How To Become a Soft Skill Trainer: A Complete Guide

Updated 3 March 2023

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A soft skill trainer educates people on ways to improve their communication skills and relationships with others. These trainers help employees improve the soft skills required to work and interact with their colleagues and customers. With the right combination of education, skills and experience, you can become a successful trainer and help a business and its employees achieve success. In this article, we discuss what a soft skills trainer does and explore a step-by-step guide on how to become one.

What does a soft skill trainer do?

A soft skill trainer provides training to employees and helps them strengthen their interpersonal skills. They provide business teams and individuals with the tools required for interpersonal communication at the workplace. These trainers also assess the needs of the learners and employees and develop specific goals for their training based on these assessments. They use this information to create a lesson plan and develop content to achieve the desired learning outcomes.

After completing the training, these trainers assess the effectiveness of their training and provide a follow-up whenever necessary or alter their content and training materials to achieve the desired goals.

Job duties of a soft skills trainer

Some of the common job duties of these trainers include:

Creating and developing appropriate learning materials like presentations, handouts, case studies, practical assignments and self-assessment assignments
Defining appropriate learning methodologies and approaches, content and evaluation strategy
Updating training materials based on the needs of the learning group
Assessing the strengths and weaknesses of employees to create specialised training for them
Documenting training progress and reporting it to the operations team
Motivating and encouraging the team to improve their performance
Providing post-training support to all learners
Summarising learning outcomes and creating reports to show the learning outcomes to the key business stakeholders

Reasons to become soft skills trainer

Here are a few benefits of pursuing a career as a soft skills trainer:

Higher earning potential: Whether you train corporate employees or focus on individual learners, you can control what you earn. You can develop and market your training courses, and you can conduct soft skill training workshops to increase your income.
Nurture your expertise: As a trainer for soft skills, you get a chance to enhance your skill set. For example, when you regularly interact and teach employees, you can sharpen your communication and public speaking skills.
Help others develop their skills: When you teach soft skills to employees, you help them improve their lives and boost their workplace productivity. Through your training, you also improve the employee's sense of identity, which helps them perform better in their jobs.
Travel to different places: Soft skill training is a type of job that will allow you to travel to different parts of the country, especially if the organisation has multiple offices across the country. If you work as an independent trainer, you may have to travel to your client's location.

What value do soft skills trainers bring to organisations?

As a trainer, you are likely to:

Boost employee efficiency and productivity
Build stronger business teams
Improve employee retention
Boost self-confidence of employees
Reduce stress in the workplace

What are the 7 soft skills?

The seven most important soft skills that are desirable in almost every job are:

Communication
Problem-solving
Creativity
Adaptability
Work ethic
Critical thinking
Teamwork

Skills of soft skill trainers

Here are some skills that can shape your career as a trainer:

Interpersonal communication

A soft skills trainer usually has mastery of interpersonal communication as they teach this skill to employees in an organisation. Having excellent interpersonal communication helps them to understand the concepts they are teaching and convey their thoughts. If you work as an independent contractor or freelance trainer, this skill set can help you build long-term relationships with your client.

Critical thinking

Assessing the needs of a learner, developing content and creating training materials requires a trainer to make meaningful decisions about the usefulness of the information they plan to share. Using critical thinking skills, a trainer can gather information, analyse the information and determine which piece of information will help their learner. Also, this skill set helps them assess the weakness of a learner and come up with a training roadmap to help them overcome it.

Organisation

Organising training materials, lessons and courses are part of a trainer's primary duties. Excellent organisational skills help them organise the learning materials to increase the learner's retention level. It also includes efficient time management and record-keeping.

Public speaking

These trainers usually educate in a classroom environment. Having excellent public speaking skills can help them speak to a large group of employees engagingly and comfortably. It helps them articulate their thoughts and ideas in a way that everyone can understand easily.

Adaptability

There will be many instances where a trainer has to adapt to their audience. You should understand that every employee has a different learning style. So, you should develop ways to teach the same concept in new and exciting ways. Also, adaptability helps you adjust to every type of work environment and culture.

How much does a soft skills trainer earn?

The average salary of a soft skills trainer is ₹2,55,441 per year. However, the salary varies depending upon your education, work experience and geographical location.

These trainers earn a higher salary in some cities. Some of the top-paying cities for this profession are:

How do I become a soft skills trainer?

To become a soft skills trainer, follow this step-by-step guide:

1. Complete your higher secondary (10+2) or equivalent education

Most companies prefer candidates with a bachelor's degree. For getting admission to a graduation college, you have to complete your 10+2 or an equivalent diploma course. You can complete your higher secondary with any subjects. However, if you choose the social sciences and arts or humanities stream, it will be helpful for your career as a trainer.

2. Earn a bachelor's degree

Next, pursue a bachelor's degree in communication or business. This will help you develop the skills required for becoming a successful soft skills trainer. Also, while pursuing your degree, find internship opportunities that can help you prepare better for this job role. A relevant internship will add value to your resume and help you get hired after completing college.

3. Complete the soft skill certification

To start your career as a soft skills trainer faster, you should take a course in soft skills. Many institutions offer short-duration courses. After completing the course, you become a certified trainer. The courses primarily teach communication, cooperation, work ethic and leadership. Many companies prefer candidates with professional certification. So, research the certifications available to better understand their content, duration and fees.

4. Search for job openings

After earning your bachelor's degree, search for job openings using the Indeed job portal. Use keywords like "soft skills trainer" during the search to get a list of job openings in your preferred city. Then you can apply to job roles for which you meet the qualification criteria.

5. Create your resume

Create and develop your resume by highlighting all the relevant skills you have. Try to use industry keywords from the job listing to make your resume Applicant Tracking System (ATS) compliant. It is always advisable that you tailor your resume for each position you apply for. This helps you align your resume with the organisation's requirements and culture.

6. Clear the interview

When called for an interview, showcase your interpersonal communication to the employer. Try researching for potential questions and prepare answers to commonly asked questions. You can even conduct a mock interview with your friend or family member to gain insights into your performance.

7. Consider pursuing higher studies

Many companies prefer candidates with a post-graduation degree in communication or business. To advance your career and earn a higher salary, consider furthering your education.

8. Consider becoming a freelancer or independent contractor

If you do not wish to work in a 9-to-5 office setting, you can consider becoming a freelance trainer or an independent contractor offering training services to corporate employees or college students. Research the steps required to become one in your location.