Lack of Training is rife in UK Recruitment Companies

Recent findings at the fourth Resource Forum held at the IOD, detailed what is important to recruitment professionals when looking for a new employer. Surprisingly to some individuals training/personal career development was highest on the list of candidate desirables. Unfortunately the real state of play in the UK recruitment industry is that not enough recruitment companies invest in their employees by simply training and equipping them effectively for the job.

This was supported by last monthís poll conducted by CareersinRecruitment. They asked recruiters who visit their online job board as a candidate, how they rated their companyís training programme. Overwhelmingly at 64%, recruiters responded with the very startlingly answer that it is ëterrible ñ never get anyí.
Megan Hayes, Marketing Manager at CareersinRecruitment commented, ì I think the result speaks for itself. How can recruitment companies expect to retain their staff and enable them to progress into first-rate recruiters if there is a complete lack of investment in the employee? No wonder there is a high churn rate of staff in this industry, recruiters want to feel valued and appreciated. It is shortsighted of recruitment companies to not train their staff because if they do and do it well and then the employee does move on that they have wasted their money. Absolutely not, staff who are invested and nurtured are more likely to stay and if they do want to move on then perhaps questions should have been asked beforehand as to why?î

Mike Walmsley , presenter of FAST-TRACK recruitment training video series also adds, ìI find it very sad that, according to this survey, 64% of recruiters may not be reaching their true potential. Iíve seen many 100,000 billers who should be billing at least 250,000 pa - and a good number of 300,000 billers who should be billing 600,000 . All too often itís not due to attitude but simply that there isnít a culture of continuous learning within their current organisation.

There are two very simple ways for companies to initiate or enhance their learning culture. The first is to implement weekly, half-hourly training sessions, say from 8.15am ñ 8.45am. (so that there is very little disruption to the working day). These can comprise more experienced recruiters, managers or directors sharing ideas on specific recruitment techniques, the use of audio/audio-visual training products and - crucially ñ the use of role-plays to practice techniques until the words that consultants use with their clients and candidates are delivered to maximum effect.

Secondly is that recruiters who supervise staff should spend at least 20 minutes per week sitting with, and listening to, up to three of their staff. The benefits of this are obvious in that errors and omissions can be corrected ñ and, for companies that run weekly training programmes, managers are then conducting a weekly needs analysis for those sessions. For example, as managers know all-too-well if one consultant is failing to maximise the amount of sales information they could have obtained from a client call, the likelihood is that their colleagues will be making similar mistakes. By keeping on top of this on a weekly basis, sales figures improve and staff are less likely to leave as they will feel cared for and perform more successfully.î