Some of our employees come to us with industry experience, some of them don’t. Some come to us with work experience under their belt, again, others don’t. In either case, they are joining an incredible company, one that supports its employees from the very first day that they arrive in the office.
Starting the job full of confidence
New recruits benefit immediately from a well thought out and in-depth induction training programme. “It’s a huge part of what we do,” explains Simon Chilley, Head of Learning and Development in Europe and APAC. “We recognise that some of our new starters aren’t just new to SThree, they are new to the professional workplace. We recruit on capability and competency, so our job is to get our new recruits up to speed and comfortable with their roles as soon as possible.”
Simon Chilley, Head of Learning and Development in Europe and APAC
A key aspect of the induction training is to provide experiential learning, as well as a good grounding in soft skills. “The idea is that we link as closely to real activity as possible,” explains Simon. “There are various methods we use, but essentially we are preparing people for situations they will actually find themselves in.
“Then we have a focus on soft skills; things like interpersonal effectiveness, we work early on to understand people’s communication styles and also share with them the lessons learned from our more experienced team members, like the best times of day to do certain things.
“The induction training is highly personalised: from day one new recruits set their own individual vision and goals; it is they that determine what they get from their first six months in the job. The coaching and training is then tailored around them achieving both their immediate as well as their long term goals.”
In addition, new recruits are backed by a triumvirate of support – a dedicated coach, bespoke training sessions and ongoing feedback system to ensure they are receiving the coaching and training that is right for them. This means that, while they are expected to hit the ground running, it’s with all the back-up they need.
“Having people available to support the development of our people, who spend 100 per cent of their time doing just that, and who are, at the same time, closely aligned to our global strategy is our key differentiator,” says Simon. “We make that significant investment because we recognise the value of having that immediate access to that range of people.
“By the time our new recruits start their day-to-day job they are far more confident than they might otherwise have been.”
Continued investment in our people
But the training doesn’t finish at the end of the six month induction period, rather, this is just the beginning. Employees, along with their managers, continue to produce quarterly personal development plans and continue to have full access to regular help and coaching on any aspect of their work. They also continue to have access to a range of needs-based development opportunities. It’s a structure that continues well into the senior levels of a career at SThree.
“As people start to develop further they will start to move into management, then begins a structured programme on preparing them for that role. They receive the support of a management developer based in central locations, whose experience is similar. Their personal development plan will also continue,” states Simon.
“It’s the culture of our business,” he adds. “What this business is fantastic at doing is in growing organically. We see the potential in people, and we’ll do everything we can to make sure that their personal motivations and development wishes align with our business strategy. If one opportunity doesn’t work out, we will find another.”
A career with purpose and without limits
The reason that SThree do all of this is two-fold. One, to give a career with purpose to our employees and two, to ensure that our customers have the best possible experience working with us.
“We provide consultants with a career with purpose, and what we mean by that is that you don’t take the decision to change jobs lightly, even though it is what we dedicate ourselves to doing, we never forget that,” says Simon. “Actually what we’re doing is changing people’s lives, we recognise that we do important things and we take that seriously.
“Not just that, but we are working in life-changing industries: energy, life sciences, the work these people do changes the way we live our lives,and we get that message across very early in a recruit’s career. They can see beyond their specific tasks to the bigger picture, which is providing fantastic customer experiences.
“The second thing is that we really do provide a career with no limits. While there are great financial rewards for being good at the job, very rarely is this the only motivator for our employees. This is a company that works on a global scale, so our employees can move region, can move brand, can move horizontally within the organisation, and we have plenty of employees who have done exactly that.
They want to know that there will be a career progression for them and opportunities further down the line.
“Investing in our people is the same as investing in our clients. At the end of it all is providing a fantastic customer experience.”
If you want to take advantage of our fantastic training and coaching offerings at SThree, browse our most recent career opportunities or contact our Talent Acquisition Team. We’d love to hear from you!