Tag: learning and development consultant

Why You Need a Specialist to Find the Right Learning and Development Consultant

by Rodrigo Salazar

When you’re looking for the perfect learning and development consultant for your team, it makes sense to work with someone who knows the job inside and out.

For most of my adult life, I had difficulty breathing through my nose. This dramatically affected my health and state of mind—I couldn’t sleep well, I suffered from severe allergies, and I had to breathe through my mouth all the time. (Take a moment, breathe in, and give thanks.) And as you can imagine, the accompanying heavy snoring and sleep apnea did not win me any fans.

Finally, overcoming my own inertia and fear of medical procedures, I decided to get this part of my life under control and scheduled my first visit with a doctor. I asked family and friends for recommendations, and coincidentally my brother had surgery a couple of years ago and strongly recommended that I see his otolaryngologist, Dr. Campos, a specialist in disorders of the ear, nose, and throat (ENT).

On my first visit, Dr. Campos asked me a few questions, checked a few things using her ENT gadgets, and then diagnosed me. The ideal solution for me was to have surgery, which consisted in not one, not two, but three different procedures. Though nervous, I could tell she was an experienced professional (she had probably done this hundreds of times), and she was confident yet warm and empathetic. I knew I was in good hands.

A couple of months after my initial consultation, I had surgery. After two weeks of a less than fun recovery, I am happy to say I can breathe like a normal human being. My quality of life has improved significantly!

Now, imagine for a moment that instead of going to an ENT, I went to a cardiologist or a neurologist. Sound scary? With a different kind of specialist, I might have been misdiagnosed and sent down the wrong path, spending time and money, worrying, and not finding a cure. A lot of frightening scenarios—and a far greater chance that things wouldn’t go as well as they did.

This leads me to the business world, and what I do here at SweetRush. I often talk to clients who are interested in filling a temporary role for a learning and development consultant on their team. Many of them are already working with other companies to fulfill those needs, and often I discover they’re working with an IT staffing firm or a general recruitment agency. I am always shocked that they are seeking mission-critical talent from folks who do not specialize in learning and development. That would be as if I had gone to the neurologist to treat my breathing conditions!

A couple of years ago, one of our clients, a Big Three consulting firm, came to us with a very specific need. The firm was looking for a senior instructional designer with a focus on eLearning, a business background, and excellent project management skills—a top-caliber learning and development consultant. Even for a specialist, filling this profile is a challenge.

But for the IT recruiter, this would be an exercise in futility and waste a lot of client time. At SweetRush, we understand that instructional designers and other learning and development consultants come in all different flavors, and we can recognize those flavors and select the right one for our clients. In less than a week, we could find and submit seven candidates who were well matched to the requirements. The client selected five candidates to interview and finally chose one to join its team. This person ended up engaging with our client for almost two years, which speaks to how well this learning and development consultant fit in and performed with the firm’s team.

If you’ve been using an IT recruiting firm to find temporary talent for your learning and development team, I think you’d be far better served with a learning and development–focused firm like SweetRush. With SweetRush, you can expect faster candidate submissions, a higher-quality bar for talent, and unsurpassed support during the engagement. And the best part is that you’ll be able to sleep better…just as I did after the surgery.

Do you have a position open for a learning and development consultant? Find out more about SweetRush’s staffing services, or contact Rodrigo. It would make his day to hear from you!

Rodrigo Salazar is the Manager of Talent Solutions at SweetRush.

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On-boarding Contractors the SweetRush Way

by Jo.Coulson

Staff augmentation is a strategy used to staff a project with short-term contractors. Standard practice with staff augmentation firms includes recruiting, hiring, and other duties associated with HR compliance and payroll. These services save both time and money, and help you to continue to focus on your daily responsibilities. In addition to hiring and placing talent, however, there is an often overlooked step: on-boarding.

Data suggests there is increased speed-to-competency and cost-savings associated with an effective on-boarding program for employees. Most of this data stems from programs provided to full-time employees. We at SweetRush believe there is a correlation to contract talent as well, and it is why we have developed a program that goes beyond the standard “contractor orientation” program.

There is also a role for our clients in the on-boarding process. While we work closely with our clients to ensure our contractors are as prepared as possible for their assignment, we have found that on-boarding by the client is also very helpful. According to Forbes columnist and on-boarding expert Emily Bennington, on-boarding is as equally critical for contractors as it is for employees, particularly those who may interact with clients.

Below, I’ve outlined the SweetRush process, along with a few suggestions to help you think through the creation of an on-boarding program for your contract talent.

The SweetRush Way

During our initial intake process, we begin to build a client profile for you so we can fully understand your needs. In addition to contractor specifications, we gather company, department, and project data, along with information about your corporate culture, your stakeholders, and your team. While this profile is initially used to help us find the right talent to fit your needs, it’s also essential information for on-boarding.

We have a three-part process:

  1. Orientation to SweetRush. This includes our culture and values, and our processes, tools, and resources. By completing this orientation before the assignment, our contractors can turn their focus completely to you.
  2. Client and project orientation. This is a high-level orientation based on our knowledge of you and the projectThe first two are, of course, essential to a successful project start. What we believe really differentiates us is part 3, however:
  3. Mentoring. We establish a SweetRush mentoring relationship with the contractor. This support is on-going throughout the engagement, and the same person often serves as the client liaison. We have found that both our clients and our contractors greatly value the additional support and guidance.

Our Clients’ Role

Some organizations have extensive on-boarding programs in place that cover culture, policies, job skills, and so on. Although providing such a program is not always very practical for short-term contractors,  there are components of those programs that should be considered in a contractor on-boarding program.

  1. Company culture. It is helpful for contractors to understand your corporate values and policies, as well as department or client subcultures. By understanding your culture, contractors can avoid missteps and become a champion for your organization.
  2. Resources. It is useful for contractors to know early in the project what company resources are available and how to gain access and support if needed. These resources may include systems or people.
  3. Training. Contractors come to the table with a specific set of skills — it’s why you hire them in the first place. Consider, though, if there is proprietary training you need to provide.
  4. Team integration. Consider what ways you can connect contractors to your team and organization so they feel like they are part of the team. We recommend assigning an internal resource to answer questions.

Providing contractors with an efficient and targeted on-boarding program increases the potential for successful project results. We are proud of the process we have developed, and believe it’s a significant factor in making our staff augmentation engagements highly successful. Feel free to contact me anytime to discuss how we might help you with your short-term staffing needs, or about creating an on-boarding program for your contract or full-time employees.