Vetting and Onboarding Team Leader

Contract: Fixed-term (Maternity Cover to August 2026)

Do you have experience in education recruitment and a strong understanding of compliance checks required for hiring staff? Are you confident in leading a team to deliver a smooth and efficient onboarding experience? If so, we have an exciting opportunity for you to lead our Vetting and Onboarding team at The Bedford College Group.

Why Join Us?

At The Bedford College Group, we are committed to excellence in education and fostering a supportive and inclusive work environment. This role offers a unique chance to shape the onboarding and vetting experience for new employees, making a real impact on our workforce and student community.

What You'll Be Doing:

• Leading and managing our Onboarding and Vetting team to ensure a smooth and proactive experience for all new hires.
• Overseeing compliance, ensuring all onboarding activities align with Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE), GDPR, and HR best practices.
• Driving improvements, refining processes, and keeping up with legislation to enhance efficiency and engagement.
• Providing expert guidance, acting as the primary point of escalation for stakeholders, and ensuring compliance with our policies.
• Maintaining and reporting on key performance metrics, ensuring a high level of service delivery.

What We're Looking For:

• Experience in HR, onboarding, or recruitment processes, with strong knowledge of compliance and best practices.
• Leadership skills, with the ability to motivate, support, and develop a team.
• Excellent communication and problem-solving abilities, ensuring an engaging and efficient onboarding journey.
• Strong IT skills, including proficiency with HR systems and Microsoft Office.
• Ability to work under pressure, meet deadlines, and manage multiple tasks effectively.

Successful candidates must also be able to demonstrate alignment to our organisational VISION values:

• Valuing Teamwork - We are one team who by working together can achieve great things, respecting the opinion and valuing the contribution each of us makes.
• Improving Continuously - We challenge ourselves to always do better by trying new things, sharing knowledge, reflecting on practice and learning from others.
• Student Centred - At our heart is always doing what is best for our students. We consider students in all of our decision making to create positive outcomes and memorable experiences for every student.
• Inclusive - We celebrate differences and diversity, recognising that we can learn from each other.
• Open and Caring - We care about the wellbeing of our staff, our students, our community and wider society, creating an environment built on trust where we listen, engage with and support each other.
• Nurturing Education Excellence - We promote educational excellence by delivering programmes that challenge our students to achieve their ambitions.

What We Offer

• A supportive and inclusive working environment.
• Opportunities for professional development and career progression.
• The chance to shape HR practices within a leading education group
• The opportunity to make a real impact in an organisation dedicated to educational excellence.
• 27 days holiday plus bank holidays per annum
• Retail and leisure discounts by RewardGateway
• Peoples Pension

About The Bedford College Group

The Bedford College Group was formed in 2017 following the merger of Bedford College and Tresham College and is now the largest provider of education in the South East Midlands, with over 15,000 students passing through our doors each year.

Today, the Group is made up of a family of colleges across Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire: Bedford College, Central Bedfordshire College and Tresham College in the towns of Bedford, Dunstable, Leighton Buzzard, Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough; Shuttleworth College, a specialist land-based college; The Bedford Sixth Form, (the only dedicated sixth form in Bedford); The Corby Sixth Form, (opened in September 2023); and the National College for Motorsport alongside Silverstone race circuit. To widen accessibility to education and training, the Group also has community-based Learning Centres in Bedford, Corby and Kettering which offer IT training.

Safeguarding our Students

The Bedford College Group is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. The successful candidate will be subject to thorough vetting process which includes, an enhanced DBS check and satisfactory references.

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the Exceptions Order 1975, provides information about which convictions must be declared during job applications and related exceptions and further information about filtering offences can be found in the DBS filtering guide. The Bedford College Group's policy on Employment of Ex-Offenders is attached to this vacancy.

Candidates who are barred from working with children are reminded it is a criminal offence to apply for this post.

Interviews are planned to take place on 17th March 2025.

Job Description:

Onboarding and Vetting Team Leader JDPS.docx