Step By Step HR

What Step By Step HR does

Step By Step HR (also operating as SBS HR) is a privately held recruitment agency founded in 2012 and co-led by Jay Sen and Sophie Hope. The company specializes in connecting native English-speaking teachers with educational institutions across Asia, serving international schools, private schools, universities, training centers, and government schools in four core markets: the UAE, China, Japan, and Taiwan. Its core service is a structured nine-step teacher recruitment process that begins with a free consultation and runs through customized hiring strategy development, candidate sourcing and filtering, video profile and demo lesson presentation, interview scheduling, work-visa follow-up, and pre-arrival cultural preparation.

The company operates a proprietary video profile platform that enables schools to hear candidate voices and watch introductory and demo lesson videos before reviewing CVs, with the company claiming this saves schools hundreds of hours in screening effort. The team conducts 200-300+ native English teacher interviews per month and presents only candidates who have pre-accepted offers. A small team of sourcing specialists and hiring experts, supplemented by part-time virtual sales representatives, executes the workflow, with contact conducted via website forms, email, WhatsApp, LINE, WeChat, and Skype.

The business model is professional-services based, charging schools for end-to-end recruitment and deriving revenue from placement fees; specific pricing is not publicly disclosed. Go-to-market combines direct sales outreach with content marketing through a weekly blog and podcast, country-specific landing pages, and a free-consultation entry point. The company reports cumulative placement of 10,000+ teachers across 1,000+ schools since inception and holds a contact address on 5th Avenue, New York, while operating virtually across Asia.

Name

Step By Step HR

Legal name

Step By Step HR

Website

https://stepbystephr.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Step By Step HR is a privately held recruitment agency founded in 2012 that connects native English-speaking teachers with international schools, private schools, universities, and training centers across the UAE, China, Japan, and Taiwan via a nine-step hiring process anchored by video profile pre-screening.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Education Recruitment Services

NAICS

Employment Placement Agencies (561311)

SIC

Services-Employment Agencies (7361)

akta.pro primary industry

Education Direct Hire (Teachers/Administrators) (BPACAFAI)

akta.pro secondary industry

Student Recruitment & Lead Generation Agencies (EDAIACAA)

Keywords

• ESL teacher recruitment
• International school staffing
• Teacher placement services
• Asia recruitment agency
• Native English teachers

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Teacher Recruitment Services: Step By Step HR acts as an external hiring team for schools in Asia, charging schools for recruitment services to find native English teachers. The company helps schools throughout the entire hiring process from consultation to visa follow-up.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Step By Step HR is a recruitment agency that places native English-speaking teachers at international schools, private schools, universities, and training centers across Asia. It runs a nine-step hiring process covering free consultation, customized hiring strategy, candidate sourcing and filtering, video profile presentation, demo lesson previews, interview scheduling, work visa follow-up, and pre-arrival preparation. Schools in UAE, China, Japan, and Taiwan are the paying clients, and candidates are pre-screened using video profiles and demo lessons before interviews are scheduled.

Product overview

Step By Step HR operates as a single unified teacher recruitment service rather than a multi-product platform. The company offers a comprehensive hiring solution for international schools, private schools, universities, and training centers across Asia, connecting them with native English teachers. The service follows a structured 9-step process: free consultation with hiring experts, development of customized hiring strategies, candidate attraction and filtering from multiple talent sources, presentation of video profiles with candidate introductions, demo lesson previews (5-10 minutes), scheduling of diploma interviews, work visa/Z visa follow-up support, pre-arrival cultural preparation, and ongoing best practices communication. The company was established in 2012 and has helped place teachers in over 1,000 educational institutions across Asia.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Teacher Recruitment Services

Quantifiable outcome

• 200-300+ Native English teachers interviewed monthly
• +1 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Edvectus: Edvectus is a recruitment firm specializing in placing teachers and administrators in international schools across Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. It directly competes with Step By Step HR for native English-speaking teacher placements in the same Asian school markets.
• Dave's ESL Cafe: Dave's ESL Cafe is one of the largest ESL job boards and community sites, used by teachers and schools worldwide — including Asia. It is a direct peer in ESL teacher sourcing and serves as an alternative channel for schools seeking the same candidate pool as Step By Step HR.
• Search Associates: Search Associates is a long-standing international teacher recruitment agency that places educators in K-12 international schools worldwide. It is a direct peer to Step By Step HR in the international school teacher placement market with overlapping candidate pools and school clients.
• Footprints Recruiting: Footprints Recruiting is an agency that places teachers in international schools across Asia and the Middle East. It is a direct peer to Step By Step HR in the niche of recruiting Western-trained educators for ESL and subject roles at international schools.
• Teacher Horizons: Teacher Horizons is an online platform connecting international schools with teachers globally, with strong presence in Asia and the Middle East. It is a direct peer that combines recruiter-style service with a digital marketplace — directly comparable to SBS HR's video-screening workflow.
• Teach Away: Teach Away is a teacher recruitment and placement company that connects educators with international schools and ESL programs globally. It is a direct peer given overlapping focus on international K-12 teaching placements and ESL teacher sourcing.
• The International Educator (TIE): TIE is a job board and recruitment resource for international school teachers, with a strong presence in Asia and the Middle East. It is a direct peer to Step By Step HR, focusing on the same international K-12 teacher placement market.

Emerging players

• Schrole (ISS-Schrole): Schrole is a recruitment and management platform built for international schools, covering teacher applications, contracts, and onboarding. It competes with Step By Step HR's placement workflow but adds SaaS-style tooling for schools.

Broad incumbents

• International Schools Services (ISS): ISS is a long-established organization providing recruitment, consulting, and operational services to international schools globally. It is a broader incumbent in the international school staffing space, overlapping with SBS HR's teacher placement offering but with a wider portfolio.

Regional players

• TimePlan Education: TimePlan Education is a UK-based teacher recruitment agency with international school placements including Asia. It is a regional peer serving overlapping teacher segments but primarily from a UK candidate base and headquarters.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Step By Step HR