How to Become a Corporate Trainer?(With Steps and Tips)

owadays, almost every company or business requires a corporate trainer to help its employees excel. Such an expert is to ensure that they develop professionally and can add to the business operation.

And, with the demand for upskilling and reskilling, the need for business trainers will only rise. Yet, where is the starting point? What is the minimum to pursue a career in this field? 

In this article, we will dive deeper into the role, discuss the main responsibilities, and share how to be a corporate trainer.

What is a Corporate Trainer?

A corporate trainer is a professional, expert, or even teacher, who specializes in the training and development of employees and promotes their growth in corporate settings. 

Corporate trainers are individuals who have enough experience and knowledge to provide training to different groups of employees. Depending on the business needs, they may provide training to heads, managers, new hires, whole departments, or single specialists.

Read more: 5 Insights Into Corporate Training

What Does a Corporate Trainer Do?

The role of a professional trainer is crucial for the enhancement of job performance, upskilling, and reskilling of employees. Thus, the main job of the business trainer relates to offering targeted training that allows employees to develop new skills and get new knowledge.

For instance, training programs may refer to onboarding, coaching sessions, compliance training, sales, leadership, or soft skills training. Business trainers are to sculpt the learning journeys and foster a culture of growth.

Responsibilities of a corporate trainer

With such a role, a professional trainer has certain responsibilities related to the research and identification of needs, development, implementation of training programs, and creation of a culture for the growth of the employees. 

Here is a more detailed view of what responsibilities are waiting for you if you are to become a corporate trainer:

• Research and assessment of learning needs. Identification and evaluation of the needs and requirements of employees is crucial for proper program development. There, a trainer should research skills needed by a company for growth, evaluate at what level employees are, and then offer plans to ensure the development.
• Content production and development. Corporate trainers are responsible for offering exciting and engaging content, that not only answers the needs but maintains focus and encourages further learning. Also, a professional trainer is to define learning methods, like cohort learning or collaborative learning.
• Program implementation. Corporate trainers handle the organization and scheduling of training, carry out the programs, and ensure that they focus on learning goals.
• Support of employees and learners. Additionally, business trainers evaluate the progress of learners and define how they can be supported. Feedback and review are crucial parts of this process.
• Creation of a culture of continuous learning. Another responsibility of the corporate trainer is to find new training opportunities and develop strategies to foster certain cultures or contribute to continuous and lifelong learning.

Guide on How to Become a Corporate Trainer

Becoming a corporate trainer may be a pretty good deal for experts, professionals, and even teachers in the near future.

Subject to Holoniq, corporate training will take 6% of the global education market, which is set to reach at least $10 trillion by 2030.

The number is enormous, isn’t it?

And it tells us that, with all the diversity of businesses, the learning needs and requirements would vary significantly from company to company. 

Unfortunately, there is no perfect roadmap to becoming a professional trainer. Yet, in most cases, becoming a corporate trainer is concerned with the career path and experience, education, skills, and industry you are to choose. 

What about particular steps on how to be a corporate trainer? Here are 10 of them that can help you succeed.

#1. Define the Industry Within Which to Develop Your Career 

So, the starting point for your professional trainer journey is identifying which industry will suit you best. With this understanding, you can determine the necessary experience and skills for the work in the sphere, and that way plan your next steps. 

There, you have several options: 

• Lean towards the industry in which you have already worked and have profound knowledge, allowing you more flexibility and easier entry.
• Have a fresh start, picking a certain industry and looking for opportunities that will bring you knowledge, experience, and important skills. 

💡Note: any experience in a corporate setting is great and can contribute to a corporate training career.

Read more: Crucial Skills for Trainer

#2. Do Research on the Company and Positions

As you have a specific industry in mind, do significant research on the companies that operate there and the positions they offer. It is vital to have expectations and see what you lack as a trainer for the job.

Thus, check the companies you are interested in, check the roles they need, and analyze the responsibilities. It allows you to see what skills you need to develop. 

💡Note: going through the LinkedIn pages of companies and following the representatives of their training departments can help you understand the company culture, strategies, and vision.

#3. Gain Experience 

Another vital point for becoming a corporate trainer is relevant experience and knowledge. There, you should consider the industry-specific and training-specific knowledge. 

For instance, having a degree in a particular field can be a huge advantage, proving your expertise and understanding of key processes. If you want to be a trainer in the banking sphere, a degree in finance would be highly appreciated. Simultaneously, if you have a degree related to teaching, it can add to your expertise as well.

Once you know the industry and requirements, seek opportunities that will help you get either industry- or training-specific experience. For instance, you may work as a mentor for a certain group of new hires, or be a success manager on the product team, bringing some support or teaching to clients. That way, you will have certain proof that you can teach.

#4. Work in HR or a Professional Development Department

For many corporate trainers, working in HR or taking positions that help employee professional growth can be very beneficial for building their careers. It can prepare a business trainer for the work with people, help understand the culture of growth, and see the strategies applied.

In particular, HR departments are usually responsible for training. Thus, by working there, even as a junior specialist, you will be able to partake in scheduling and organizing training, as well as cooperating with other team members or experts to provide lectures or learning sessions. 

💡Note: when working in HR or professional development, job shadowing is one of the best strategies to get knowledge and experience bringing you a trampoline into a professional trainer career.

#5. Learn and Develop Skills: Communication and Public Speaking, Instructional Design

If you want to be a business trainer who is valued by different organizations, then you should pay attention to some skills that will enhance your learning provision. A professional trainer is not only an expert but a teacher and mentor. Thus, they must have advanced skills related to communication, presentation, organization, and teaching.

What are crucial skills for a business trainer?

• Communication skills: written and verbal 
• Listening skills
• Public speaking
• Adaptability
• Problem-solving
• Time management

Besides, as a person responsible for developing a curriculum, you will need to focus on instructional design skills. They usually relate to learning models and theories, knowledge transfer, project management, types of learning, and classroom administration.

Read more: Crucial Instructional Design Principles

#7. Build Portfolio 

Corporate trainers often need proof of their experience and skills. If you only start and have poor job experience in the industry, it may be hard to showcase it. What is your option here? To build a portfolio. 

You can build a portfolio in different ways, applying different strategies usually used by designers or experts. Yet, the good one is to develop several projects and place them on your website. 

Here are some tips to do so:

• #1. Develop a test project where you answer the real issue (for instance, offer a program to affect efficiency, provide onboarding, or training on how to use a new program)
• #2. Use authoring tools to produce content and develop programs that can show your instructional design skills and knowledge of the industry. 
• #3. Think of tools and strategies that you will want to incorporate to show how you interact with learners. (consider corporate LMSs that have enough functionality and where you can replicate it)
• #4. Focus on how the content looks, including visuals and readability.
• #5. Create a website for the content that you produce, including presentations, and projects of your work, and back it with links to your courses or demos. 

Read more: How to Create a Great Training Program?

#8. Do Networking, Engage with People, and Promote Your Work

Finding opportunities is crucial to becoming a corporate trainer. They allow you to improve your knowledge and raise expertise. And one of the methods to finding them is connecting with people and building relationships.

Networking brings benefits and opportunities for job landing and a corporate training career. How? Firstly, it allows you to be visible and promote your work. Secondly, it brings you a community of corporate and business trainers. By engaging with people, you can get insights, find projects, know about vacancies, and meet with potential patterns or lecturers of your course.

💡Tip: Being active on LinkedIn is one of the best ways to network; there, you can share content, showcase your courses and projects, follow trends, and connect with people.

#9. Get Certifications

Also, businesses usually seek a person with certain certifications to do the job. Thus, at some point, you should think of getting some. It is not only about recognition but continuous learning as well. Therefore, find agencies and centers that offer programs to improve your skills and learn new methods and can support them with a certificate. 

Even if you have a degree, a nice course, a boot camp, or a program would enrich your qualifications beyond academic credentials. 

💡Interesting fact: CPD certification service is an example of an agency that accredits training businesses, firms, and departments, and can be a good option if you want to start a training business.

#10. Apply for a Job

Lastly, you won’t become a professional trainer without sending a CV to the company of your interest. Thus, once you have minimum qualifications, a solid portfolio, and decent knowledge, it is time to apply for the job. Importantly, as you embark on your journey in the new field, make sure that your application aligns with the requirements of the position you are applying for. 

How to Be a Trainer at Work: Crucial Tips

• Tip#1. Analyze the areas to improve and match them with goals
• Tip#2. Be an active listener 
• Tip#3. Put powerful organization at the center of any learning

The chances are that your corporate trainer journey can begin with becoming a trainer at work. For people, who have little experience in training, but much knowledge about the industry, it is a pretty effective way to figure out what to expect in the future and what you may lack. 

So, how to be a trainer at work and how to be a good one, that adds to the culture and helps the employees grow? Here are three crucial tips:

Tip#1. Analyze the areas to improve and match them with goals

If you want to make a good impact on the organization, your training should be specific, contribute to the business, and align with company goals. 

Usually, it is not one or two programs but a series of them that constantly add to the culture and offer long-term benefits. In this regard, you can ask managers or colleagues what they lack, and what the issues in the workflow are. 

For instance, if your training program is simple onboarding, ask colleagues what they believe the newcomers lack in their first month. At the same time, resort to the employees who have already completed onboarding to know about confusing parts or areas that can be improved 

Upon this information, prepare materials that will address this issue and help retain knowledge.

💡Note: the right way to plan any learning program is to make it data-driven. Thus, develop polls and ask for feedback from employees; the best plans derive from the performance data and needs of employees. 

Tip#2. Be an active listener 

Next, to be a good trainer at work, you should develop empathy and be an active listener. Empathy is a powerful soft skill that can contribute to the training. According to this study, empathy significantly impacts engagement in the workplace, especially if there is a senior leader with high empathy levels. 

How does such a skill add to corporate training? Well, listening and understanding the needs of the employees will help you better answer their needs and encourage them to be more active in the learning process. In the end, it will affect the learning outcomes and can allow you to improve the learning culture in the future.

Tip#3. Put powerful organization at the center of any learning 

Another tip is that to be a trainer at work and make a profound impact, you need to make learning organized and clear. There, the way you manage and structure processes is crucial. Centralized learning offers clarity and coherence, adding value to the learning process.

If your company already has a system, try to add elements or steps that will help you eliminate confusion or bring automation.

You can treat each training program as a project, where there is time for research, planning, implementation, and review. Also, a good idea is to create a separate space or system for learning, where you will store educational materials and recorded sessions, and could manage employees effectively.

According to FinancesOnline, around 40% of Fortune 500 companies use learning management systems to remain competitive, and the main reason for this is that they affect learning implementation, growth, and productivity. 

It underlines that you can use special software to help you with onboarding, content authoring, and program creation. 

Read more: Best Corporate LMS

Conclusion: Becoming a Corporate Trainer is not Easy

The demand for skilled business trainers continues to soar alongside the evolving landscape of business needs. And it doesn’t make the path towards success easy for corporate trainers.

The knowledge and skills remain crucial points for getting any opportunity in this sphere. Thus, before making the initial steps, you should first understand the core responsibilities of the role and evaluate the demands of the industry you are targeting. 

After this, you can start gaining experience, making the first steps in professional development, and learning the necessary skills. Also, do not forget about certifications and portfolios that are to improve your chances of landing a job.