When should you hire a full-time Trainer in-house?

Today’s recruitment market is seeing a lot of agencies hire full time Learning and Development professionals to induct, inspire and develop their consultants and managers so they can realise their full potential.

This leads to the question; ‘When should I hire a full time trainer in-house?’

The recruitment industry in the UK is the most developed in the world, and lots of businesses are expanding their sales force; one deciding factor to this question is whether your business hires rookies / trainee consultants or just experienced staff. With no dedicated L&D professional, some organisations see managers and directors spend lots of time and effort training and monitoring these trainees – “if the business in question has 12+ trainees in house – so much that the directors and managers time is compromised – then it makes sense to have a permanent Learning and Development resource in house” - Adrian Price, Recruitment Sector L&D Specialist.

If your business mostly takes on experienced staff then you could wait until your business is larger before investing in this resource. It is an unargueable point that every recruiter / manager can continue to improve and develop themselves and an L&D specialist will be able to induct and train rookies whilst fine tuning and growing the skills of experienced recruiters. Bringing in experienced consultants comes at a cost in terms of salaries (and if you use one, rec to rec fees too), and with an L&D person in-house developing trainee consultants you won’t need to invest in experienced hires as much. A lot of what an L&D professional will do is to help eradicate bad habits and hopefully make your consultants as efficient as possible.

An in-house learning and development specialist should espouse the culture of the organisation, provide reassurance and presence to new hires, make sure everyone recruits in the way you intend and display the right attributes. A lot of value is gained with direct delivery training during the first few weeks a trainee experiences in an organisation. If your business does not quite warrant a full time L&D employee then it makes sense to look at bringing one in on a part time basis or investing in a freelance consultant. In today’s candidate driven market, it is crucial to get ahead of the competition and ensure your staff maximise their potential.

“Train your staff well enough so they are able to leave, look after them properly so they won’t want to” - Richard Branson.

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