Finding experienced learning and development recruiters to staff your L&D projects can be a challenge. With so many companies offering contract staffing services, it’s crucial to ask the right questions to ensure you’re choosing a partner who understands the unique needs of learning and development. In this guide, we’ll explore the key factors to consider when selecting a contract staffing company, so you can feel confident that you’re working with recruiters who truly get L&D.
How Much Does This Company Know About Learning and Development?
When choosing a staffing company, it’s essential to gauge how deeply they understand learning and development. Some staffing firms place contractors in any field that is requested, spread their efforts across multiple industries. They treat L&D like just another sector. Others simply cast a wide net, watching client systems and sending the job postings to a long list of consultants without fully vetting their qualifications. These companies often lack the in-depth knowledge required to identify top talent in the L&D space.
To ensure you’re working with a true L&D specialist, ask specific questions about the learning and development expertise of the company. Don’t hesitate to dig deeper—look up the background of the representative on LinkedIn. It’s not uncommon for someone to claim L&D experience just because they’ve sold to the industry, without having the hands-on knowledge needed to make informed staffing decisions.
TrainingPros note: At TrainingPros, we go beyond surface-level experience. Our relationship managers have a wealth of expertise in corporate learning and development, and many have been either clients or consultants with TrainingPros in the past.
Who Does the Vetting of Consultants?
The process of vetting consultants can differ significantly between staffing companies. Many general staffing firms, especially those without a focus on learning and development, rely heavily on corporate hiring managers to do the majority of the vetting themselves. Some L&D staffing companies may only ensure that a consultant is available and that their resume contains the right keywords, leaving it to the hiring manager to assess the consultant’s actual expertise. In some cases, staffing companies outsource the vetting process to overseas recruiters in an attempt to cut costs, which can lead to gaps in quality and understanding of your project’s needs.
TrainingPros Note: At TrainingPros, our industry experienced relationship managers will not only make sure the consultant is available and qualified according to their resume, but they will also review their portfolio and ask them in-depth questions to ensure they have the experience required and are a good cultural fit.
How Many Resumes Will You Receive for Each Opening?
Have you ever been presented with a list of 20 or more resumes to review? It’s a ridiculous task for an L&D leader to go through resumes. Many staffing companies will send you every resume possible for an opening, requiring you to spend hours reviewing resumes. Ask the company how many resumes you can expect for each open position.
TrainingPros Note: Unless you request more, your TrainingPros industry-experienced relationship manager (RM) will send you one or two resumes for each open position. Hours of vetting by the RM will go into each selection. The goal here is to save you hours of work screening resumes and candidates.
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Who Will You Be Working with Once You’ve Signed the Contract?
You’ve had a great conversation with a knowledgeable company representative who seems to really understand your organization’s needs and culture. But will this be the person managing your account? In many cases, after the initial discussion, you’re handed off to different team members—one for the candidate search, another for invoicing, and yet another for ongoing support. This common practice can be frustrating, as it forces you to repeatedly explain your requirements to multiple people, leading to potential miscommunication and delays.
TrainingPros Note: Your relationship manager is your primary point of contact from the initial conversation about working together through invoicing. Your relationship manager is the person who is vetting and selecting the candidates for you, as well as ensuring that the consultant meets all of your expectations.
What Is the Internal Turnover Rate at the Staffing Company?
A company’s internal turnover rate can be a telling sign of its stability and culture. High turnover within the staffing company may suggest underlying issues, such as poor management or a lack of support for their employees. In addition, this means that you will have to get a new account manager up to speed often when your representative leaves the company. Continuity of service becomes an issue.
TrainingPros Note: As of the date of this article, the average tenure of our relationship managers is 7 years. The average years for our team of recruiters on our team is 12 years. The average years of work tenure of our customer success team is 7 years. TrainingPros has won several awards for being a great place to work. This means that while we can’t guarantee it, it’s likely that your relationship manager will be with you for many years.
What Is the Company’s Success Rate for Finding the Right Consultant?
One of the most important factors to consider is the company’s track record. What percentage of placements are considered successful by their clients? What percentage of consultants finish the project they are contracted for? The staffing industry at large has a staggering 451% failure rate in these terms. In other words, 4.5 out of 5 consultants don’t finish the project they were hired for.
TrainingPros Note: While specialized companies have a higher than standard success rate, we are proud of our 96% success rate on our selected consultants. We credit this to our in-depth vetting process coupled with our customized onboarding program for consultants and clients.
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How Easily Can This Company Scale for a Large Project?
If you’re planning a large-scale L&D initiative, it’s essential to know if the staffing company can scale to meet your needs. Smaller companies may not have the capital required to payroll a large team of facilitators, instructional designers, or classroom producers. In addition, smaller regional companies may not have the network of consultants required to scale a team quickly. Ask about their experience with larger projects and how quickly they can source additional consultants if required. Additionally, ask about their ability to handle an increase in payroll of 20 or more consultants at once.
TrainingPros Note: TrainingPros has been in business for 27+ years as this article is being written. We have successfully scaled for many very large training rollouts, eLearning initiatives, and instructional design projects through our network of 15,000+ consultants. We can easily handle the expense and recruitment of a large team for a big training project.
How Quickly Do the Consultants Get Paid?
Believe it or not, there are some smaller companies that don’t pay the consultant until the client pays. There are also companies that have a 30-day pay period, requiring the consultants to wait 30 days after the work is performed before they are paid. Consultants overwhelmingly prefer staffing companies that pay them right away.
TrainingPros Note: TrainingPros has a 2-week pay period. We pay the consultants before we send the invoice to the client. Our consultants are paid via direct deposit.
How Much L&D Experience Do the Recruiters Have?
When selecting a staffing company, the level of experience of their recruiters can make a world of difference. Ask how many years they’ve been recruiting in the L&D field and how well they understand the nuances of instructional design, training delivery, or eLearning development. Ask questions about how they continuously learn about the changes and new trends in L&D. A seasoned recruiter who speaks your language will have a far better grasp of your project needs and can find consultants who are a great fit.
TrainingPros note: As of the writing of this article, our specialized learning and development recruiting team has an average of 12 years of experience recruiting for L&D. They meet frequently with our relationship managers to understand the newest trends in skills our clients are seeking. While they leave the final vetting to the relationship managers, they are highly specialized in finding the best L&D consultants for our talent pool.
Does the Company Outsource Work Overseas to Save Money?
Anyone that has worked in L&D for a long period of time has had to face the prospect of outsourcing some part of the L&D function overseas. This is an attractive prospect to upper management because the wages are much lower in many countries. Many companies find after a year or so that this arrangement doesn’t work well.
Many companies outsource either recruiters, instructional designers, or eLearning resources overseas to reduce costs and make a larger profit. If this is in line with your company strategy you will have success with this company. However, we have found that this strategy is not only contradictory to most large corporate strategies, but it is often also never mentioned by the staffing company.
TrainingPros Note: Our recruiters are based right here in the USA. In addition, we only seek consultants overseas when our client specifically requests a consultant in another country, and we pay them the same wage we would pay a US consultant. We never sub-contract our work to consultants in countries with lower wages to save money.
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Conclusion
Selecting the right learning and development contract recruiting or staffing company for your L&D projects goes beyond simply filling roles. It’s about partnering with a contract staffing company that understands the intricacies of learning and development and can provide the expertise you need. By asking the critical questions outlined in this guide, you’ll be better prepared to evaluate potential staffing partners. This ensures you choose a company that not only delivers qualified L&D consultants but also aligns with your project goals and long-term success. Whether you’re scaling a large initiative or seeking specialized expertise, working with the right learning and development recruiters and account managers can make all the difference in driving successful outcomes.
Does your learning and development department have more projects than people? TrainingPros has been named as a Top 20 Staffing Company internationally by Training Industry. Coupling this award with being voted as a top Custom Content Development company internationally by our consultants for five years in a row underscores TrainingPros’ unwavering commitment to delivering high-quality, tailored training solutions. If you need a single instructional designer or a team to take over a custom content development project, contact one of our industry-expert relationship managers today. When you have more projects than people™, let us find the consultant to start your project with confidence. Schedule a consultation today.
