Building a Learning Culture to Drive Performance: Strategies for Southeast Asia’s Recruitment Leaders

The recruitment landscape in Southeast Asia is vibrant and full of opportunity, but with competition, skill shortages, cultural diversity, and rising candidate expectations, attracting, developing, and retaining internal talent is challenging.

In our recent webinar, Moya Rylands, APSCo’s Commercial Director, shared practical strategies to build a learning culture that drives performance and competitive advantage in this dynamic market.

Here’s a recap of the key topics and how APSCo’s tailored training can support recruitment leaders.

Why Learning & Development is Essential

Southeast Asia’s workforce is young, diverse, and ambitious, with a third under 30 and a strong demand for career growth. Skill shortages and competition create gaps that hiring alone can’t fill. Moya highlighted why upskilling and reskilling are critical:

“A strong L&D culture can boost retention by up to 57%, a massive impact in a region facing skill shortages and high talent demand.”
— Moya Rylands, Commercial Director, APSCo

The webinar showed how a robust learning culture addresses skill gaps and fosters loyalty, especially among Gen Z professionals who value development over salary. For recruitment firms, training is a strategic must-have, to stay competitive.

Leadership training is critical. APSCo’s collaboration with the Chartered Management Institute led to the APSCo CMI Level 3 and Level 5 Leadership Programmes -uniquely designed to combine textbook management and leadership principles with recruitment-specific knowledge. These accredited qualifications empower managers to develop high performing, profitable teams.

Key Strategies to Transform Your Workforce

Moya outlined actionable approaches to make upskilling central to your business. Core topics explored include:

• Building a Learning Culture: Embed development in operations with clear career paths, regular feedback, and accessible training to empower employees.
• Aligning Training with Business Goals: Link L&D to objectives, like increasing billings or diversifying leadership, measuring success through productivity, not just surveys.
• Addressing Skill Gaps Precisely: Identify barriers, such as confidence issues for women leaders or billing challenges for managers, and use targeted coaching or courses.
• Leveraging Tailored Training Programmes: Programmes like APSCo’s CMI Level 3 and 5 equip leaders to tackle Southeast Asia’s unique challenges, ensuring consistency across markets.

These strategies deliver results, helping recruitment businesses navigate Southeast Asia’s complexities with confidence.

APSCo’s Training: Your Competitive Advantage

For recruitment businesses aiming to excel in Southeast Asia, APSCo’s talent development services are a game-changer. Designed by recruitment experts and delivered globally, including in Southeast Asia, our programmes address the region’s diverse needs. Here’s what sets us apart:

• CMI Level 3 Leadership Programme: Tackles first-line manager challenges with modules like “Stepping into First Line Management,” teaching how to balance billing and team performance, tailored for Southeast Asia’s context.
• CMI Level 5 Leadership Programme: Designed for senior leaders, this qualification deepens strategic leadership skills, integrating recruitment-specific challenges like scaling teams or driving profitability, ensuring measurable business impact.
• Women in Leadership: Empowers female leaders to overcome confidence barriers, addressing the global 29% female leadership gap.
• Flexible Learning Journeys: From single learners to large teams, our Learning Management System supports personalised training, accessible to all business sizes.
• Member Benefits: APSCo members enjoy discounted rates and a not-for-profit model that reinvests in cutting-edge programmes, offering market-leading training at exceptional value.

Whether you’re a small agency or a global firm, APSCo’s training boosts productivity, retention, and cultural alignment, delivering measurable impact.

Take the Next Step

Southeast Asia’s recruitment market rewards those who invest in their people. By building a learning culture and leveraging APSCo’s tailored training, you can address skill shortages, empower your team, and gain a competitive edge.

Missed the webinar? View the recording to dive deeper into Moya’s insights: here.

Ready to transform your workforce? Explore APSCo’s training solutions at https://asia.apsco.org/our-services/training.

Interested in becoming an APSCo Southeast Asia member? Click here or email asia@apsco.org to get in touch.