Consulting

Our Consulting Services Division is staffed with a team of Senior Consultants, all of whom have been successful school heads across the globe. They bring expertise in a range of international school operations, including board governance, strategic planning, curriculum development, business & finance operations, marketing, and much more! This combination of practical knowledge, a global perspective and personalized attention that our Consultants provide sets us apart from any other recruiting firm.

For information about Business & Finance, HR, Admissions & Advancement and Marketing services, please contact Rajiv Bhat, Senior Consultant.

BUSINESS & FINANCE: Implement Best Practices to help you achieve your mission.

  • Financial modeling and budgeting.
  • Divisional profitability and tuition analysis.
  • Procurement (purchasing) best practices.
  • Finance office staffing, policies, manuals, audit and compliance.
  • Enrollment analysis, class size, campus capacity.
  • Benchmarks and key ratios relevant for international schools.
  • Opportunities for income diversification.
  • Co/Extra – Curricular efficiency in fees and funding.
  • Balance sheet and loan portfolio optimization.
  • Webinars and online workshops on key business and finance processes.

ADMISSIONS: Build your school's applications, enrolment and retention

  • Optimize department structure, roles and skillsets to grow enrolment  
  • Develop an effective enrollment pipeline, improve retention and maximize reenrollment. 
  • Understand enrolment pipeline to improve forecasting and budgeting. 
  • Develop an effective admissions enrolment reporting dashboard. 
  • Build an exceptional customer experience to strengthen relationships and conversion. 
  • Understand your market, create a plan to optimize outreach and engagement. 
  • Review and optimize admissions CRM software at your school. 
  • Developing the most effective Admissions Policies. 

    HUMAN RESOURCES: Attract the best talent to your school.

    • Assessment of the school’s overall value proposition for employees.
    • Improved recruitment, onboarding, and retention practices.
    • Compensation benchmarking.
    • HR policies and procedures including staff handbook and other materials.
    • Developing the optimal mix of overseas and host country national employees.
    • HR department staffing and budgeting.
    • Designing a new employee mentorship program.
    • Performance evaluation systems and procedures.
    • Review and recommendations of school policies on DEI and child protection.

    ADvancement: DEVELOPMENT, FUNDRAISING AND ALUMNI RELATIONS

    • Optimize department structure, roles, and skillsets to support Advancement initiatives. 
    • Create a vision and strategic plan for fundraising to grow income, engagement and alumni relations. 
    • Build a compelling narrative to support school capital projects, scholarships and teaching and learning needs. 
    • Create a 5-year roadmap with campaigns, programs and income targets.  
    • Develop compelling materials and engaging programs and events for parents, alumni and other donors. 
    • Optimize Fundraising and Alumni CRM platforms. Establish best practice Fundraising and donor policies. 

    MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS: Enhance your school’s brand presence.

    • A marketing & communications strategic plan that creates a powerful narrative and story about your school.
    • Guidance on overall school branding and brand identity.
    • An improved communications toolbox, including website, social media and email marketing.
    • Marketing strategy to effectively compete in your market.
    • Managing communications for fundraising campaigns, school events, sports meets, student artistic events, school Annual Reports etc.
    • Developing an affordable marketing and communications budget.
    • Webinars and workshops on best practices in school branding.

    For information about our other services listed below, please contact George Entwistle, Director of Consulting Services.

    GOVERNANCE

    • Developing Good Governance: Includes roles and responsibilities, effective practices, and implementation methods.
    • Board Structure and Composition: Provides ways to move to a more "hybrid" or self-perpetuating board by reviewing and revising constitutions and by-laws.
    • Policy and Procedure Reviews: Includes “slimming” policy manuals to shift procedures to operational handbooks. Also includes aligning policies and practices, evaluating and recommending policies.
    • Board and Head Evaluation Methods:
    • Transition Planning: Provides information designed for heads, boards, and board chairs.

    PLANNING

    • Strategic Planning: Includes school mission and vision, strategic goal-setting, action-planning, evaluating, and updating.
    • Start-up School Planning and Assistance
    • Feasibility Studies: Includes school expansion, additional programs (such as a high school program), etc. 
    • Survey Design and Data Analysis: Provides professional support and advice in audience identification, survey design, data collection, and analysis. 

    ADMINISTRATION / PERSONNEL

    • School Institutional Assessments: Provides ideas from an external, objective, and professional perspective. 
    • Staff Communication, Decision-Making, and Team-Building: Includes cross-cultural methods, effective and efficient meetings, etc.
    • Community Involvement Strategies
    • Compensation Reviews
    • Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategies

    EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS & SERVICES

    • Guidance Services: Includes student advising, development, and leadership in areas re­lated to secondary guidance, life-skills, and col­lege counseling programs.
    • Curriculum Development: Includes introduction of IB, bilingual, experiential and service learning programs.  
    • Host Culture and Cross-Cultural Studies: Provides ways to integrate your host country into your regular curriculum. 

    Did You Know…?

    Many international schools start recruiting in September for the following school year.