gives you flexibility. Need to start late or finish early? Our Agile Working policy focuses on outcomes, not presenteeism. Find out more
Flexible Working: We are happy to consider flexible work patterns for our roles where they align with the needs of the charity. So, if you want to discuss a set and regular working pattern, let us know in your application. Find out more