Guide
A nursery careers page that actually recruits
Seven in ten nurseries say they lack the staff to run at capacity, with an average of 4.2 full-time vacancies each (NDNA, June 2025). The careers page is now the second most important page on the site. Most settings do not have one.
The problem, with numbers
NDNA's June 2025 workforce survey of 714 settings found 69.8% lacked staff to operate at capacity, 57.7% could not meet baby room demand for that reason, and pay was the top reason for leaving, cited by half. The DfE Provider Survey 2025 puts group-based staff turnover at about 14%, double the school-based figure.
Sources: NDNA, "Early years workforce crisis demands urgent action", 6 June 2025; DfE Childcare and Early Years Provider Survey 2025, 11 December 2025.
What a candidate looks for
Answer first: pay, hours and the room. A job advert that says "competitive salary" loses to one that says "£27,500 to £29,000, 40 hours, 4 days, baby room". Then: qualification level required, whether you fund Level 3, paid planning time, the ratio they will work at, and how the setting handles the things that make people leave, which are pay, paperwork and feeling unsupported.
Say what the day looks like. Name the manager. Show the room. A photo of the staff room does more than a paragraph about values.
Getting vacancies into Google
Google shows job listings directly in results when the page carries JobPosting structured data: title, description, location, employer, date posted, valid-through date, and pay where you state it. Every vacancy on a site we build carries it. It puts a Level 3 role in front of someone searching "nursery jobs near me" without paying a job board, and "nursery recruitment" itself is searched only 50 times a month, so the candidate-side phrases are where the traffic is.
The application form
Two minutes, on a phone, no CV upload required. Name, contact details, qualification level, the role, availability, and one question: "tell us about a room you have worked in". A candidate who fills that in has told you enough to call. The long form comes later. The form emails the manager the same day, and someone replies within 24 hours, because a candidate with two applications out takes the first reply.
Then the retention page, which is the same page read by current staff: the pay scale, the training budget, the progression. If it is true, publish it.