Seven steps to becoming a Corporate Trainer

Sanjay Arora

A corporate trainer is an educator or instructor who works in a business environment and imparts knowledge or skills to a group of employees. Corporate trainers are, thus, becoming a valuable asset for start-ups as well as large, established companies who invest in training sessions and consequently benefit from better productivity.

Professionals working in corporate training and development environments need a variety of skills ranging from instructional design to change management to organisational leadership. Excellent communication and presentation skills are a plus along with related soft skills and a knowledge of HR environments.

1. Understand the role
Corporate training is a potentially lucrative filed these days as every organisation craves competitive advantage with highly skilled and capable manpower. Not all organisations are equipped to train their own manpower for the present and future competencies and therefore require external help. Corporate trainers typically find themselves teaching topics that people don’t learn in their formal education, such as communication skills, business writing etiquette, public speaking, presentation skills and other job-specific functional and technical skills. You might know workplace trainers by other titles like Training and Development Professional, Learning Development Coordinator, Workplace Trainer or simply Training Consultant. Although these positions may have differences in their job description, they often have responsibilities of designing, implementing or assessing training programmes.

2. Look in the mirror – are you the corporate trainer type?

Perhaps you are considering a career in corporate training, or perhaps you’re already doing it but aren’t sure if you should continue. If you have these four qualities, then you’re definitely in the right profession.

• You enjoy standing in front of people and letting them judge you
• You are willing to be a little irreverent
• You enjoy learning more all the time 
• You get a rush when you feel like someone ‘gets it’

3. Understand the challenges

One may compare Corporate Trainers with teachers, but the two jobs are very different. Teachers have a certain position of authority because of which students have a natural tendency to follow their instructions, trainers enjoy no such luxury and have to build a strong relationship with their learners to get the message across. This is a significant challenge. Trainers need to possess a natural ease in dealing with people, an ability to present themselves with confidence, speak before a large audience with conviction, a mature thought process to create training material relevant to their audience, spontaneity to respond to difficult situations with ease, a good sense of humour, loads of enthusiasm and most importantly a passion for the subject matter that is being presented.

4. Check if your education background is suitable

While people who enter this career typically first earn a bachelor’s degree, there is no specific field that is necessary to specialise in. We also find that corporate trainers hold degrees in education. An education degree provides the knowledge and expertise needed to excel in this role. Other common educational backgrounds for this role include psychology, human resources, business, communication, and training and development. 

5. Strengthen your industry specific skills

You should always be looking at how you can develop your skills in your chosen area of expertise. For example, you may need to take a course in particular software products so that you can incorporate them into your presentation or teach employees how to use them. Keep abreast of industry developments and constantly refresh your training approaches.

As a trainer, you should keep taking training courses yourself. Not only will you enhance your skills and knowledge, but you will experience how other trainers work and could get useful ideas.

6. Get certified

A quick readthrough of corporate trainer job listings suggests that employers search for candidate who are certified professional trainers, and even specify some specialty certifications. You can increase your chances of career progression and the value of your training programmes by becoming certified with a professional body. This will effectively vouch for the quality of your work. Becoming a certified professional trainer, or getting one or more specialty certifications, can help you stand out from a crowd of similarly qualified applicants when you're looking for work.

7. Apply for jobs as a corporate trainer

Once you have the qualifications and the industry knowledge it's time to start applying for corporate trainer jobs. When you do this, be sure to pay close attention to the job descriptions to ensure that your qualifications and skills match the requirements of the job. You are unlikely to find your dream job at the outset so be prepared to be flexible and open-minded about the possibilities that are out there. If you only see listings for jobs that require experience, think about how you can gain relevant experience in a slightly different role, such as a training assistant, human resources worker, or public relations specialist. If you see a frequent requirement in the person specification that you don't have, think about how you can gain this skill.

To summarise, the role of corporate trainer is ideal for someone who is outgoing, friendly, loves working with people and enjoys teaching. If you have an education degree and are considering your career options, you can definitely become a corporate trainer by following the above seven steps.