IOR “Standards Bearer” for Recruitment Qualifications and Training – what’s it all about

Last week I had news from the IOR that they had becomes the Standards Bearer for Recruitment Qualifications and Training. This is the press release they sent me (not all of it – you can read the rest here):

“Raising standards in recruitment is a central reason for the IOR’s creation, to further professionalise the UK recruitment industry in which to date, no existing recruitment body has delivered a single regulated qualification in its entire history – and currently trainers are not required to achieve any formal external quality standards that their clients can rely on. Even much smaller industries have long since established official ‘Regulated Qualifications’ (by OfQual – Britain’s Qualifications Regulator) and delivered them to their industry, and the IOR believe it’s time for recruitment to catch up and confirms all IOR qualifications will be officially regulated.

To raise recruitment training standards the IOR is delighted to announce that Jorgen Sundberg (expert in Social Media Marketing) and Robin Hills and Doug Haynes (experts in Emotional Intelligence) have joined the IOR’s network of Accredited Trainers – completing the accreditation process conducted by the IOR’s Accreditation Committee and managed by External Assessor Karin Dean. James Caan, Hamilton Bradshaw CEO said of the initiative: “Recruitment training can be good or bad, depending on who trains you. I welcome the IOR creating a way of accrediting recruitment trainers so there can be some benchmark of quality which will help to improve standards in our industry.” IOR Director General, Azmat Mohammed explained: “To do things to the highest quality takes a lot of investment, time and commitment, but that is something we are prepared to do as we lead the drive for better standards. Our qualification curriculums will also demonstrate the quality of our education and we invite the industry to take a look at what we are creating.”

If you want my honest opinion at first I couldn’t see what the point was. So I spoke with Azmat to get the full low-down. Essentially the idea is that the “kitemark” ensures that the trainer has ensured that the learner has absorbed the learning (you might need to read that twice to be sure what I’m saying!). It’s not actually about the quality of the material it’s about how you teach, and how you assess; are learning outcomes met and can you measure that.

It’s a not-for-profit venture from the IOR and costs about £200 per trainer. It takes about 3 months in total to become accredited and the accreditation is based on recognised British standards.

The purpose is to help trainers deliver more effectively to ensure learners get a better knowledge transfer. Therefore ensuring clients get improved return on training investment. I have to say I’m well aware of how often training can look great but then attendees return from an inspiring session and promptly forget everything they’ve heard. I can see that some recruitment industry trainers are becoming accredited but do I think it’s going to be taken up by everyone? Absolutely not; many trainers will feel that their reputation and years of success mean they don’t need an official accreditation. Do I think that recruitment firms will select their trainers on the basis of their accreditation? I’m going to put my neck on the line and say no. But feel free to prove me wrong!