What it does: provides private school education in eight countries.
Best known for: The Beaconhouse School System is one of the largest private school networks in the world with around 308,000 students.
Staff stats: More than 5,000 employees.
The good bits: The company tends to hire people within seven days, sometimes in just 24 hours for urgently needed roles.
The not so good bits: The group prefers to hire men for certain positions such as accountants, assistant managers, project engineers, quantity surveyors and senior officers. Project engineers and quantity surveyors may not work as permanent employees.
Hiring grads with top marks in: education; human resources and law; hospitality; business and marketing; accounting and finance; journalism and mass communications.
The Beaconhouse School System started in 1975 when Les Anges Montessori Academy opened in Lahore, Pakistan. Three years later, the Beaconhouse Public School opened in the city. The organisation built its first purpose-built campus outside of Lahore in 1986. Beaconhouse chose Hyderabad for the location.
By 2002, the group launched The Educators programme as the first franchise-based school in the world. The establishment of Beaconhouse Educational Services Ltd in the U.K. followed in 2003. The opening of its first international schools in Malaysia and the Philippines happened in 2004 and 2005, respectively.
Beaconhouse celebrated the opening of its 100th school in 2006. The Les Anges Montessori Academy paved the way for a larger school network with more than 140 schools in different cities in Pakistan and seven countries.
Most people apply online for jobs at Beaconhouse. The process can take within a week depending on the number of interviews. Some urgent roles like learning coordinators can be filled in just one day. You should expect the hiring manager to conduct the initial interview, while you might be scheduled for a final interview with the department head.
Interview questions are quite common. The person might ask specific things that cross your mind when hearing a certain word. There will be a test for those who apply as an assistant editor.
The Beaconhouse Social Awareness Internship Programme allows students to work in education, environment and health among other sectors. Some of these organisations include CARE Foundation, WWF-Pakistan and Dawn in Pakistan. An internship may be your ticket to join the company as a full-time employee, as the company doesn’t seem to have entry-level roles for fresh graduates.
Project trainees for the business development unit must have at least one year of experience and a BBA. School administrators and office HRs must also have a year’s experience. Beaconhouse prefers to hire senior officers with an MBA Major in Marketing for senior officers or assistant managers. You should expect to travel a lot by accepting any of the two positions.
The average monthly salary of an elementary school teacher in Pakistan is around PKR 64,000. Beaconhouse pays from PKR 22,000 to PKR 24,000 to music teachers. Trainers earn at least PKR 48,000 per month, while editors earn up to PKR 60,000 per month. A regional accounts officer’s median monthly salary ranges between PKR 35,000 and PKR 37,000.
The company releases salaries on time based on the experience of many employees. Company benefits and incentives include free education for children of employees, health care and insurance, pension plan, sick leave and paid time off, and maternity and paternity leave.
The school system has a friendly work environment, especially among teachers. Employees learn from each other because of a mentor system. You should expect a demanding workload and an uneven work-life balance, as well as coping with the constraints of low salaries for teachers.
The place still has loyal employees with many of them working for more than 10 years, primarily because of a professional workplace and several training opportunities. A diverse workforce also contributes to a multicultural learning experience for employees.
Beaconhouse competes with different government and private schools in Pakistan such as Karachi Grammar School, Lahore Grammar School 55 Main, Pakistan Air Force College and Aitchison College.
The organisation’s corporate social responsibility projects comprise partnerships with local government units, charity donations, training and building programmes, and rehabilitation work for certain schools across Pakistan.
Beaconhouse invested in the recruitment of teachers in 2016-2017 for 100 government-run primary schools in Punjab. The organisation also improved the facilities in these schools with 20,000 students. They also donated learning materials from books to computers to the Sindh Education Foundation and government schools in Khairpur.
Financial aid for humanitarian projects has reached PKR 5 million each for the Punjab government and KPK Chief Ministers’ Fund and PKR 10 million for Flood Relief Funds. Beaconhouse also invested $10 million for the Beaconhouse National University, where thousands of scholars are accepted every year.
Graduates who need to land a job immediately after finishing their degrees should consider applying for a role at Beaconhouse. Aspiring teachers should expect below-average salaries, although this can be compensated with different learning opportunities. Be prepared to work long hours, which has been the issue for some employees.