Creating a Training Edge

Training and education are critical to the successful print provider (see this month’s feature article, which begins on p. 22). For Coloredge New York • Los Angeles (coloredge.com), training can begin as soon as someone is hired. In March 2010 the company, part of Merisel Inc., developed its Visual Communications Management Training (VCMT) Program, and it has become a way to ensure Coloredge continues to garner some of the best and brightest.

The VMCT program was created to help recent college graduates develop leadership skills, by exposing them to all aspects of the industry, and to learn how the company runs by developing key management abilities. Graduates with exceptional academic and extra-curricular performance are brought into Coloredge and, in the course of six months – during which they’re regarded as traditional fulltime employees – are comprehensively trained in all aspects and departments, including sales, manufacturing, project management, creative services, and corporate finance. The trainees are involved in a variety of situations to understand the decisions that shape a business.

“Through hands-on experience, trainees are constantly learning from every department. In addition to the training schedule, they’re encouraged to make meaningful contributions through various projects,” says Coloredge chairman and CEO Donald R. Uzzi. “Some projects come about through immediate business needs and others come from observations of the trainees about how to do something better. At every point, the trainees are given all the support and guidance they need to benefit from the program.”

During 2010, six VCMT trainees were welcomed into Coloredge’s New York office and three into the company’s Burbank office. Through the duration of the program, the trainees did everything from meeting with clients on sales calls to operating machinery in the manufacturing facilities. Then, as their time in the training period neared an end, Coloredge management assessed each VCMT trainee to decide where they could bring real value to the organization.

“The VCMT program is a way to infuse new blood, talent, and ideas into a very stagnant industry,” says Uzzi. “The program has proven itself to be very successful. The past trainees have meshed well into existing roles or have created entirely new roles to improve company operations. The program has exceeded its highest expectation and will continue to be a platform to bringing new ideas and processes that significantly strengthen our company and client proposition.”

In the first six months of 2011, Coloredge New York • Los Angeles welcomed 13 new VCMTs across the country.