Many people nowadays do not just depend on one source of income. Opportunities to earn extra income, to prepare for the future or transition to another career abound. One of the more lucrative opportunities available is a career in Training. If you have very good communication skills, years of work experience and more importantly, a desire to share your knowledge and transfer your skills to other people, perhaps a second career as a Trainer is for you.
But how can you begin a career as a Trainer? Where do you start? What steps should you take to pursue a career as a Trainer? Well, being the co-owner of Businessmaker Academy and having my own successful training company for over a decade now, let me share with you some tips.
Choose Your Subject Expertise
If you want to teach others, you need to dig into your own knowledge and expertise. You have to do a self-evaluation. Ask yourself these questions: What am I good at? What skills and knowledge have I gained in the number of years that I have been working? What subject matter am I most passionate about? Once you are able to identify your expertise, you can now work towards becoming a trainer for that subject.
Learn Effective Techniques in Training & Facilitation
Having knowledge and experience on a subject matter is important as it will form your foundation. However, the ability to train people effectively is a skill that needs to be developed. To learn effective training techniques, I suggest taking a course on Trainer’s Training because it will show you the most effective presentation styles, how to manage a class and how to facilitate training games. Our Trainers Training seminar, for instance, provides ideas and lets you experience new training activities that can liven up your class.
Learn Instructional Design
Another worthwhile program that you ought to invest on is Instructional Design. Developing your training outline, content and presentation slide deck is not just about copy and pasting from the internet. Taking our Instructional Design seminar will help you organize your content message more effectively, heighten the learning experience and ensure that your lessons are better retained by your training participants.
Work on Your Credentials
Building your credentials is important if you want to have more credibility as a trainer. There are many ways to do this such as updating and polishing your resume, joining Professional organizations and getting certified as a professional trainer. HR Club Philippines offers a Certificate Program for Professional trainers and its member privileges provides continuous learning and opportunities to network with other professionals in the field of Training and Human Resources. Do check out the Professional Certificate program at www.certifiedhrprofessional.com.
Get Real Life Experience in Training
Nothing really prepares you best as a trainer but by actually training. If you want to develop yourself as a great trainer, you’ll have to start training. To get the chance to practice and develop your training skills, you can volunteer as a youth trainer in your community or try out as an in-house trainer in your company or join a trainers workshop. You’ll have to be keen on taking on public speaking opportunities to get real life experience in Training.
Work with existing Training Companies
Once you have gotten your training, credentials and experience, you can start your career as a professional trainer. To build your career in training, you may want to apply as an in-house trainer for a company. This type of job is usually full-time so it will be a major career change for you. However, if you want to just do training as part time work, you can apply and work with existing Training companies like Businessmaker Academy. You may visit www.businessmaker-academy.com/career.html for more information.
Don’t Just Do it for the Money
Lastly, if you want a successful career as a Trainer, don’t do it just to get money. Trainers must have a passion for teaching and sharing knowledge. If you are just doing it for the money, your audience will get a sense of it and you will tire of it sooner or later. It will become a short-lived career. But if you have a passion for it, it will show. You and your students will have a great time learning together.
I recently conducted a screening interview for our Certificate program for professional training. When I asked the candidate why she wanted to pursue a career in training, I was awed by her reason. She said, “Training saved my life. I have been very depressed for a while and attending your seminars have uplifted me. It has given me a new purpose in life.” The candidate shed a tear and it reminded me of how powerful and wonderful a career in training can be. Now that’s passion and it is a privilege to be part of her journey.