How The Knowledge Academy prioritises growth to support its workforce

“The Knowledge Academy was founded in 2009 by husband-and-wife team Dilshad and Barinder Hothi. It is one of the fastest growing global corporate training providers. We provide learning solutions to large organisations to aid growth through learning and the development of workforces. We enable organisations to excel by up-skilling rapidly using instructor led and technology-based learning programmes. We are trusted by over 50,000 organisations, have over 10,000 subject matter experts, and trained over 3 million learners. We also have over 15 years of award-winning experience with over 1100 employees.”

“Creating jobs has been a direct result of growth which has been multifaceted. Our growth is driven by three key factors:

Simply put, if we maintain the growth, we maintain the workforce.”

“As a business owner and founder led business, for us the spirit of entrepreneurship runs through the DNA of our organisation. Entrepreneurship starts and ends with applying creativity and innovation to solving problems. In order to grow a business beyond 1000 employees, empowerment of decision making is key; but is much easier said than done, layered with the need to control risk, but the key factor is of course always trusting your staff. In order to grow and create a workforce of great decision makers it requires excellent communication, training and ongoing support. However, the key differentiator for us has been building out a bespoke technology platform to help run and manage a global workforce.”

“We have used technology to support our recruitment strategy from video-based interviewing and LinkedIn strategies to multi-level and cross functional interview methods to ensure right first-time recruitment decisions. For example, a sales candidate could be interviewed by recruitment, HR, finance and operations, not just by the sales management. We challenge ourselves to consider not only if a candidate would be a good fit for us, but if in fact we will be a good fit for them. Recruitment is an investment in both time and research, and like many aspects of life, you get out what you put in.”

“The challenge to maintain a global and diverse workforce begins with identifying opportunities for growth and aligning new roles to our top growth business streams. Setting clear measurable objectives at a strategic level that cascade through to the departmental level is essential to ensure both existing and new staff are aligned with a common purpose of growth.”

“We believe in a continuous but evolving recruitment plan to support our agile and fast-growing global company. Recruitment is of strategic importance to us and always will be at the top of our KPIs. As of today, we have over 50 open positions to fill and so our focus continues on being an employer of choice. We have longer term plans to grow our headcount by creating 1,000 new jobs by 2027.”

“Teamwork is essential to scale any great business in 2024, so only select staff who will truly value the opportunity you can offer them. Present your staff with a clear path for growth and you will not go wrong. Cast a wide hiring catchment area including less affluent regions where job opportunities are not obviously abundant - this is where you will find highly motivated individuals seeking a chance at success. Never judge a candidate by just their previous experience alone, focus what they can do in the future.”

“We are deeply honoured to be featured in the E2E Job Creation 100 list for 2024. It is a privilege for all our leadership team to be recognised for having a huge societal impact through the creation of new career paths for so many amazing members of our staff. We aspire to continue our work to make a positive impact to people’s lives through our work and the wider economy.”