Construction Skills Training Centre - Reverse recruiting and good communication

Good communication is the key to all effective training – not only between trainer and student but also within the organisation providing the training. This was a situation recognised by the Construction Skills Training Centre (CSTC), the largest private construction training provider in Queensland, Australia.

Their aim is to reflect best practice standards for the industry by maintaining a commitment to the training and development of industry workers. This training is essential for personal growth, employment opportunities and safety in the workplace.

Vicky Jennings from Talent Dynamics Australia – one of our performance consultants – has been working with the training centre since August 2011. It is a relationship that has benefitted her client in some surprising ways.

‘Don’t think about it, just do it!’

Since taking the Talent Dynamics one-day workshop, CSTC has used the Talent Dynamics profile tests in their recruitment process to attract the best fit for the vacant posts. This has been a very successful strategy when shortlisting job applicants. Rather cleverly, the tests have also been used to identify the profiles of existing staff who perform their role especially well. The profiles of those productive staff are then used to design a job advertisement for that post, effectively using it as a reverse recruitment tool.

CSTC trainers are recruited by identifying their skills and vocational background through the profiles, which have also been useful in deciding task allocation such as monthly reporting or choosing who would be best suited to sell the programmes. Consequently, office manager Jackie Choquenot said that they have experienced ‘amazing results’ in two of her key teams.

She has used the profiles to re-allocate tasks to her teams based on their natural talents and strengths. This has worked so well that the administration team voluntarily divide up the tasks according to their profiles, without management intervention. This has produced a highly skilled, productive and motivated team – and also makes Jackie’s job a lot easier! The result? Far greater team harmony than ever before from a group of people now working in flow.

In a revealing comment, Jackie said that she is now
‘more aware’ of the team as a manager. Although they have fewer staff, they produce a greater output, which is saving money. The trainers who have been chosen to sell their programmes have increased the number of enrolments and team productivity has increased, bringing a 20% increase in enrolments and revenue.

"The relationship between trainers and administration staff – by knowing everyone’s profile type – has changed the communication between the two teams. By understanding each other’s value to the organisation, we have seen a 75% improvement in communication. I don’t know how a team couldn’t achieve these results after implementing Talent Dynamics."

Jackie

Construction Skills Training Centre – Reverse recruiting and good communication

‘Don’t think about it, just do it!’