How employee training partnerships can benefit your business (and what to look for in a partner)

The opinions expressed by entrepreneurs contributors are their own.

CEOs need to feel like redesigning their workforce is a full-time job. Recent research shows that 60% of employers said new graduates are not sufficiently prepared for the job market, while other research warns that 58% of workers will need new skills to succeed in their jobs. /p>

These results point to an important conclusion: managers need to ensure that their employees are constantly learning new skills and competencies. However, this daunting task is not something that companies can adequately accomplish on their own. When it comes to training, companies should partner with institutions that can provide the skills their employees need to propel their business forward.

Some of these skills will be industry specific, whether it's operating a lathe or coding in Python. Others will revolve around digital marketing or data analytics skills. Yet others will be more general matters – the fundamental skills that employers want employees to have from day one, whether it's preparing a proposal, understanding a budget, or working effectively with Excel. This is where a training partner comes in.

Related: You Should Invest in Upskilling Your Evolving Workforce. Here's why.

Executives should seek out a training partner who will listen to their needs and be willing to grow and evolve with them over time to develop relevant programming. After all, what a business needs today might not be what it will need in 2, 3 or 5 years.

With the ever-changing business landscape, the right training partner can be helpful in helping companies “see around corners”. Companies should choose a training partner who constantly analyzes market trends and is in regular contact with several companies and CEOs. This way, the partner can help the business understand what other businesses are seeing and what trends are emerging, and then work to develop the right programming to help keep their workforce competitive.

It helps if the training partner has real industry practitioners running programs so companies work and collaborate with instructors who live and breathe industry issues every day. Similarly, a regional training partner (with a physical presence near your business) is more likely to take the pulse of business needs in the region than a national online training provider with no local presence.

It's also worth mentioning that there are generally better outcomes and outcomes when learners come to class in person and participate, face-to-face with others compared to online-only learning. Networking opportunities are also much stronger in person. For this reason, there are advantages to choosing a training partner in your garden.

Related: How organizations can make big money by reskilling their employees

When it comes to the type of educational offerings to seek from a training partner, stackable credentials are the future of professional development and lifelong learning.

In some organizations, the reimbursement of tuition fees so that an e...