Booz Allen Hamilton has a preference for experienced employees, but it also has a number of elements in its training program. The company sells consulting and technology solutions, so new employees need to receive extensive training on those system. This formal training program seeks to build the basic skills associated with the job. The program is called NEXT and it consists of formal events, study and immersion program with senior staff. This mix of training creates a program that, while intensive, allows new hires to get up to speed and functional quickly, despite the complexity of the business.

There is also an informal element to the training program. The company's consultants are trained in dealing with customers, in sales and service, and other soft skills. This training occurs by working with leaders and mentors. The knowledge of the company's systems in passed down through formal training and then the soft skills through interpersonal interaction with those who are already leaders within the company.

This approach training works within the framework of transferring knowledge. There are three main ways that knowledge is transferred -- through training design, work environment and training that is built around the ways that workers obtain competencies. Booz Allen's success relies on all of the elements of a good training. It hires good people -- especially people who can be trained. This is an important element as noted in Noe (2010). Booz Allen also creates the right training environment that combines study with hands-on learning and mentorship. There is an interpersonal element to the training that adds value, especially when teaching interpersonal skills.

It is interesting that there is little room for self-management in the NEXT program. Booz Allen realizes that the new hires are not earning the company money during the training process and therefore has created an intensive training process in order to have them ready to be productive quickly. Only after that point does the company support a more self-guided learning by promoting advanced education among its employees. Initially, however, is the multifaceted and intense NEXT program.

References:

Noe, R.A. (2010). Employee training and development. (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin