Placements in Education is a recruitment service for the Education sector, and any employer who requires qualifications or a background in education. Our clients include Pre-schools, Primary Schools, High Schools, Post-school Colleges, Universities, CBOs and NGOs.

Outside South Africa, we work with Independent Schools, and some State Universities in the Middle East. We specialize in finding Senior Staff for Schools in Africa.

Candidates are mainly South African, as we are based in South Africa. We do, however, have a few able candidates from African nations, the US, UK and Australia.

How we work
We have a fully trained staff of three, who thoroughly understand the needs of employers in Education! You can speak to anyone in the office, they will be delighted to help you!

Alison Papenfus, B Sc, B Sc Hons, HED, M Sc, is the Director and specializes in overseas and senior appointment. She was Principal of St Ansgars School before founding Placements in Education

Primrose Mathe is the Senior Recruitment Agent, and specializes in teaching posts in South Africa

Annette Richardson is our accountant

How We Work
a. Teaching Posts
An Employer informs us of a vacancy. We assist them to draw up a Job Spec if they do not already have one.

We search our database (over 1000 names) for candidates who may suit the vacancy, and these candidates are sent to the Employer at once.

We advertise the vacancy on our Website, add it to our monthly e mail Newsletter to Applicants, and put up adverts on appropriate Job Boards on the Internet. Print media adverts appear monthly. There is no charge for advertising your vacancy, but all the replies to advertising are received by Placements in Education.

As CVs are received they are assessed, screened, references are checked, and the CV is matched to vacancies. Once it has been matched the CV is sent to the Employer. You will only receive CVs from Qualified Applicants who have the Skills that you require. Their references will already have been checked!

We encourage employers to have face-to-face interviews with the applicants, and to select the one they prefer. The salary and benefits should be discussed between the employer and the applicant, but we can give guidance if requested.

Once the Employer has made their choice of an applicant we ask them to inform us who they have appointed. We then take this applicant off the database, and invoice the client when the appointee starts work.

b. Senior Appointments
The Employer informs us of a vacancy, and we prepare a proposal which sets out the following

• Time frames for the search
• Advertising for the search
• The screening process
• Dates for the shortlist
• Dates for the interview
• Dates on which the candidate should be able to take up the post
• The Costs associated with the Search

The Employer signs the Proposal to accept the scheme of work and costs as set out. The work commences as agreed.

Candidates who are Head Hunted, those from our Database and those who respond to advertising are all screened against the Job Spec supplied by the Employer. 

• In the case of posts in major centers in South Africa around 50 applications can be anticipated, of which 25 will be qualified for the job.
• In the case of posts outside major centers, around 20 applications can be expected, of which 10 are likely to be suitable
• In the case of posts outside South Africa, usually there are 10 applications, of which around 5 will be qualified.

The Staff of Placements in Education check and recheck references of candidates for the skills the employer particularly needs. Once this is done a Short List is prepared, and presented to the Employer. The Employer picks Candidates (usually four) to interview.

Placements in Education will assist with arrangements, including travel arrangements, for the interview. If Employers wish to interview in Johannesburg we have an interview room available in our offices. However, we strongly recommend that final interviews be held at the Institution itself.

Value Added by Placements in Education

Our database contains the names of over 1000 Education specialists and Teachers at any time of year

By using Placements in Education you will cut out the time, effort and paperwork involved in screening unsuitable applicants

All applicants are screened before they are sent out. Because we are well known, referees usually tell us the truth

South African educators do better in African and Middle Eastern schools than European and US candidates. South Africans are used to a multi-cultural, multi-lingual classroom, and are flexible in their approach to children’s individual needs

We are able to discretely head hunt senior staff without using your institution’s name

Guarantee
We offer a guarantee on our services. Please ask for a copy of the Terms of Business which sets this out, together with our fees

How to Contact us
Please feel free to phone any of our staff. Our office hours are 08h00 to 16h30 Monday to Thursday, and 08h00 – 16h00 on Fridays. We will be delighted to hear from you