How To Become A Skills Trainer (With Essential Skills)

Updated 18 March 2023

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Skill trainers are experts who help working professionals develop new skills to make them more employable. They usually have specialised education, experience and certifications that enable them to impart specific skills or knowledge to others. Knowing how to start your career as a skills trainer can help you make an informed decision. In this article, we discuss how to become a skills trainer, explain what they do and share the essential skills required to become one.

What Is A Skills Trainer?

Skill trainers are professionals who train, mentor and educate people to help them enhance specific skills and abilities. Teachers, corporate coaches, industry leaders, professors and other experts with specialised knowledge can become skills trainers. They can teach specialised technical skills, such as web development or data analytics, or help train people in developing soft skills, such as communication or leadership.

Skill trainers can work with private and government companies to train their workforce or offer their services independently to train employees across different organisations. Most companies work with skill trainers to help their employees develop a new competency or increase efficiency in specific work processes.

How To Become A Skills Trainer?

Follow these steps to find out how to become a skills trainer:

1. Acquire relevant qualifications

If you are thinking of how to become a skills trainer then a bachelor's degree is usually the minimum qualification required to start your career. The higher your qualifications, the more specialised knowledge you can develop to become a trainer. A degree in business administration, communication or human resources can also provide a competitive advantage when looking for job opportunities.

2. Pick an area of interest

Depending on your career goals and area of interest, you can choose to become a trainer of technical or soft skills. To become a technical skills trainer, learn about the field or profession through education degrees, diplomas, certification courses and work experience. If you intend to become a soft skills trainer, select a specialisation in different competencies such as confidence building, communication, listening, personality development, behavioural training, vocal training and public speaking. This step can be crucial to help you decide on the following steps.

3. Become a certified trainer and improve your expertise

Pursue relevant certifications or short-term courses that can help you develop facilitation and training skills. Depending on the skill you intend to teach, you can obtain industry-specific certifications that can attest to your expertise or complete general certification courses. Certifications can help add authority and value to your job applications.

Once you have the required skills and certifications, pursue an advanced-level training course to become a skills trainer. Many leading business schools offer focused certifications and diplomas to help professionals become trainers in specific technical and soft skills. To enhance your professional experience, attend workshops, look for suitable internships or offer your services on a project basis to different companies.

4. Create an impressive resume

Draft a creative and impressive resume that highlights your skills, expertise and certifications. Use a suitable resume format and structure to focus on showcasing your training, technical or soft skills. Similarly, write a compelling cover letter that summarises your work experience, specialisation and career goals effectively. Make sure you customise all job application documents, such as the resume and cover letter, before applying for different opportunities. Use relevant keywords and phrases mentioned in the job description to convey your suitability for the role.

5. Look for suitable openings

To look for relevant job opportunities, identify the key industries and companies that require trainers. Make a list of the companies you wish to work at and find out how to apply for a job there. Write to their hiring manager or senior leadership, explaining why you want to work at the company and what value you can bring. You can also add testimonials from the companies you have worked with or the professionals you have trained.

Besides online job boards, you can also look for suitable opportunities on social media platforms or enquire about relevant jobs at industry events. Apply for roles that align with your professional expertise and can help you achieve your short and long-term goals.

6. Prepare for interviews

If you get shortlisted for an interview, make sure you spend adequate time preparing for the same. If possible, prepare a presentation or report highlighting how your training services can benefit the company. Use numbers, testimonials and anecdotes from your training sessions to showcase the impact of the training you conduct. Prepare for commonly-asked questions before the interaction to improve your confidence and find innovative methods to discuss your past work experience.

7. Ask the right questions

During the interview, ask relevant questions about the role, organisation, employees, learning requirements and training platforms. Find information about the company's learning goals and operations before the interview and prepare a list of questions you wish to ask. This can also convey your interest and excitement for the role and the company.

8. Continue improving your skills

Once you start working as a skills trainer, make sure you keep improving your training and technical skills. Keep yourself updated about the latest trends and developments in the learning industry and try to implement them in your training sessions. With sufficient experience and network-building, you can also consider working as a freelance skills trainer and offering your services to different companies.

What Does A Skills Trainer Do?

A skills trainer usually assesses the training requirements of the company's workforce, plans the training sessions and creates the training material for the employees. They also generally conduct discussions with managers and team leaders to address any specific employee training requirements. Here are some other key responsibilities of a skills trainer:

Conduct training sessions and workshops as per the organisational learning requirements
Mentor new employees and conduct training sessions to teach them crucial job-related skills
Work on identifying and filling skill discrepancies in the workforce
Collect feedback after training sessions and analyse the results
Offer feedback to employees
Conduct base-line and end-line surveys to measure the impact of training sessions
Design and conduct team-building exercises to promote collaboration, creative thinking and analytical thinking in team members
Coordinate with managers and team leaders to discuss specific learning issues
Conduct refresher training for existing employees
Improve training sessions to make them more productive based on the feedback

Essential Skills For A Skills Trainer

Here are some important skills that can help skills trainers perform their role effectively:

Confidence: A pleasing disposition, positive attitude and the ability to communicate effectively can be essential to perform training sessions confidently. This helps engage learners and keep them interested in the learning process.
Communication: Communication is one of the most important skills of a trainer, as they use various verbal and non-verbal cues to transfer knowledge, explain concepts, offer feedback and promote learning. Trainers require excellent oratory and written communication skills to impart training sessions effectively.
Teamwork: A skills trainer usually works with several employees from different teams. This makes teamwork, collaboration and cooperation crucial for them.
Evaluation skills: To ensure that learners and employees are progressing satisfactorily, trainers require evaluation skills to measure performance. This includes observation skills, attention to detail and monitoring skills.
Flexibility: Trainers require flexibility to change their training strategy as per the learning preferences of the employees. Being able to respond effectively to the learning needs of the workforce can help skill trainers add significant value to the company's business and culture.
Marketing: Becoming a skills trainer includes a significant amount of self-marketing and promotion to access relevant career opportunities. Knowing how to leverage social media platforms, networking events, marketing tools and promotional strategies can help skills trainers progress in their careers.