The person behind the Collective.
One recruiter. One sector. An inch wide and a mile deep. Armitage Collective was built so every search gets thought through properly, one at a time. That’s what ‘Collective’ means: working in partnership with schools and teachers.
I built this the other way up.
I’m Jake Armitage. I’ve spent five years in education recruitment in Melbourne, all of it in the same sector, supporting teachers and leaders through their next move, across independent, Catholic and government schools.
I started Armitage Collective because there is a gap in the traditional recruitment model. The actual craft, knowing a school well enough to know who’d thrive there, carefully listening to teachers’ needs and working with them to find the right role, is what is missing. I’m not looking for quick wins. I’m looking for long-term success. I believe in a collective approach.
I think a school should have one partner from the first conversation to the end of the first year, at every step in between. That means taking the time to understand your school and what it actually needs, then searching carefully for the people who fit it.
So this practice is built the other way up. Education only. A network built one conversation at a time. And one person accountable for every placement: me.
There is a gap for a specialist search firm that holds the same standard on every search. I built one so I could run every search myself, which is the part of this work I love most.
Why “Collective”.
The name isn’t headcount. It’s the model. A collective of schools I know properly and teachers I’ve interviewed personally and understand their individual needs, connected by one person who knows both sides. When all three align, that’s a placement that lasts.
The school, the teacher and me working as one unit rather than two sides and someone in the middle. Working collectively to find a solution where everyone is a winner.
It is also the answer to appointments that don’t last. When a school’s needs and a teacher’s needs are genuinely aligned before anyone signs, the appointment holds. The goal is never the start date. It’s the teacher still thriving there three years on.
Five years. One sector. 50+ Victorian schools.
Armitage Collective launched in 2026. The experience behind it did not. Everything below is Jake’s, earned across five years in Victorian education recruitment.
Every sector, every stage
Government, Catholic, independent and special education, including Special Developmental Schools. Primary and secondary, Prep through to Year 12.
Classroom to principal
Classroom teachers and Education Support staff. Specialist VCE teachers across every discipline. Middle leaders and Positions of Responsibility, Heads of Department, Director-level roles. A principal appointment, run as a retained search.
The roles that sit open for a term
VCE Physics, Chemistry and Biology. VCE Maths. English and English Literature. Languages. Product Design and Technology. Learning Diversity and Special Education. Head of Library Services. If it is hard to fill, it is the reason to call.
Beyond Victoria
Teachers placed from the UK, Ireland, Canada, the USA and New Zealand, including sponsored appointments, most with a job signed before they land.
What the work runs on.
Trust
Both sides tell me things they would never put in an email. That is the basis of the work, and it is never traded for a placement.
Partnership
One partner from the first conversation to the end of the first year. The same person takes the brief, makes the calls and sees it through.
Accountability
Every search has one name against it. If something stalls, you hear it from me before you have to ask.
Excellence
The same standard on every search, whether it is a graduate teacher or a principal. Considered and deliberate, every time.
Three things I will not trade away.
Straight answers
If I can’t help, I say so early. If the right move is no move, I’ll tell you that too. The advice is only worth anything if it can be bad news.
A tailored approach
Listening comes first. Options come second. No one-size-fits-all approach. A CV does not reach a school without a phone call to the person it belongs to first.
Every placement followed up
A placement isn’t done at contract signing. I check in through the first term, both sides, because the measure is whether it held.
Melbourne, and the rest of Victoria.
Based in Prahran, working with schools across metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria.
Work with me.
One conversation, either side of the desk. Tell me what you’re trying to build and I’ll tell you honestly whether I can help.