Building a Strategic Talent Pipeline with a Tailored Traineeship Program.
Trainee programs are a vital tool for nurturing talent and ensuring the long-term competitive advantage of your business. By providing hands-on experience and mentorship, these programs bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application. Our client recognised the potential for a traineeship program to solve one of their most significant challenges – Building a strategic pipeline of high-quality talent.
"If you bring talented individuals into your organisation early and engage with them in a deliberate and meaningful way, providing them with a solid foundation of essential skills, they can grow to excel in various roles within your business."
- Jonathon Gamble, Director
Ascent People Insights, in collaboration with our client, developed an industry leading trainee program that solves strategic resourcing challenges and provided meaningful entry level jobs within a regional community. Our Director, Jonathan Gamble (M.Psych Org.), led the design of the program, saying "If you bring talented individuals into your organisation early and engage with them in a deliberate and meaningful way, providing them with a solid foundation of essential skills, they can grow to excel in various roles within your business."
Building a strategic pipeline of high-quality talent is a common challenge for large regional businesses, even those with traditionally attractive employer brands and salary packages. Traineeship programs provide a cost-effective solution to these challenges, however as with our client, can fail to deliver lasting impact if not well designed.
Lack of clear structure, little support from internal line managers, and planning challenges often result in poor experiences for Trainees. Subsequently, trainees don’t develop meaningful skills and leave the organization in search of other opportunities (Karlsen et.al., 2022). Research has revealed that frustrations with communication, structure, and consistency in trainee programs are common challenges for organizations and trainees alike (Jonsson & Thorgen, 2016).
To overcome these challenges, Ascent People Insights started a detailed process of consultation to understand the key ‘wants and needs’ of the client and trainees. Leveraging this understanding, and insights from research on best-practice, the tailored 18-month trainee program was developed.
Job Design, the way in which the tasks or duties of a role are structured, was the first phase of the Traineeship Program. Ascent People Insights approach to job design is guided by research from leading academic bodies such as The Future Work Institute at Curtain University. Good job design is the foundation of an employee’s long-term performance and engagement, and crucialto avoiding the common challenges of a trainee program. Every role within the trainee program is anchored by a clear position description and a detail capability framework.
A robust program structure and program manual is then developed in collaboration with stakeholders from across our client’s organisation. Roles and responsibilities are clearly defined, with all relevant materials developed and provided to set program participants up for success.
Recruiting high quality early-career talent was another element identified as crucial to the program’s success. Ascent People Insights establishes partnerships between our client, RTO’s, and leading recruitment agencies to identify and assess a diverse pool of candidates. From initial candidate screening through to leading the delivery of a best-practice assessment centre, the client and candidates are supported at every stage of the process.
During the first 12 months of trainee’s employment, Ascent People Insights facilitates six targeted professional development workshops. These workshops provided trainees with hands-on learning opportunities, helping them to develop core career skills identified during the job design process. Trainees and their line managers also receive regular additional check-ins to provide additional mentoring/support and ensure their long-term engagement and retention.
Ascent People Insights also facilitate a detailed process of career transition planning two months prior to completion of the formal trainee program. This ensured that trainees, and line managers, are fully supported as the trainee transitioned into meaningful employment within our client’s organisation.
The trainee program was designed to provide an effective, low-cost, solution to our client’s strategic workforce challenges. Throughout the program, trainees developed the targeted knowledge and skills required to meaningfully contribute to the organisation’s growth. Trainee’s also remain more loyal to the organisation, with high levels of overall engagement, as they perceive that our client had invested in their professional development and future.
Investing in the future success of your organisation through an evidence-based trainee program is a great way to ensure a sustainable pipeline of high-quality talent. To find out more about how our team can help your organisation, get in touch for a no obligation chat.