Emily Nash

After colleges across the country closed their doors on Friday 20 March, only key workers have been permitted to work on-site for the duration of the coronavirus lockdown. The remainder of the further education workforce has joined the rest of the country in working from home. This unprecedented but necessary move is unusual for colleges, so it may be difficult for staff to adapt at the rate they are expected to.

To help you adjust to your new environment, we have some top tips for making your work life as easy as possible during this time.

1. Make the most of the available technology

Technology is a crucial resource which can dramatically enhance the learning and support students receive from their colleges. Now is the perfect time to explore what is available to you and make the most of it, here’s a selection of online tools to get you started:

• Padlet

With Padlet, students can create an online post-it board where they can share text, images, and video links. Through the Padlet link you create, students can use their own device to start adding to the board themselves. Padlet is a particularly useful tool for developing work over a period of time, whether it is for an entire unit or a single lesson.

• Classroom

Google’s Classroom is similar to a Learning Management System (LMS) which enables teachers to manage workflow and communication with their students. With Classroom, educators can create classes, make announcements, share assignments, grade and send feedback, all with the ability to see everything in one place.

• Socrative

Socrative allows you to gather immediate student feedback, assess learning in lessons and create surveys. Through this tool, students can give responses through personal or shared classroom devices with the option of anonymity.

Socrative can also be used for employees, where you can create multiple quizzes, surveys, or mini-competitions to assess employee comprehension and keep track of their learning. From training seminars to customer polls, you can get up to 150 employees involved and actively engaged at any one time.

2. Be approachable

Being approachable is a key thing you can do for your students and employees as it makes it much easier for them to access the support you can provide. This is now all the more important as colleges’ teachers and services are rarely required to work off-site, meaning that schedules and availability suddenly become very ambiguous.

To avoid any issues, it is important to make people aware that you are still available to contact for advice and assistance, whether you are a teacher or a member of the support services. An easy way to do this is to reach out to your colleagues, employees, or students via email to communicate your availability and contact details.

Alternatively, it may be possible to post on the student portal on behalf of yourself or your department to let students know which services you can provide and to answer any questions. This will make it much easier to continue your ongoing support for students during these uncertain times.

3. Connect with others

As vital as it is to focus on the support students receive, it is also important to make sure you feel connected to the outside world. Loneliness and isolation has a substantial effect on our mental health and so it is essential for colleagues to maintain their relationships with each other.

Naturally, you will frequently talk about projects and work but it is important to include time to catch-up on other topics, such as their day-to-day, have they found out anything interesting, and anything else they may usually talk about when you are catching-up in the office.

You can also link up with other professionals through the hashtag #ukfechat. It is a vibrant, supportive community set up via Twitter which is specifically used to share expertise and resources within the further education sector. You can also look for opportunities to connect with groups across the world to create online exchanges using LinkedIn, Twitter or Skype for example.

4. Keep work at work

Usually, it is easier to leave your work stresses and thoughts at the office when you head home every day to wind down, but working from home for extended periods of time can make this increasingly difficult.

To tackle this, there are small things you can do to help separate the two whilst at home. A lot of this centres around proactively creating the same mentality you would usually have when you head to work in the morning. This is achieved by doing all the things you would typically do to prepare for a normal weekday.

Set your alarm, make coffee, get changed out of your bed clothes into your day clothes, and create a designated work space in your home that is not your bed or sofa. Doing so separates 9.00am-5.00pm work with time spent relaxing each evening, increasing your productivity and preparing you for the following day.

5. Plan your day every morning

Being outside of your normal work environment can feel overwhelming and you may feel unsure where to even start. Planning your goals for the day helps create structure and allows you to keep track of the tasks ahead without feeling overwhelmed.

It also adds a sense of satisfaction into your daily routine as you can tick items off your list throughout each day, reinforcing a sense of accomplishment and leaving you to feel motivated for the weeks ahead.

There are a couple of great online tools that can help you stay focused:

• Microsoft To Do

Microsoft To Do is a useful free tool that allows you to organise your tasks effectively, with intelligent and personalised suggestions to update your daily to-do list. You can even share your lists with colleagues to help you stay connected with others.

• Calendar

Google’s Calendar allows you to stay on schedule throughout the day by segmenting what you will do and when. It will even tell you when to you need to start new tasks, making it much easier to change focus and manage your time.

Despite the challenges you may face, it is important to remember the necessity of working from home to help delay the spread of COVID-19. Although it can be difficult for many further education professionals, especially those who are usually unable to work anywhere other than on-site, we hope our five tips can help you to get started and work effectively through the weeks ahead.

Launching a recruitment enterprise isn’t always easy, so we’ve put together a selection of top tips for promoting your college’s new staffing service.

Recruitment has the potential to be a highly competitive industry sector; research from REC’s latest Recruitment Industry Trends report emphasises that there has been a 10% increase in the number of recruitment enterprises¹, so it’s even more important to position your services effectively and stand out in a crowded market.

As a college-owned staffing agency, there are a number of desirable attributes already associated with your brand and ethos. Colleges maintain responsibility for upskilling current employees and training new entrants to the workforce. In the last year alone, more than two million people were educated by colleges², highlighting the importance of their role in the community and status as a trusted supplier in workforce development.

Furthermore, the surplus generated from your staffing agency will be invested back into the college, supporting the provision of education for both today’s workforce and the next generation. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives and ethical spending are front of mind for many organisations; a recent study revealed that customers are even willing to spend more to support organisations with a commitment to CSR³, which is a key aspect of your service.

Another unique selling point of your agency is its proximity to the candidate pool and unassailable expertise in education and training. With an onsite office, it’s much easier to access and profile a high volume of eligible candidates for internships, work-based placements and entry-level roles. As a major provider of Further Education, the college will have unrivalled subject knowledge, combined with links to industry, policy makers and assessment boards.

Colleges can be found at the centre of local communities, as such, they harbour contacts for a wide range of organisations for many different purposes. An article published in Harvard Business Review advocates the importance of strengthening existing relationships to increase sales⁴, which can be expanded to include cross-promotion of other services provided by the college, including those available through your agency.

In the same vein, colleges have an extensive network of employees in faculty and professional services positions who keep in touch with industry professionals and local employers. Through an employee advocacy programme, you can promote your recruitment service to a considerably larger audience, using a freely available and trusted source – your college’s staff⁵.

Promoting your agency through existing networks doesn’t need to stop there, as your students may also be able to help. Placement advice from Prospects highlights that some students will arrange their own work-based placements, rather than going through a careers department⁶. In this scenario, your agency can streamline the process by managing the employment contract, payrolling and invoicing. In addition to supporting the placement, you will also have an opportunity to build a relationship with new contacts, who may use your staffing services again in the future.

In summary, there are many benefits for employers who make the decision to use a college-owned staffing service. The main takeaway for recruiters is to remember why their service is different, embed this message into employer communications and amplify their business development efforts with the additional marketing channels and existing relationships FE colleges have to offer.

¹REC Recruitment Industry Trends 2017/18
²AOC College Key Facts 2018/19
³Spend Matters: CSR Update: Corporate Social Responsibility Can Lead Customers to Spend More
⁴Harvard Business Review: To Sell More, Focus on Existing Customers
⁵Bambu: What Is Employee Advocacy and How Does It Really Work?
⁶Prospects: Work placements

The world of work is ever-changing, with technologies automating workplace activities and new job roles emerging. For college students entering the working world, flexibility, self-marketing and work experience will be necessary for success. Here are five ways to prepare your students:

1. Work placements and internships

A qualification, or even a degree alone, is no longer enough to ensure a job in a student’s field of study. Training providers should aim to encourage work placements, internships and voluntary work as part of the learning curriculum. This will not only help to boost students’ employability, but also equip them with realistic expectations of the workplace and key transferable skills. The Department for Education states that all forms of work experience appear to be beneficial, with those who participate in work experience more likely to be working in a professional or managerial occupation two and a half years after graduation¹.

2. Encourage networking

Work placements, internships and voluntary work can be pathways into jobs after college if students make a good impression, so they need to make a real effort to impress the employer. Training providers should practice networking skills with students so that they can gain the confidence to build valuable relationships during placements. Even if placements do not ultimately lead to a job, they can result in gaining referees that are happy to shout about the great work that the student carried out. In turn, this might aid students’ chances in future job applications.

3. Build soft skills

According to LinkedIn’s 2018 Workplace Learning Report2, training for soft skills is the number one priority for talent development. With new technologies continuously emerging, there is an increased demand for adaptable, critical thinkers with excellent communication skills. Training providers should prioritise equipping students with core soft skills such as interpersonal skills, leadership, teamwork and problem-solving, through day-to-day activities in their training and in work placements, where they can put these skills into practice.

4. Prepare for the application process

Applying for jobs is never easy, so it’s useful to prepare college students for each part of the process, from searching for jobs to coping with rejection. Not only does the application process require the ability to stand out on paper, but also to appear confident when demonstrating their skills and experiences during interviews. Holding CV and cover letter writing workshops can be very beneficial, as well as conducting mock interviews. Also, teaching students to stay motivated even when they are rejected will encourage them to keep applying.

5. Use digital tools

Across all industries, digital skills are required to in a majority of roles, therefore businesses want to hire those who are digitally competent and have knowledge of various platforms. LinkedIn’s Workplace Leaning Report revealed that the rise of digital is transforming talent development, to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse, multi-generational workforce. Training providers must encourage students to use a variety of digital tools in their learning by incorporating these into sessions and assignments, so that students can become confident in navigating the digital space and apply these skills in the workplace.

¹Department for Education
²LinkedIn 2018 Workplace Learning Report