How Epsilon supports new hires with training for tech jobs

At the end of the day, hiring top talent is a bidding war. And if increasing your budget isn’t an option, you have to get creative in the tech hiring process.

That’s exactly what Rubel Khan, Senior Director of Technical Training at Epsilon, did. In 12 months, he reduced renege rates from 45% to 12% and increased their new hire retention rate from 75% to 98%.

The keys to his success? Changing hiring criteria to identify high-potential candidates and supporting new hires with tech skill development programs. Here’s how he did it. 

For all of Rubel’s tips, watch the on-demand webinar.

As Epsilon expanded hiring into India, they struggled to compete with large organizations that already had a presence in the region. The renege rate made it even harder. 

“With the India market, there is a renege rate,” explains Rubel. “People say that they will join, but then there is a 60-day waiting period, and within that 60 days, people are backing off from the offer. So that puts you back to square one to hire.”

To overcome this challenge, they reevaluated their candidate screening and hiring process. These are the steps they took and how to replicate the process in your organization. 

First, pick out a few high-priority roles your organization needs. In Epsilon’s case, they identified three roles they needed to fill: Business System Analyst (BSA), developer, and Quality Assurance (QA).

Make a list of four to five key skills someone needs to be successful in each role. Then sort those skills by how easy or hard they are to learn. 

Focus on finding candidates who have the skills that are hard to train for. You can help them build technical skills they lack once they’re hired.

Rubel shares an example. “It's very hard to teach people communication skills when you hire them. Filter the people that already have those skills.”

Then create training programs for the tech skills that are easy to upskill people in. Include skill assessments to understand people’s progress.

For example, Epsilon identified a few skills their new hires needed and then built a curriculum for them. 

“We identified the role and four or five different skills that we need people to get up and running with in four to six weeks. At that moment, they're not a candidate, they already have accepted the offer. They join in. It was about 60 folks in three different cohorts in three different roles,” says Rubel. 

“We utilize skill assessments heavily in the [process]. So we'll assess them in the beginning, then they'll go through the training, and we'll reassess them to make sure they actually understood. 

“And then there are some folks who didn't score well. They had to go back, and there was a remedial plan in place.”

Discover how to build effective tech skill development programs with the Tech Upskilling Playbook.

New processes can introduce new challenges. Here are some of Rubel’s tips to overcome resistance and lead successful new hire training.

It’s common for tech job listings to ask for multiple years of experience. But those requirements can limit your talent pool and cause you to miss out on quality candidates.

Rubel says, “We went back to the business and said, ‘You know what, we're not going to go with eight to ten years experience. We're going to go with one to two years of experience.’”

He faced resistance from the business in the beginning, but developing training programs for new hires helped them find and retain talented technologists.

Tech, L&D, and recruiting should work together to develop job descriptions and upskilling programs. They each hold valuable knowledge about the process and what new candidates need to succeed.

“One of the reasons I think [our program] worked is because three teams wholeheartedly worked together: recruiting, L&D, and the business side of it,” shares Rubel.

As new hires go through your training program, make sure their managers are involved. This helps them establish relationships with their future team. It also gives managers a chance to support them early on and share feedback with the program facilitators. 

“After two weeks [of training], we assigned new hires to a team so they knew who would be their hiring manager when the six weeks ended,” says Rubel.

“Managers were also in touch with these people. Throughout the week, they’d say, “Hey, how is your training going? I can't wait for you to finish it.’

“So they are also giving us feedback, like, ‘I know this person so-and-so is doing well.’”

Whether you’re developing upskilling programs for new hires or seasoned employees, Rubel has two pieces of advice: Make training a priority and make it relevant. 

“Anybody who's in L&D can say this is a common theme: I don't have time for the training, right?” says Rubel.

“It's not an overnight shift you can actually do. It's a long-term cultural shift, and you have to make sure that the training is relevant. When someone walks out of a training session thinking it was a waste of time in their head, or if there's the perception that they are getting something out of it, next time you invite them for training, they will have that precondition.”

Learn more about how Epsilon develops compelling tech skill development for their teams in the on-demand webinar.