Understand why you should implement an Eduployment strategy in your company

The term “Eduployment” comes from the junction of the words education + employment, that is, a learning process totally focused on employability and career development.

If you are part of the HR team of any organization, surely you must have experienced the challenge of losing days of work in search of qualified candidates to close a specific vacancy for your company. 

This skills gap has been an increasingly common headache for managers, and a new movement around the world has proven to be the best solution to this problem: Eduployment. That’s why we have gathered in this post everything you need to know about it, as well as key steps to start implementing this strategy in your company today.

Find out what you will learn about with this article:

• What is Eduployment?
• Why is Eduployment so important?
• What are the Benefits of Eduployment?
• 5 Steps to applying an Eduployment Strategy

What is Eduployment?

Eduployment is education for employability. That is, the building of all the skills needed for professional training. Thus, identifying with a particular profession, achieving education, and getting a job become fully integrated.

This is a new movement, still not widespread in the world, which arises from the need to close the skills gap that exists today in the labor market. This is because, while thousands of people find themselves without opportunities, on the other side, for recruiters, the “perfect match” with candidates has also been a great challenge. What is noticeable in the market today is that, among HR teams, the problem is the same: finding the right people has been as difficult as “finding a needle in a haystack”.

But those who think that this challenge is only found in the Recruitment and Selection stage are mistaken. The world is changing, and with it new skill needs are constantly arising for companies. Therefore, without an updated training and development strategy, employees cannot fill these competence gaps, and the consequence of this is poor business development.

In other words, the traditional way of learning has not met the managers’ expectations, and without a change in the way to train and develop teams of employees, the tendency is that your company’s growth will be much lower than expected. This is where the need to think of ways to close this skills gap arises – and large companies around the world are already putting this into practice. 

According to the 24th Annual Global CEO Survey, conducted by PWC with the participation of leaders of major businesses around the world, the issue of qualification, for the third consecutive year, gains prominence in the market. According to the study, about 80% of executives intend to give priority to investing in the development of leaders and talents of their companies. 

24th Annual Global CEO Survey, conducted by PWC

The role of companies in the learning process

The good news is that Eduployment is not a solution sought only by companies, since, increasingly, employees and candidates have sought qualification strategies that follow market trends and new forms of learning – it is now up to companies to offer conditions for this training. 

After all, time is not the only obstacle to professional development: the lack of encouragement, guidance, and recognition during the learning process is also a major challenge for the qualification of candidates and employees. This is what Arvind Krishna, CEO of IBM, also states:

“Talent is everywhere; training opportunities are not. We must take big and bold steps to expand access to digital skills and employment opportunities so that more people – regardless of their background – can take advantage of the digital economy.”

Arvind Krishna, CEO of IBM.

The fact is that this harnessing comes mainly from a targeted qualification by organizations. Even though this spontaneous interest of the candidate is essential for the success of this process, when the learning is directed by the company, through a learning track that directs the professionals to build the sought-after skills, the result is an even more assertive qualification.

Why is Eduployment so important?

It is common for people to believe that learning ends after earning a degree or completing a technical course, but the changes that have occurred in recent decades show that the world is not like that anymore.

For candidates and employees to reach their full potential in building the skills sought by companies, they increasingly need new learning tools and technologies that promote a qualification that really makes them stand out in the job market.

Therefore, it is necessary that traditional education starts to rethink ways to train the new generations for the changing employment trends. If this evolution does not happen, what we already see nowadays is a tendency of increasing growth of “alternative” ways of learning. The growth in the supply of online courses, educational podcasts, webinars and education platforms already reflect this new behavior in the market. 

The future of work

If you are aware of the impact of technology changes in the world of work you must have realized – the future has already begun. That’s why companies and managers must be aware of the effects that these transformations are already having on the productivity of their businesses and, based on this, think of new strategies when it comes to training and developing employees. The world has changed and what is noticeable is that the traditional education and development programs, since the last decade, can no longer keep up with these changes in social behavior.

This is what the study conducted by the IFTF (Institute for the Future), “Projecting 2030: A Divided Vision of the Future”, commissioned by Dell, analyzes. It estimates that about 85% of the occupations present in 2030 have not yet been created. This does not mean that the professions that exist today will disappear completely, but that they will definitely undergo transformations that will be directly related to the demand for the creation of new needs, industries and competencies in the market, at a speed that should accompany the speed of technological evolutions. 

Using technology to your advantage

Another point that must be rethought is the way this learning happens. Especially with the arrival of the new generation of employees, who have closely followed the emergence of these technological changes, HR needs to think about tools that enable continuous and effective learning, that integrate with the employee’s work routine and allow this qualification to occur from anywhere – through websites, blogs, applications, learning platforms, internal qualification system, etc. 

In 2021, the Covid-19 pandemic only anticipated an inevitable trend for companies: the potential of digital transformation in the workspace. By using these new technologies, your employees can save time with online meetings, access materials anywhere, and share content with the rest of the team in a much more practical way. In other words, the process of training and developing your staff becomes much easier and more dynamic. 

Upskilling vs. Reskilling

When it comes to trends in the skills area, two other terms come into play: Upskilling and Reskilling. Both accompany the need for lifelong learning due to the constant need for updating derived from technological changes. This initiative can come either from a demand from the company or from the employee’s own spontaneous will.

Upskilling:

Upskilling is linked to improvement. In other words, an employee who already has a good performance in his or her area, but who decides to improve the existing skills through qualification. Currently, upskilling is a necessity in all sectors and needs to happen constantly, through lifelong learning.

Reskilling:

Reskilling, on the other hand, is directly related to building other skills in order to become capable of performing new functions. Thus, reskilling occurs when there is a search for a career change – which can happen internally or externally to the company.

What are the Benefits of Eduployment?

Eduployment is a solution that benefits not only the productivity of companies, but also the career development of individuals. When professional development occurs assertively, both managers and employees win.

Discover more advantages of Eduployment:

→ For companies

• Qualification of your employees
• Reducing the turnover rate
• Optimization of training costs
• Increased productivity in your business
• Engagement of your team
• Skill building based on your company’s needs

→ For Individuals

• Career development based on your goals
• Appreciation in the marketplace
• New job opportunities
• Improvement of Hard Skills and Soft Skills
• Possibility of career change (including within your current company)

5 Steps to applying an Eduployment strategy

Finally, some steps are essential for applying an eduployment strategy that can boost your business development and that makes sense for your company’s goals. Check out what these steps are below!

1. Understand your employee profile

Each person learns in a different way. Qualifying, training, and professional development is a different experience for each individual. Understand your employee’s profile, their professional potential and goals, and how, where, and when they are practicing this learning. Making this practice as personalized as possible is key to implementing eduployment in your company.

2. Exchanging learning for skilling

Learning is limited to the retention of information and knowledge, without necessarily having a practical application in problem solving. Qualification, on the other hand, is much more effective for your organization’s development, aligning learning with employees’ skill gaps in order to provide training so that these professionals can develop important roles and achieve their career goals. 

    3. Create a learning trajectory for your candidates

Today, one of the biggest challenges for HR teams is to find qualified professionals who fit the skills profile sought by companies. One solution to this problem is the creation of learning trails, within platforms or applications, that show the candidate exactly what is the path of skill building he should follow. 

This strategy is also valid for candidates who were not approved, but through this guidance, they can achieve the necessary training for future selection processes in the company.

     4. Foster team integration

Learning is not an experience that needs to be individual. On the contrary, the training and development of your employees can (and should) happen in an integrated way with the whole team, through the exchange of insights, engagement, and sharing of the knowledge acquired among team members.

     5. Direct the learning of your collaborators

A good strategy is essential for assertive learning. Bet on a more humanized leadership, help your employees to develop the necessary skills and, especially, invest in technology and tools that allow your employees to become true lifelong learners.

Want more? 

Discover Plooral LX’s platform and start an Eduployment strategy in your company today.