Does the type of school you are, and the role I am recruiting for, impact the recruitment process?

Yes, very much so, and taking specific advice is recommended.

In maintained schools, responsibility for decisions relating to appointments are set out in the School Staffing Regulations.

Specifically:

• A panel (of at least three governors) is responsible for appointing the head and deputy headteacher;
• The Governing body (or a committee or headteacher to which / whom the Governing body has delegated responsibility) is responsible for appointing other teachers and support staff;
• The Local Authority (unless otherwise agreed) is responsible for appointing school meals staff.

In community, voluntary controlled, community special and maintained nursery schools, the local authority (as the employer) is then responsible for actually making the appointment.

For maintained schools, the School Staffing Regulation also prescribe the process, which varies depending on whether you are recruiting a headteacher or deputy headteacher, other teachers or support staff.

On the other hand, the proprietor of an independent school or academy is responsible for appointing staff in the same way in which any employer may appoint staff, and the process, which can usually be found in an academy’s articles of association, can be less prescribed.