The benefits of using a specialist training recruitment company

Careers Australia had been looking to fill a vacancy for a programme manager for three weeks.

Numerous discussions and around 60 applications later, they had still not made any progress – time was running out. It was crucial to fill the position quickly, however none of the candidates they interviewed seemed to have the right skills or expertise.

Then, someone suggested using a recruitment company, but that idea was turned down – the position had specific requirements that only someone from the education industry would understand.

Then a senior executive suggested using Edutemps, a specialist staffing agency for training organisations.

It was a match made in heaven from the get go. They understood the job description as soon as they were briefed. Within 48 hours they presented a candidate to Careers Australia – the person was interviewed and by the time the hiring manager got back to Edutemps with a job offer, the specialist firm had already completed reference checks. The task took a week from start to finish.

Business Partner, Recruitment & Resourcing at Careers Australia Heather Murray says the process was very seamless.

“If we had used an generalist agency their focus would have been to just put someone in a seat, where as Mike and Andrew at Edutemps know what they are doing,” she added.

When it comes to learning and development positions, the requirements are quite specific. This is because, Ms Murray says, registered training organisations are bound by legislation as well as the learning needs of a diverse audience.

Registered training organisations have a unique culture and when hiring staff it is quite important to ensure that they understand the distinctive environment.

“Their breadth of knowledge is fantastic. Edutemps are subject matter experts, they are not sales people – they know what they are doing,” she adds.

Time is also of the essence, a role left unfilled in an education institution can have a cascading effect – with student enrolments bearing the ultimate long term impact.

“The good thing with Edutemps is we don’t have to spend a long time explaining to them, with their experience in the industry they know exactly what we are after,” commented Ms Murray.

Often times registered training organisations require specialised staff but on a temporary basis. Again, the best approach is to use education industry experts. Not only will they have an existing database of people who would be a good fit for the role but they will find someone who will come in and hit the ground running.