Why is employee training important for mid-career hires?

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Why is employee training important for mid-career hires?

Some companies do not conduct employee training for mid-career hires because of their skills and experiences.
They may have basic skills required at a workplace, however, you will find the value if you conduct training for them as the same as new hires.
In this article, we'll take a closer look at the importance of mid-career training and what makes for effective training.
 

Content

  • 1. Reasons for providing training to mid-career hires
  • 2. Training methods
  • 3. Key strategies
  • 4. Streamline employee training
  • 5. Summary

 

Reasons for providing training to mid-career hires

Why is it important to conduct training to mid-career hires?
Their skills and previous experiences may already be valuable in their workplace, and employee training may seem to be unnecessary for them. However, you should not ignore the advantages of training.
The following explain the extensive roles.
 

Tell them about your strategies

The nature of work varies from company to company.
Even if mid-career hires have experience in your industry, it does not always go well with the same rules as their previous jobs.
In some cases, such gaps could unmotivate them and lower employee retention rate regardless of their high performance.
What you need to do is to tell them about the strategies of your company through employee training so that they can understand them well.
 

Learn about company philosophy

In terms of the knowledge of company philosophy, there is no difference between new graduates and mid-career hires.
Employee training plays an important role to convey the importance of company philosophy, and to indicate all employees to company objectives.
 

Build team camaraderie

HR leaders need to support mid-career hires in that they have few colleagues who entered a company on the same date unlike new graduates.
This may make it difficult for them to communicate with other employees, and in some cases, some of them are expected to become isolated within the company.
Employee training can be one of the opportunities to connect mid-career hires with other employees. Such attempts will contribute to building team camaraderie, which will result in human capital development as a whole.


 

Training methods


We recommend three types of training methods as below.
Each method has great advantages. Now, let’s take a look at them.
 

OJT

On-the-job training (OJT) is one of the most traditional training methods for employee training.
As the biggest advantage, employees can acquire knowledge and skills through their duties at their workplace. In most cases, their boss tends to be assigned as a trainer, and this is effective if employees have difficulties to conduct lectures within their training schedule for some reasons.
 

Classroom learning

Classroom learning includes internal or external lectures, and some are conducted by qualified trainers.
Through this type of training, trainees are expected to improve their skills and retain deeper knowledge.
Since trainers are specialized in the field, trainees can focus on content which is indispensable for their skills. Also, as with other training, there may be great opportunities to have conversation with other trainees, which are effective tips to boost employee performance.
 

 elearning

Elearning has been attracting more attention as an effective training method in recent years.
This is because the current trend seems to meet company needs to adapt to the “new normal”.
Many companies have faced challenges of gathering people in one venue for employee training because of the COVID-19 disaster. Thanks for the spread of portable digital devices including smartphones and tablet, introducing elearning allows trainees to take training courses without going to a training venue nor restrict their schedule.


 

Key strategies

We explore three key strategies for successful employee training for mid-career hires below.
 

Set a purpose and time frame.

Setting a purpose of training is the most significant factor to build a successful strategy.
What skills do mid-career hires want to acquire? Before you start the task, ask them what objectives they are designing in their mind.
Time frame is also meaningful for this stage and cannot be set apart from the purpose. Clear purpose will lead to a clear time frame to achieve their goals. When you clarify both of them , it’s time to go on to the next step for your strategies.
 

Make the right assessment

Make sure if assessment criterias are appropriate.
Although it is required to make a comprehensive assessment based on both subjective and objective factors, an ambiguous evaluation is counterproductive.
Before you start your training, define assessment criterias and modify them if necessary.
 

1 on 1 meeting

Compared to new graduates, mid-career hires are less likely to have basic information about business or other elements related to their actual duties.
This means, they may struggle to understand the content if they do not have the knowledge. 1 on 1 meetings will prevent such problems, and protect them as human capital in your organization.
 

Streamline employee training


As for efficient employee training for the next normal, you should take “HR technology” (also known as HR tech) into account.
It is significant changes in human resource development with technologies in a strategic way to add value to your business and improve employees skills.
 

Rapid change of HR in the pandemic

As you know, COVID-19 has affected our lives in many ways. In terms of HR development, it is not an exception.
Many companies have introduced online learning including LMS and Webinars as the countermeasures so that employees can continue learning without direct face-to-face interaction.
Instead of traditional classroom learning, you have other choices in or after the coronavirus pandemic.
 

Effects of HR tech

Advantages of mid-career hires are, as we mentioned above, their experiences and skills which they acquired in their previous jobs.
Since they already have basic knowledge or business skills, you do not have to focus on such kinds of training as much as new graduates. However, there may be difficulties without training for their different values of thinking.
The main purpose of employee training for mid-career hires is to help them to handle their duties along with your company philosophy. By taking advantage of HR tech, they can play an active role in your organization while leveraging their own experience.

We recommend introducing HR tech to your employee training because trainees can commonly take the same course.
This means that you can share knowledge and philosophy with trainees equally. Even if they do not understand some part of it, repetitive learning by HR tech will result in well-understanding.
Another effective tip for HR tech is virtual face-to-face training.
Utilizing a webcam helps you find their feelings through trainees’ facial expressions, and there will be opportunities to listen to their direct opinions and anxieties toward their duties or training.
In addition, this is effective in that cost-saving strategies as well. Since costs for venue or transportation fee are not required, it will be a great advantage for your organization.


 

Summary

When you are in charge of employee training, keep in mind that the training strategies for mid-career hires are not the same as new graduates.
Regardless of their experiences and skills from their previous jobs, some do not always get along with coworkers nor do well with their duties.
To reach their full potential, it is required to choose a strategic training that meets your company needs. While employee training, do not forget to support trainees even if it’s mid-career hires.

Our elearning system called learningBOX has been chosen by many companies for their solutions of learning and development.
SeeLearningBOX Case Study.
We have our Free Planfor you. It does not cost you any as long as the number of accounts is up to 10.
If you are interested, try it now.
 

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