While you’re hiring to help build out your team, you might notice a gap in your learning and development (L&D) talent. One solution is to work with recruiters specializing in placing top-tier L&D employees that fit the needs of your organization.
According to LinkedIn’s 2023 Workplace Learning report, 82% of global leaders say the HR function is more critical than ever. L&D talent is in particularly high demand as job skills change and reskilling enters the conversation. In fact, since 2015, job skill sets have changed by an estimated 25% — and is expected to double by 2027. Additionally, the report shows that “89% of L&D pros agree that proactively building employee skills for today and tomorrow will help navigate the evolving future of work.”
We’ve pulled together a list of L&D-focused staffing firms and executive recruiters to help you build your team. Note that costs to post job listings and work with these recruiters can vary greatly. Each recruiter customizes its services to meet each client’s needs and prices its agreements accordingly. See our roundup of L&D recruiters, listed below in alphabetical order.
Also, remember that at Senior Executive L&D, we are constantly speaking with L&D leaders and looking for recommended recruiters. To suggest additions for this list, please contact Senior Executive Media at editor@seniorexecutive.com.
1. Blue Eskimo
Founded in 2003 by seasoned L&D professionals, Blue Eskimo considers itself a pioneer in the specialty of L&D recruitment, focused on filling L&D roles across teams including sales, marketing, and management. The United Kingdom-based recruiter advertises and searches for L&D professionals to fill key roles that are either permanent or fixed-term. The firm offers flexible resources, which means providing talented people, often with specialized skills, typically on a set day rate.
Unique Features: Clients can search for candidates via Blue Eskimo’s database of more than 11,000 L&D professionals, which includes each candidate’s skills and pay range expectations.
The agency is the only accredited recruitment partner for the Learning and Performance Institute, a global organization of learning professionals, originally called the Institute of IT Training when it was founded in 1995.
- Locations Covered: The U.K. and Europe
- Job Types Filled: Permanent and fixed-term roles
- Typical Time to Fill a Role: Less than a month
2. Judge Group
This one-stop staffing shop focuses on all areas of your business and covers a variety of industries including financial services, health care, life sciences, technology, communications, energy, government, and manufacturing.
Unique Features: The Judge Group helps bridge skill gaps and provide the flexible staffing needed to run and grow your business. The recruiter’s client list includes over 60 of the current Fortune 100 and many other successful corporations worldwide.
- Locations Covered: More than 30 locations across the U.S., Canada, and India
- Job Types Filled: Contract, temporary, direct hire, contract-to-hire, and temporary to permanent roles
- Typical Time to Fill a Role: Less than a month
3. JVT Advisors
JVT Advisors is a staffing and recruiting firm focused on finding, qualifying, and delivering the best L&D job talent, mainly for temporary projects.
Unique Features: With more than 20 years of experience, deep connections in the learning community, and a trusted network of over 5,000 learning professionals, JVT is equipped to quickly and effectively help supplement teams with needed individuals.
- Locations Covered: Headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts, and covering the entire U.S.
- Job Types Filled: Temporary roles
- Typical Time to Fill a Role: 2-3 weeks
4. Korn Ferry
Korn Ferry is a global consulting firm working with its clients to design optimal organizational structures, roles, and responsibilities. The firm aims to hire the right people to advance their careers and advises clients on how to motivate their workforce.
Unique Features: One of its key differentiators is using Success Profiles, which define the skills needed to deliver greatness in a specific job role, with benchmarks to measure the talent. Once your Success Profiles are built, Korn Ferry works with you on assessing them to help you succeed.
- Locations Covered: Offices with over 11,000+ professionals serve clients in more than 50 countries, including the U.S., Japan, Mexico, France, Italy, and the U.K.
- Job Types Filled: Permanent, temporary, and interim roles
- Typical Time to Fill a Role: 3-4 weeks
5. Tiger Recruitment
This multinational recruitment company fills gaps in your talent, including on your business, hospitality, HR, and financial services teams.
Unique Features: L&D is one of the areas the agency recruits for, working with businesses in a range of industries, including investment banks, professional services, property companies, and smaller businesses.
- Locations Covered: New York City; London, England; Manchester, England; Bristol, England; Dublin, Ireland; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Zurich, Switzerland
- Job Types Filled: Permanent, temporary, and interim roles
- Typical Time to Fill a Role: Less than a month
The Senior Executive L&D Think Tank is an invitation-only community for chief learning officers and senior-level L&D leaders at large organizations to share difference-making tactics, trade valuable resources, and seek the counsel of experienced peers in a private, confidential setting. Coming Fall 2023.
Join the Waitlist6. TrainingFolks
TrainingFolks is an executive search group that works with companies directly to help place talent in the training and development industry. The firm works to find the best senior-level candidates to fill the needs of clients by understanding the role, qualifications, and company culture. It helps place part- and full-time contingents, usually for instructional designers, trainers, facilitators, and e-learning developers, as well as manager- or director-level roles.
Unique Features: TrainingFolks works directly with clients to understand what gaps in talent they might have and how its services can help. A few key features of the firm: it allows you to control who can see the roles you’re hiring for, maintain discretion, and focus on reducing bias in your search for quality talent.
- Locations Covered: U.S. and Canada
- Job Types Filled: Part-time and full-time roles
- Typical Time to Fill a Role: Less than a month
7. The Training Associates
TTA is a family-run business that began in 1994, specializing in placing L&D talent with organizations of all sizes, from startups to Fortune 500 companies, in the U.S.
Unique Features: TTA has an L&D talent community of over 23,000 contract professionals and has trained over 6 million learners across 97 countries in 35 languages.
- Locations Covered: Primarily in the U.S.
- Job Types Filled: Permanent and temporary roles
- Typical Time to Fill a Role: 1-2 days
