The idea of learning has changed over time and today industries of all sizes are dependent on one common factor to be sustainable in its business: learning and development.
My company established its learning and development team in 2012, becoming one of the very few staffing companies with a separate function and investment plans dedicated to learning and development.
Within two years, we have travelled a long way with programs that had paved ways for better productivity and contributing to making us not only a learning organization but also a Great Place to Work.
Over the last two years we have had more than 200 programs targeting every level within the organization. We have defined modules tailored for the MSP/VMS recruiting environment, and training plays a very important role in performance, promotions and appraisals.
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In the Beginning
It all started when we realized our people were not able to perform and we felt that we could do better, having been in the recruiting space for more than a decade.
Most learning happens within the teams. The best practices come from the teams, but some would be reluctant to share their success mantra — or most important, they simply lacked the opportunity or the forum where they could share and gain credibility.
The learning and development team believes in its people and gives them the opportunity to exhibit their knowledge, grow credibility and create a common standard to everyone associated in this business.
Attendance to this voluntary program has been more than 95%. And survey responses indicate a nearly universal feeling that they have learned something new and can relate it to their role.
How We Do It
We conduct about 15 programs per quarter, averaging 40 training days. Each quarter brings at least two new programs and with two new initiatives.
In the last quarter, 25% of our training sessions were focused on the new hire orientations, 13% on the technical knowledge, 6% on soft skills, 6% on leadership, and 50% on the processes (functional).
We executed ongoing trainings that would help every employee refresh their knowledge and skills on the subject and new initiatives that they could add to their knowledge base.
Beyond that, regular quizzes and games keep our team motivated and we use a gamification model to make learning fun, simple and acceptable.
To manage programs effectively, our team is working toward building a learning management system and having employees become certified recruiters.
From being regular recruiters to becoming subject matter experts, we have built our teams so they can cope with any challenge and deliver excellence.
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