Published on 6th August 2025 by Tessa Robinson
Love Childcare Recruitment are fortunate to work across multiple sectors of the childcare and children’s activity industry, giving us insight into good practice, challenges, and common mistakes, putting us in a great position to offer some helpful advice. You can read more about us here: Love Childcare Recruitment
The Workforce Meets a New Generation!
Officially our industry is already experiencing obstacles with loss in workforce, employee burnout, and recruitment problems. Such pressures are further fuelled by the fact that Gen Z will be joining the workforce, which is oriented to seek purpose, personal growth and flexibility.
To Gen Z, as with most other generations, childcare may be what they dream to have a career in: purposeful, satisfying, and socially beneficial. But we have to show them that.
Many organisations label Gen Z as the problem, however, we believe they can be the solution…if you’re willing to adapt and evolve.
Make the Process Engaging — Because the Work Is
If the job involves inspiring, supporting, and educating children, the recruitment experience should reflect that same energy. Whether it’s your job adverts, communication and interactions throughout your interview process, or your onboarding — make it fun and inject personality.
Our research and experiences have shown that candidates are applying for multiple jobs at any one time – often 3 or more! Recruitment shouldn’t feel like applying for a corporate office job. Let your passion for childcare shine through from the very first interaction as this could be the difference in someone choosing your organisation ahead of others.
Showcase Your Personality and Why You’re Different
In a competitive market, candidates are not just choosing a job — they’re choosing an organisation. So be clear:
- What’s your company culture like? What do your current staff say about their work?
- What makes your provision special?
- Do you offer flexibility, clear progression, or wellbeing support?
Highlighting your unique selling points (USPs) isn’t optional anymore — it’s essential.
A setting with a vibrant, child-first culture should be shouting about it on job adverts, on your website and social media, even creating ‘candidate packs’ to share with candidates, highlighting what is special about YOU. This is especially true when appealing to Gen Z, who tend to research and compare potential employers just like they would products or services.
Speed and Communication: Where Many Lose Talent
Let’s talk ghosting…
Ghosting is a real problem and can be out of your control. However, you can limit the risks of being ghosted by candidates. If you want to, you should:
- Schedule interviews quickly after contact. At the very least, acknowledge their application and ensure there is a clear timeframe
- Confirm via text/email reminders. Junk folders can be your worst enemy when recruiting
- Build rapport early — make it personal. Take every opportunity to ‘informally’ meet and speak with candidates. Do you have capacity for an 5–10-minute screening call with all applicants?
- Don’t delay offers. Momentum matters!
And let’s be blunt: don’t ghost candidates. It damages your reputation and risks them ghosting you in return – they will very likely share this experience too. Rather, establish initial expectations, make follow-ups and treat all applicants with courtesy- even those that you fail to recruit. They may come back in the future or recommend your organization based on their positive experiences.
Understand Your True Cost of Recruitment
A slow or disorganized process doesn’t just delay hiring — it costs money. Time spent advertising, screening, interviewing, and onboarding adds up. And if new starters leave early because expectations weren’t aligned or onboarding was poor? Costs double.
Recruitment isn’t just a task — it’s a strategic investment. Many organizations are reactive in their recruitment when there is a need for proactiveness. A fast, efficient, and engaging process is not only better for candidates, it can also reduce financial risk and increase staff retention.
We’ve put together a helpful calculator here that can reveal the ‘hidden’ costs linked to recruitment.
Safer recruitment and onboarding
Speed and personality are important but they should never override the need to adhere to safer recruitment regulations. Safeguarding the children is the responsibility of every childcare provider and should put all candidates through rigorous vetting and onboarding exercises.
- Categorically justify your promise of protection in the initial advert
- Apply pre-screening questions and cross out inappropriate candidates at an early stage
- Carry outcrisis-type structured interviews posing scenario based questioning and competency based questions
- Information on references, documents to carry a DBS check and identity verifications should be checked and confirmed as soon into the process as possible
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Write clearly throughout At a basic level, candidates will get frustrated when they are asked for information without knowing the reason why
Efficiency does not imply doing things at the minimum standard and by the minimum standard – being efficient implies developing a process where safeguarding and compliance can be built into the process, rather than added-on as an afterthought. .
Childcare is one of the most important jobs in society. To attract the right people, it deserves recruitment processes that reflect its value — ones that are warm, inspiring, informative, and efficient.
To recruit effectively in today’s environment, you need:
- A clear, engaging employer brand – and shout about it!
- A fast and respectful hiring process
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Communication that establishes trust, rapport & comprehension
- A fun and people-centred experience
- Fully embedded safer recruitment practices
Get these right, and you won’t just fill vacancies — you’ll build a committed, passionate team ready to shape the future of your business!
You can read more about us here: Love Childcare Recruitment