When we think of training, it's quite common to imagine a few freshers sweating their brains out learning the nuances of tools they will be using at work. While training still is largely an activity for new comers in an organisation, continuous education of the experienced workforce is also viewed as an important aspect of corporate training. 

"From the corporate's point of view, re-skilling - or training experienced workforce to enhance their skill sets or learn newer skills - is crucial since they can be made ready to take on emerging challenges," says Ajay Sharma, President/CEO, New Horizon (India), whose parent organisation in the US is one of the largest trainers of IT workforce.

"From the employees' point of view, re-skilling keeps them in touch with the dynamic needs of the industry and prepares them to take up newer responsibilities. In fact, besides hiring thousands of freshers, Indian IT companies have also been serious about re-orienting their experienced workforce - training them deeper in process skills to achieve targets and results."

Customisation

The key to successful re-skilling, Mr Sharma says, lies in the ability of the trainers to customise the training. A thorough need-analysis in terms of training and matching it up with the profile of the individual is perhaps the best way to achieve the desired result. "We need to first see the kind of projects the company is having," Mr Sharma explains.

"Then we will have to see the interests and abilities of the individuals the company has assembled for the project; their skill-sets and how diverse that is. So, the training we would come up with is absolutely dependent on individuals and the specific needs of the companies."

Re-skilling is often prompted by the fact that a (software and services) company has to be ready to take up projects of any kind. Mr Sharma says preparing the best workforce in a diverse set of platforms and tools is vital for the company, as it can't be sure about which of those skills will be required for the next project.

It is also important for the employees to be ready to re-skill themselves, because their ability to learn and elevate in their jobs gives a strong indication to the company of their hunger to move forward. "We should also remember that IT companies in India are catering to a diverse set of clients across the world," Mr Sharma points out.

"So, they should be in a position to work on virtually any software platform, be it open source Linux or .net. Though we need not teach any of these platforms right from the basics to an experienced workforce, they certainly need continuous re-skilling in order to perform the project in a short period of time."

New Horizon's training usually starts with need analysis, which not only takes into account individual requirements but also the goals and strategies of a team. Besides imparting actual training, the organisation also reinforces the skills through different modes like e-learning. "In our organisation we call this approach 'Integrated Learning Management' (ILM)," Mr Sharma says.

In order to achieve this, New Horizon combines the different delivery systems such as online (both live and archived contents) and normal classrooms. "In most of the cases, our training isn't location-dependent," Mr Sharma says. "We send our trainers to the location of the client, broadcast lectures (from the studios) or deliver the courseware to the client online." 

He says almost 85 per cent of the training done by New Horizon India is for corporate/government or institutions (colleges), while 15 per cent of it in places like Bangalore (where the organisation has a centre of excellence) is done for individuals approaching them for specialised training.

Established in India five years ago, New Horizon has been offering training services to fortune 100 companies and is said to have introduced training methods practiced in the US at Indian companies.