Finding the right talent has become one of the most pressing challenges for organizations across virtually every industry. The rapid pace of technological advancements, shifting market demands, and evolving skill requirements have created a landscape where traditional hiring methods often fall short.
Enter the Recruit-Train-Deploy (RTD) model, a comprehensive approach designed to address these challenges head-on and ensure businesses have access to the skilled workforce they need. Under this model, employees receive specific training that helps them overcome skills and knowledge gaps, while their employer constructs a long-term talent pipeline.
Let’s explore the Recruit-Train-Deploy (RTD) model — its purpose, its advantages, and how it can help address market and employer hiring challenges.
If you’re interested in how RTD can work for your organization, see QuickStart’s QS Launch page to learn more about getting started.
Understanding the RTD Model
The RTD model helps employees take full advantage of the early stage of their careers by accelerating employees’ potential behind a talent acquisition strategy where qualified candidates fill roles they are first trained for.
Here’s how the RTD model works in a designated training program:
- Recruit: Identify and attract potential candidates for open roles.
- Train: Provide targeted, role-specific training for those roles.
- Deploy: Place trained candidates into designated roles for immediate productivity.
Implementing the Recruit-Train-Deploy (RTD) model yields a range of positive outcomes for both the organization and their candidates. By ensuring that new hires are suitably prepared and primed for success from day one, companies can enjoy qualified employees with training that directly affects their performance and bottom line.
Benefits of the RTD Model
The RTD model can make life easier for both candidates and the employers that hire them. Among other benefits, this model helps guarantee business outcomes, reduce hiring risks, and improve scalability and flexibility across an organization.
Guaranteed Outcomes
One of the most compelling benefits of the Recruit-Train-Deploy (RTD) model is its ability to deliver guaranteed outcomes for both employees and employers. Employers are introduced to qualified candidates who are trained to succeed from day one, while employees are provided with hands-on training to close their skills gap and set them up to succeed in roles where they will thrive.
This unique engagement model significantly reduces the risk of hiring mismatched candidates, providing a level of control and predictability that is often elusive in traditional hiring methods.
Reduced Hiring Risks
One of the primary risks associated with traditional hiring methods is the potential for underperformance and the difficulty in validating quality and fit through the standard interview practices. Candidates might possess impressive resumes and perform well in interviews, yet still fall short when it comes to delivering results in the actual work environment. The RTD model helps to address this issue.
Here’s how:
- Tailored training programs: Candidates undergo customized training designed to equip them with the exact skills and knowledge required for their specific roles. This targeted approach ensures that they are not only familiar with the theoretical aspects of the job but also proficient in practical applications.
- Continuous assessment: Throughout the training phase, candidates are regularly assessed to monitor their progress and identify any areas of weakness. This ongoing evaluation allows for timely interventions, ensuring that those who progress through the training program are fully prepared to perform at a high level.
- Hands-on experience: The training often includes real-world simulations and hands-on projects that mirror actual job responsibilities. This practical experience ensures that candidates can handle the challenges they will face in their roles, reducing the likelihood of underperformance.
This comprehensive approach not only reduces costs and enhances productivity but also fosters a positive work environment and strengthens the company's position in the competitive job market.
Scalability and Flexibility
One of the best features of this model is the ability to respond and scale quickly to market changes is another significant advantage that allows organizations the flexibility to remain agile and competitive in today's market. It unlocks a few powerful benefits for companies that implement the model:
- Adaptation to technological advancements: As new technologies emerge, the RTD model allows organizations to stay ahead by continuously updating training programs. This ensures that employees are always equipped with the latest skills, enabling the organization to leverage new technologies effectively and maintain a competitive edge.
- Agility in workforce planning: This model provides the agility needed to respond to sudden shifts in market demand. Whether there is an unexpected spike in product demand or a new market opportunity, organizations can quickly recruit and train the necessary talent to capitalize on these changes.
- Rapid skill deployment: In a volatile market, having the ability to rapidly deploy skilled talent is crucial. These types of programs ensure that a pipeline of trained candidates is always ready to be integrated into the workforce, reducing the lead time required to fill critical positions.
- Scalable solutions for growth: For companies experiencing rapid growth, the RTD model offers a scalable solution to expand their workforce efficiently. By streamlining the recruitment and training process, businesses can quickly build the teams they need to support expansion efforts without compromising on quality or performance.
The scalable nature of the Recruit-Train-Deploy model also ensures that resources are used efficiently. By adjusting recruitment and training efforts based on demand, organizations can avoid over-hiring or under-training, both of which can be costly.
Addressing Market and Employer Hiring Challenges with RTD
Recruit-Train-Deploy can be especially effective for companies looking to align employee training with specific job requirements. If a particular role requires skills in data security, for example, the training component can specifically focus on these skills — creating job-ready candidates with the competencies an employer needs in their next hire.
Many organizations also use these types of programs to bridge the skills and knowledge gaps of their early career talent. In a recent interview conducted by Fortune, 68% of C-suite executives see gaps within their organizations between what candidates can do and what the role actually demands (Fortune). Through customized employee training and ongoing performance development, employers now have a way to solve that issue.
This customization is also a stark contrast to the majority of traditional employee training programs. Many modern training regimens feature only generic curriculums, which don’t often include all the skills an employee needs for success. These same programs aren’t equipped to keep pace with changing industry requirements, leaving many roles unfilled.
Here are a few more ways an RTD program helps address hiring challenges:
- Demonstrate a strong commitment to employee development: Organizations offer tailored training programs for employees, a strong selling point for talent seeking a long-term career home.
- Long-term cost savings: According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the total cost to hire a new employee can be three to four times that employee’s salary. The RTD model enhances job satisfaction and retention, leading to lower turnover costs.
- Streamline hiring and post-hire training: The program integrates recruitment and training, making the hiring process more efficient and ensuring new hires are job-ready from day one.
Once on board with the employer, those who’ve completed the program continue to be upskilled specific to the roles they were hired for. This ongoing development is key, as it continues to enhance their skillset and sets them up for further success with their new employer.
The RTD model also helps ensure a strong cultural fit between companies and their newly-trained employees. It emphasizes cultural alignment during recruitment, ensuring new hires are not only skilled but also a good fit for the organization's values and work environment.
Real-World Applications in Technology
The beauty of these models is that they are industry-agnostic. Regardless of industry, employers are all faced with similar challenges - addressing the skills gap, a way to access new pools of talent, broadening diversity within tech, or a means of solving attrition.
Technology in Business
The technology sector always feels like it’s moving at a rapid pace. But with recent advancements in data science, AI, cybersecurity, and other technologies, tech firms have struggled simply to find talent with skills in the right areas. This makes the RTD model even more valuable, as one of the only employee education methods capable of pairing companies with skilled, informed workers.
Organizations now have a way to create specialized training programs tailored to specific technologies, tools, and platforms. This targeted approach ensures that employees are proficient in the exact skills needed for current and upcoming projects.
Put Trained IT Talent to Work for Your Organization Today
The Recruit-Train-Deploy model represents a paradigm shift in the way that leading organizations recruit, hire, and develop talent. It helps enhance modern hiring practices and puts the emphasis on closing the skills gap and creating a future-ready workforce that can help tackle the biggest challenges your organization faces from day one.
If your organization needs qualified, proven tech talent, QuickStart Launch can help. Our program allows companies to take back control of their own hiring process.
We’ve removed the burden of committing an inordinate amount of time and effort to the hiring process, only to discover that few, if any, candidates have the IT experience you need. Instead, we work directly with employers to pair them with the right talent, at the right time, bridging your skills gap with an intensive training program designed to replicate their future work environment.
Partner with QuickStart to learn more today.