Prior's Court was set up by Founding Patron Dame Stephanie Shirley, whose vision of a centre of excellence for children with autism became reality with the opening of Prior's Court School in 1999. We have since grown to support around 90 young people with complex autism aged between 5-25 years.

Since opening, our support team has grown from around 20 to 500 and we have built a reputation as a cutting edge educational, vocational, and residential facility for young people with autism.

Due to a transformation of our recruitment team, we are looking for a Head of Recruitment to join our organisation.  This is a fantastic role for a Recruitment Manager looking for the opportunity to shape and build a new team, where you can have real influence with the people and processes required, to enable us to recruit the best talent for the young people we support.

• Based onsite at Priors Court Road, Hermitage, RG18 9NU with an element of remote working if required
• Previous Management experience within a recruitment setting is essential
• Up to £60,000 per annum (dependant on qualification and experience) 

The Head of Recruitment will lead the newly created In House Recruitment team for Priors Court. Initially you will play a pivotal role working with the business to help shape and create the new team. Overall you will be responsible for leading the department to provide end-to-end recruitment coupled with a complex preboarding & onboarding life cycle.  You will recruit, mentor, support and train your team to work as business partners with all stakeholders, which includes a specialist school and residential care at our beautiful site based just outside Newbury.

Main responsibilities include -

• Create, maintain and develop strong, strategic relationships with all heads of department by gaining an in-depth understanding of the Priors Court business objectives, providing advice and market insight in addition to challenging hiring managers’ thinking where appropriate.
• To devise and establish the annual recruitment strategy by forecasting and planning with the business for both current and future hiring requirements.
• Supervise daily recruitment, to ensure candidate pipelines are built and oversee and monitor the onboarding activity.  The Recruitment Partners will undertake the day to day sourcing but you will need to support the overall team with day to day responsibilities as and when required, to ensure the team collaborates well.
• Create, develop and maintain effective methods to build the network of recruitment channels, to ensure the widest pool of candidates and establish and maintain long lasting professional relationships with external recruitment partners.  This will also involve engaging with external organisations including schools/colleges and attending career events and job fairs to broaden the talent pool.
• We work within a regulatory environment and you will therefore take overall responsibility to ensure that the team undertake all recruitment and onboarding activities in accordance with the agreed budget, UK and EC Employment Legislation, CIPD/REC Codes of Professional Conduct, Advertising Standards Authority etc. and maintain compliance with any legislative changes.

To be successful in this position you will need to be able to demonstrate -

• Experience of leading a successful in house or recruitment agency team
• The ability to recruit, develop, manage and inspire a team with the skill to motivate and empower others to deliver results that meet the recruitment needs of Priors Court
• In depth experience and understanding of the recruitment lifecycle, with the ability to deliver results through others
• Previous experience of working as a true business partner, in collaboration with the hiring community to deliver an outstanding recruitment service.
• A keen eye for detail across all areas of the workflow, we work in a regulatory environment so you will need to ensure that good recruitment practice is adhered to and compliance is monitored and challenged when necessary.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate to a high standard (written & verbal). 
• Perfected organisational skills.  The ability to prioritise all tasks to ensure maximum efficiency for themselves and the wider recruitment team.
• We believe in-person collaboration is essential for the quality of our culture, team cohesion and creativity.  The role is primarily based at our beautiful site in Hermitage, although some hybrid working is available.

It would be highly desirable for you to have -

• Experience of within the Care or Education sectors
• Knowledge of legislation and compliance around recruiting into education and care sectors

Please read the full job description for further information.

Benefits

• 33 days annual leave, including Bank Holidays.
• Company pension (Combined 8% contributions - Employer 5%, Employee 3%)
• Employee Recognition Schemes, including an annual staff awards programme and Long Service Awards
• Employee Assistance Programme

Access to our full Flexible Benefits package including the option of dental insurance, private medical insurance, critical illness, increased life insurance, partner life insurance self-funded health cash plan and many others

A recruitment or HR qualification would be ideal but is not as essential as the right work history and experience.

All positions at the school are subject to a satisfactory Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check, references and receipt of the appropriate Right to Work documents. Prior’s Court Foundation is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Prior’s Court is proud to be an equal opportunities employer and we actively seek and embrace differences in thinking, experience, ethnicity, age, gender, faith, personalities and styles.

The different skills, experiences and backgrounds our employees bring to their roles create a workforce as diverse and individual as the young people we support and makes Prior’s Court a special place to work.

We strive for an inclusive environment where employees feel safe, engaged and supported to make a difference.