As a Canadian recruitment agency, it’s essential that our specialists have a clear understanding of the needs and aspirations of our candidates. In our fast-paced world, the pressure is always on for workers to increase and update their skills. To stay relevant employees want to be trained in the latest best practices and technologies, especially in highly technical fields such as engineering, finance and health care. Companies need to invest in professional development and training to stay competitive. Opportunities for training can also make the difference in a recruiting situation – especially for millennial candidates.

Professional Development as a Recruiting Tool

The research shows that it’s critical for organizations to re-invest in employee development. People who develop their abilities are likely to believe in their future growth potential. Employers who invest in that education are far more likely to retain employees than those who don’t. Options include offering the candidate the opportunity to develop a learning and development training plan themselves, creating a training program based on required or future skillsets, or coaching and mentorships. It’s important to set out these opportunities at the recruiting stage.  Now let’s take a look at a few of the latest trends in professional development; it’s here that Human Resources department can lead innovation through creating and delivering relevant programs that are available on demand.

Newest Learning and Development Trends

We can expect employers to move away from traditional, structured learning models and to embrace more informal, more self-directed options. Some of the options you may wish to consider include:
Virtual and augmented reality – whether it’s providing healthcare workers with real-world simulations that address an experience gap or preparing Walmart workers for holiday rush crowds, virtual reality is a great way to help employees build confidence and practice skills.
Niche learning – for fast-growing industries such as cybersecurity, craft beer or legalized marijuana, training organizations in specific areas are on the rise, providing both online and in-person options for training.
Distributed and team learning – as more and more employees work from remote locations or from the field, connectivity is becoming more necessary, so companies are developing more customized distance learning for distributed teams.

Using Technology to Stay Ahead of the Learning Curve

Large organizations from Walmart to EY are creating their own virtual universities that offer instruction and coaching in a virtual setting. An option for smaller companies is the massive open online course, or MOOC, which are readily available and relatively inexpensive on various platforms. Some companies are teaming up with MOOCs to produce custom content for their employees to access.
Social connectivity encourages user-generated idea sharing and learning, which can take the place of formal learning. Apps or industry-leading tools such as Slack or Microsoft Teams can be utilized to motivate collaborative learning in an informal, engaging setting.
Of course, there are other ways that experienced human resources professionals can provide professional development or learning opportunities to interested employees, including mentoring, guest speakers, job rotation, or integrating teams across departments.
If your company could benefit from a Recruitment Company to help you find HR talent experienced in learning and development programs contact Henry Goldbeck, President at Goldbeck Recruiting.