HR and Recruitment Manager

About the role:

Part of the Ark charity, Ark Start is a start-up nursery venture aiming to ensure that every child has access to an excellent early years’ education and that families have access to flexible and affordable childcare. Key to this is our staff and so we are looking for an HR and Recruitment Manager who shares a passion for our mission and values and who can ensure we attract high quality candidates and then support them through the employee lifecycle. Ark Start currently has 5 nurseries with circa 50 staff in the London nurseries and are planning to expand quickly over the next year.

The successful candidate will be passionate about Ark’s mission and values. They will excel in a range of different duties (including recruitment, employee relations, training and progression planning while also being responsible for all Ark Start HR policies, processes and systems) as well as communicating with external and internal stakeholders all while demonstrating high levels of attention to detail in their work.

The role would suit a dynamic HR Manager with a strong sense of social justice, who would relish the challenge of building the HR and recruitment function in a start-up organisation. With the support of an established People infrastructure within the wider charity, this role would suit someone keen to take a lead across all areas of HR and recruitment, with the opportunity to develop further in a fast-growing start-up organisation.

• Share information and meet regularly with Ark’s People Team (including HR Operations, Business Partnering and Recruitment Teams) to ensure that any HR, recruitment or talent practice and processes are operating within the wider Ark policies and that best practices are being used/ developed.
• Manage end-to-end attraction, recruitment and onboarding processes for all nursery-based roles (including approval for vacancy requests, writing job descriptions, posting adverts, shortlisting, and screening calls, interview assessments, candidate feedback and ensuring that all new starter pre-employment checks are completed with sufficient time before starting).
• Support Managers to develop induction plans for new starters and manage probation effectively.
• Work with the communications team to ensure a strong and growing employer brand.
• Work with Ark Start SLT to develop an effective attraction strategy which delivers high quality candidates to our nursery provision.
• Manage relationships with relevant recruitment agencies, where relevant, ensuring the most cost-effective provision of staffing.
• Build and nurture a pipeline of warm candidates for upcoming roles, including through active headhunting.
• Working with the Ark HR Ops Team and the Operations Director, to review and update the Ark Start People policies, processes and handbook, ensuring all documents are up to date, accessible with practices followed throughout the organisation.
• Review monthly payroll to ensure accuracy and check all adjustments are calculated in line with Ark Start’s agreed policies.
• With support from Ark’s HR Business Partnering Team, as appropriate.
  
  • Respond to staff issues and questions, with formal communications as required.
  • Advise on employment practices, pay and conditions of service, and best practice implications of employment issues.
  • Advise and support a wide range of ER issues, including discipline, capability, absence and grievance, together with attendance at meetings.
  • Support with change management programmes/initiatives/TUPE, ensuring that all activities are firmly aligned with the needs of the organisation and are consistent with legal obligations.
• Advise Ark Start line managers on the performance management process, ensuring reviews are all completed on time.
• Ensure staff training requirements are up to date and records maintained accurately.
• Implement, and support with, staff wellbeing and employee engagement initiatives.
• Work with the Operations Director and Ark People Team to run surveys (feedback from applicants, exit interviews and twice-yearly staff surveys) identifying key areas of development or improvement to help us attract and retain staff.
• Ensure that the HR and recruitment systems are set up appropriately, with information correct and up to date, to give Ark Start SLT relevant information for decision making.
• Provide regular data analysis and progress reports on talent pipeline, recruitment processes and KPIs on absence, turnover and progression in a way that underpins best practice and effective people management and planning.