40% of UK workers are considering a career change due to the rising cost of living. With them, they’ll bring diverse experiences, fresh perspectives, and a wealth of transferable skills that can prove invaluable to employers. However, to maximise their potential, you must focus on developing skills in career changers effectively.
This blog explores best practices for employers to support and enhance the skills of career changers, ensuring a successful transition and long-term benefits for both parties.
7 Ways to Develop Skills in Career Changers
We’ve compiled a list of seven ways employers of career changers can develop their skills to help them reach their full potential.
1. Understanding the unique needs of career changers
Career changers are unique in that they bring a varied background, often from entirely different industries. This diversity can be a significant asset, but it also means they may face specific challenges.
For instance, they might lack industry-specific knowledge or need time to adapt to different workplace cultures and practices. Employers who recognise these unique needs are better positioned to create an effective development plan.
Moreover, career changers often possess valuable soft skills, such as problem-solving, adaptability, and communication. However, they may require support when it comes to developing technical skills or understanding regulations and standards that are specific to your industry.
By acknowledging these gaps and strengths, you can provide tailored skill development.
Bonus reading 👉 Best Practices for Onboarding Career Changers
2. Assessing existing skills and identifying gaps
Before developing a training plan, it’s essential to assess the career changer’s existing skills. You can do this through interviews, skills assessments, and reviewing their past experiences. The idea here is to understand what they bring to the table so you can then identify areas where they might need further training.
Here’s where you’ll want to conduct a skills gap analysis which involves comparing the career changer’s current skills with the skills required for their new role.
Identifying these gaps allows employers to focus training efforts where they are most needed. This targeted approach ensures efficient use of resources and time resulting in faster, more efficient training.
Bonus reading 👉 Providing Training Programmes
3. Create individualised employee development plans
In addition to formal training programmes, another great way to cultivate employee growth is through individualised development plans (IDPs).
IDPs are documents that are drawn up collaboratively between managers and employees. They outline the employee’s short and long-term career goals, skills gaps, and detailed action plans for development.
The manager acts as a coach, helping identify the employee’s aspirations and abilities. You can then pinpoint any skill or knowledge gaps that may be holding them back. Together you can set measurable goals to address these gaps over a set period of time through the various development programmes you set up.
The actions may include training courses, mentoring, taking on special projects, job shadowing or stretch assignments (more on this below). It’s important to schedule check-in meetings so you can track progress and make any changes to the plan as needed.
IDPs for career changers boost retention by demonstrating your commitment to their personal growth within your company. Career changers also appreciate the chance to have an open dialogue about their career goals. With IDPs, organisations gain more skilled, motivated workers – so it’s another clear win-win.
Bonus Reading 👉 The Ultimate Career Development Framework
4. Take advantage of external resources and partnerships
Employers don’t have to handle training and development alone. Nowadays, plenty of external resources and partnerships are available which can be invaluable to employers of career changers.
Collaborating with training providers who specialise in your specific industry can provide career changers with high-quality training that you may not be able to offer in-house.
Government initiatives and industry programmes can also support skill development in career changers. Many governments offer funding, grants, or incentives for businesses that invest in employee training.
Additionally, industry-specific organisations often provide training programmes, workshops, and certifications that can benefit career changers.
You may be interested in 👉 How Career Changers Can Bridge the Skills Gap UK
5. Encouraging continuous learning and development
Continuous learning is essential in a fast-paced job market. All employers should work to create a culture of lifelong learning, encouraging career changers to keep developing their skills even after the initial training period. This can be achieved by providing access to online courses, workshops, and industry conferences.
It’s also crucial to support professional development. Employers can offer opportunities for career changers to pursue further education, certifications, or professional memberships.
These opportunities not only enhance the employee’s skills but also demonstrate the employer’s commitment to their growth and development.
Check it out! 👉 5 Professional Courses For Career Changers
6. Creating an inclusive and supportive environment
An inclusive workplace culture is vital for the success of career changers. Employers must strive to create an environment where all employees, regardless of their age or background, feel valued and supported.
This can be achieved by promoting diversity and inclusion initiatives and ensuring that career changers have access to the same opportunities as their peers.
Support systems, such as employee resource groups or peer support networks, can also be highly beneficial. These groups provide a platform for career changers to connect with others who may have faced similar challenges, offering mutual support and advice.
Reading recommendation 👉 Inclusive Hiring: A Guide For Employers
7. Measuring progress and success
If you want to ensure the effectiveness of training and development programmes, it’s essential to measure progress and success. You’ll need to establish clear metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) so you can track the impact of your efforts. These metrics might include skills assessments, performance reviews, or feedback from mentors and coaches.
Regular feedback is key for keeping things on track. Employers should chat with career changers about how the training is going and tweak things based on their input. This way, the development programmes stay relevant and actually help everyone improve.
Bonus reading 👉 The Role of Mentorship Training in Supporting Career Changers
Key Takeaways: Developing Skills in Career Changers
Developing skills in career changers benefits both them and their employers, who get motivated, adaptable, and diverse employees. By following the tips laid out in this blog, you’ll be investing in valuable assets that can take your business to the next level.
Do you want to hire career changers? At Refreshing a Career, our platform connects you with a diverse pool of talented individuals who are eager to leverage their experience in new and exciting roles.
Our range of services for employers gives you access to a multitude of benefits, including:
- A diverse pool of career changers – We connect you 10,000+ with highly motivated individuals who are passionate about making a career transition.
- Advice and support – Our website is packed with guides for employers, including advice on attracting career changers, building a diverse work environment, and more. Find the latest industry insights on our blog.
- Attract career change talent – Get in touch to advertise your roles on our dedicated career change job board.
- Find diverse talent – Our job advert inclusivity screening tests your ad against our “Inclusive Language Checklist” to remove potentially discriminatory language.
- Advertise your business – Our talented team of writers works with you to create a company profile that documents your efforts as a top employer of professionals who want to make a career change.
For more information, email us at info@refreshingacareer.com or give us a call on 0345 872 4501. We’d be more than happy to offer guidance on advertising career change jobs with us.
