Why You Should Avoid “One Size Fits All” Reskilling Partners
With hundreds of reskilling providers and programs out there, it can be challenging to sort through the noise and identify a partner that suits your organization. What’s most important when filtering through reskilling solutions is to have a clear understanding of the type of skills you’re looking to enhance and add to your workforce. From there, you can identify which partner is most qualified in the needed field.
It’s important to note that reskilling and upskilling are not exclusive to technology roles. Marketing professionals can be reskilled into data analysts, graphic designers might be reskilled into business development professionals and so on.
While big-name online educators like Udemy or LinkedIn Learning offer valuable courses, they miss the mark when it comes to forming the foundational skills needed to move someone from one career path to the next. If you’re looking to develop your technology teams with software engineers and developers, it’s key to acknowledge those are highly specialized roles, which – in order to achieve the best return on investment – requires specialized programs.
Here are three pieces of advice to consider when evaluating your next reskilling partner.
1. Bigger Isn’t Always Better
Household names like those mentioned above are great tools for brushing up on certain skills or diving into new professional interests, but they can’t be relied on for transforming and placing employees into new roles. If you’re in need of specialized talent, work with a specialized provider.
At Tech Elevator, we are veteran technologists with the average instructor having 20+ years of field experience. This first-hand exposure into the coding world gives our curriculum and teaching methods a unique perspective.
2. It’s Okay to Have Multiple Reskilling Vendors
A large portion of our partners come to us after having tried (and failed) with another reskilling provider. Often, their reskilling provider was a vendor they’ve simply historically worked with or had relationships with. However, once they invest in the technology reskilling aspect, they find the skills needed to excel in the field aren’t being delivered.
Just because a vendor produces exceptional talent for one area of your business, doesn’t mean they’re the best vendor to produce exceptional tech talent.
3. Thoroughly Evaluate Your Tech Reskilling Provider
There are many factors that go into evaluating a tech reskilling provider. Most importantly, consider their outcomes and how they report on them. Seek out a partner who has the following:
- Strong Graduation Rates. High graduation rates are an indicator of a strong program with dedicated faculty and staff to support students throughout their reskilling experience.
- Scalable Solutions. Depending on where your organization is in its reskilling journey, you might not be prepared to commit to a typical program. If you’re not, does the reskiller offer solutions to reskill various amounts of employees? What flexibility do they offer in terms of part-time vs. full-time or online vs. in-person learning?
- A “Student Success First” Mentality. Lastly, consider their approach to student success. How do they talk about their students and how do they support graduates in their new technology roles? Look for a partner that not only provides the curriculum and instruction you need, but seek a provider that also supports them in the career transition.
Lead your organization’s reskilling journey.
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