Bus conductor

Like employers the world over we have to meet a number of obligations to our employees. Labour Laws in Kenya are very similar to those in the UK so it makes it easier, in some respects, for us to be compliant. We are suffering from a minor population explosion among our ranks at the moment. Two of our primary school teachers are about to go off on maternity leave so we have got to find temporary replacements for them.

Today we conducted our first interviews for one of these temporary posts. Recruiting teaching staff in Kenya is a very different process to that in the UK. In the UK an advert in the Times Educational Supplement would almost guarantee a good field of candidates to choose from, drawn very often from across the country. In our part of Kenya the process is a lot more localised. It is difficult to entice teachers to come to a rural location like ours. Fortunately we have a file with applicants’ details in from previous recruitments so we can usually draw up a shortlist. It isn't always possible to ensure that shortlisted candidates will attend the interview but we do our best.

Our Senior Management Team (SMT) has convened as an interview panel a few times now so we are quite good at putting interviewees on the spot with a set of finely tuned questions. We share the questions between us and chip in as we feel prompted during an interviewee’s responses. I was very encouraged today by the answers we received from our successful candidate. We are trying very hard to adopt a principle from the Jim Collins book Good to Great as we build up our team of teachers. Originally featuring in a very crazy book called The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test we are working very hard at making sure we have 'the right people on the bus with us'. Being a bus conductor was never really high on my life work wish list but it’s a nice metaphor. Right now the bus is rolling on and we’re all packed for a long journey.