Companies

In this installment of "Hired!," we learn more about Samantha deGeus, a recent hire at Torrance Learning.  TorranceLearning designs and develops custom training for clients that want to use the Internet to deliver their training.  It builds interactive and engaging self-paced training that can be accessed anytime via the intranet or Internet. 

Samantha is an Elearning Course Developer who joined the organization this past fall.

Q: Give us a brief description of your new job

A: As an Instructional Developer it is my job to build onscreen content based on the Instructional Designers ideas.

Q: What were you doing before taking this job?

A: I was a pre-production specialist for a financial printer.

Q: What do you think was the top factor in you getting this job over similarly qualified peers?

A: My personality fit well with the team.

Q: How did you find this new job?

A: A family member heard of the opportunity and suggested I apply.

Megan Torrance, president and CEO of TorranceLearning, is our latest profile in the Hired! series.  TorranceLearning designs and develops custom training for clients that want to use the internet to deliver their training.  It builds interactive and engaging self-paced training that can be accessed anytime via the intranet or internet.  This enables clients to teach a large number of people who are dispersed geographically or who don’t all need the training at the same time.

Q. What types of positions have you filled within last year?
A. We’ve filled 2 Elearning Course Developer positions this year, bringing our staff up to 8 (one is currently on sabbatical/leave). Elearning Course Developers take a detailed outline for a course (created by an Instructional Designer) and give it the graphics, sound, and interactivity that make it engaging for the learner.

Q. What types of skills required of these positions?
E-learning Course Developers need a combination of creative graphic design and deep attention to technical details.  We use a variety of software packages as a course makes its way through the design and development processes.  Both a working knowledge of the major design software packages and an ability to learn new ones quickly are required of this role.

Our team culture and values are very important to us – attitude & personality as important as technical skills.  We want to hire people who are fun, flexible, hard-working, generous and willing to learn.

Q. What's the top thing you look for in a new hire?
A. We look for some basic skills that demonstrate an aptitude for the job.  The actual software packages or actual work experience/background are less important than the demonstrated ability to pick up the concepts and do the work.  We use some pretty specialized software, and its unlikely to find someone who’s used it before – we’re prepared to train the right job candidate on the specific tools and processes we use.

Q. What's one thing that HR managers look for in a new hire that job seekers should focus on in interviews, resumes, etc.?

Be eager, but not desperate.  I would much rather hire someone who’s eager, interested, prompt, curious, and wants to make sure the job’s as good a fit for him or her as it is for us.  It’s quietly likely that, if someone’s desperate, they’ll take any available job just to have one – regardless of the actual interest in doing the work, finding a good fit, or learning something in the process.  I’ve spoken with candidates who were over-eager, almost to the point of stalking, and that’s a real turn-off.