PROSPECTS AQUIRES INTEREST IN GABBITAS

Leading education support service provider, Prospects Services Ltd, has acquired a controlling interest in Gabbitas Educational Consultants Ltd, the leading provider of quality support services to schools in the independent sector.

Executive Chairman of Prospects, Ray Auvray, commented: "I am delighted that Gabbitas Educational Consultants will be joining the Prospects Group. Gabbitas has a proud history over 130 years of providing the highest quality services to independent schools in the UK and to English-speaking schools worldwide." He continued, "This is an important strategic move for Prospects, opening up a new educational service sector for the company. We look forward to working with and supporting the Gabbitas team and to investing in the development of services so that Gabbitas can broaden and further improve the range of services it provides to its clients."

Gabbitas Executive Chairman, Rosemary Brown OBE, commented: "We greatly welcome our new relationship with Prospects. We believe that our combined expertise and contracts across the whole spectrum of education will enable us to go from strength to strength and to provide our clients with an even wider range of services. It is great news for both our companies with exciting times ahead."

BSME Conference - February 2008

Edward Clark, Director of Recruitment and Consultancy at Gabbitas, attended the BSME Conference (British Schools in the Middle East) in February 2008, held in Amman, Jordan, which hosted over fifty schools from the region. Edward was pleased to meet a number of British International Schools Headteachers to gain a full understanding of the recruiting requirements and expectations of these outstanding schools.

COBIS Conference - May 2008

Gabbitas was pleased to attend the COBIS (Council of British International Schools) Conference held at The Horseguards Hotel in London in early May. COBIS is a rapidly expanding organisation and now has member schools from across the globe. A number of excellent speakers gave presentations on issues facing British Schools worldwide, leading to much discussion and exchanging of ideas about education. Edward Clark, Director of Recruitment and Aaron Ashton, Senior Recruitment Manager, enjoyed the opportunity to meet with many Headteachers over the two-day event.

Teaching Overseas in British International Schools Seminar - Nov 2007

Gabbitas welcomed over 60 teachers to its second seminar on Teaching Overseas in British International Schools at Le Meridien Hotel, Piccadilly in London. The event, that brought together speakers from leading international schools, focused upon the issues to consider before teaching overseas, in particular the cultural differences and different curricula that teachers are likely to be faced with, and the effects on their career when returning to the UK. The speakers were: Geoff Darlison, founding Principal of the British Nigerian International School, Stuart Morris, founding Principal of Harrow International School and Shrewsbury International School, both in Thailand, and Nick Rugg, former Head of Redlands School, Santiago, Chile and current Head of Newcastle-under-Lyme Grammar School. The message from all the speakers was clear: international teaching experience offers superb professional development, an opportunity to widen professional horizons as well as a chance to save money as living costs are often included within the salary package. Perhaps most critically, teachers will enjoy an environment where children have a thirst for knowledge, where resources and facilities are often outstanding and where discipline issues are a rarity. Geoff Darlison also highlighted another benefit for teachers hungry for change; teaching internationally can provide further opportunities to learn the IB curriculum which a number of prominent schools around the UK are beginning to offer. Teachers with international experience will be at a distinct advantage in the changing landscape of the British education system. Edward Clark, Geoff Darlison, Stuart Morris, Nick Rugg, Christopher Stuart-Clark

PROMOTING YOURSELF

There is an art to marketing yourself effectively. At Gabbitas, we receive hundreds of CVs and job applications each week, from teachers, pastoral staff, senior managers and Headteachers, who are all seeking to find their next post, to climb the career ladder, or to broaden their experience. Unfortunately, the one thing that so many of them have in common, and this accounts for people at all levels of teaching and management, is a lack of up-to-date understanding of how to present themselves most effectively on paper and at interview. When applying for a specific job, or simply registering yourself with an employment agency, there is little doubt that your CV or application letter will end up in a pile of others’ similar documents. Somebody, somewhere, will be sifting those CVs and letters to create a long-list of candidates, to then be reduced to a short-list, to then choose the ideal candidate. That same person may also be sitting through a number of intensive, repetitive interviews. Thankfully for us, most job-seekers have realised these days that printing CVs and letters on bright pink paper, or scenting them with cheap perfume does not separate them from the crowd in a positive way. But sadly, very few people really know how to write an outstanding, or even a good CV or application letter. As interviewers, we also have the occasional misfortune to sit through a number of rather uninspiring interviews, listening to standard, textbook answers, or even worse, to totally unprepared answers.

The issues for you to consider are two-fold; how to prepare a sufficiently informative, concise, articulate and impressive application which will leap its way to the top of every pile, giving you the real chance you deserve to reach the interview stage; and how to ensure that when you reach the final interview, when you sit in front of an interview panel who are tired and confused after a long day of meeting other similar candidates, that your words, body language and attitude leave them with little doubt that you are that ideal candidate.

Your skills and experience need to shine through. Not only will potential employers want to see that your attributes fulfil the criteria of the Job Description and Person Specification, but also that, as an educator yourself, you have a professional grasp of such basic skills as spelling, grammar, punctuation, presentation and good interpersonal communication. Our advice; before embarking on your next career move, do some serious research about how to represent yourself effectively. There are hundreds of web-sites giving great ideas, and Gabbitas are able to provide excellent advice from many years in the education sector. We placed our first Headteacher in 1876 and we’re still going strong – we’ve learnt the art of marketing people successfully, and we may be able to help you!