Gaurav Kumar & Anu Suneja

In today’s world of competition and fast moving technology driven products, every organization wants to keep its employees updated and comfortable with the current trends, technologies and tools so that their employees can handle any assignment without any repulsion. The scenario has changed when the employees were given same kind of tasks over the years at their workplace. Now in almost every stream, the technology and advanced tools are used to perform and accomplish the task speedily and with accuracy. The employees are assigned different kinds of tasks at their workplace and the organization expects that these tasks should be done before time. In many cases, staff is not aware of the technologies or tools on which they are expected to work. Moreover, it is very difficult for the employees to join a coaching class or fast track course to learn the new technology or software after taking leave and then come back to their office to perform the related task. Now, almost every organization is concentrating on organizing training and induction programme for its staff members to learn the new tools and technologies at their work- place without any strain to approve leaves and let the work suffer. These training programmes are also known as staff development programme, Train-the-Trainer Programme or Executive Training Programme. This is the case where the role of corporate trainer comes in picture.

              Corporate trainer is one of the exciting career options for teachers, researchers and academicians whereby they can earn handsome money packet. The corporate trainer is responsible to deliver the training to the employees of a company on a specific technology or tool in a fixed time span. For example, a software company may require a corporate trainer to train their employees in a specific technology which may be Java, C, C++, Web Development, Parallel Computing or Software Testing. If we take an example of commerce, a bank may hire a corporate trainer to train its employees on a Computerized System for maintaining accounts and routine records.

                Additionally, the organization may plan and conduct the short-term English speaking training programme for its employees. The organizations hire professionals and teacher to deliver training in soft skills and foreign languages so that their employees behave in professionals and decent way. In many streams, there is dire need of corporate trainers and companies pay attractive remuneration.

               A corporate trainer is also referred to as a professional trainer or employee trainer. The corporate trainer may be assigned several types of duties in the stream of planning, scheduling, and administration for training professionals. The corporate trainers are also asked to conduct employee training for existing and experienced employees. These training sessions are based on a new method or technology being introduced into the company or simply a supportive technique or policy update to make the workplace run more smoothly.

              Following are some of the courses which are covered by the corporate training organizers/freelancers –

1. Execute Coachings
2. Train-the-Trainer (For Faculty of Colleges/Universities)
3. Time Management
4. Communication Skills/Office Writing Skills/Soft Skills
5. Business Communications/Creative Writing
6. Business English and Call Centre Skills
7. Stress Management
8. Presentation Skill Training
9. Cross-Cultural Communication
10. Self-Management Skills
11. Leadership and Motivation Training for Managers
12. Personality Development and Public Speaking
13. Subject Specific Fast Track Courses
14. Technology and Tool Specific Training

CORPORATE TRAINING VERSUS TRADITIONAL TEACHING

      The classical teaching and training methodologies deliver the content in a classroom using Chalk-and-Talk paradigm or using presentation. Here, teachers are expected to cover the specific syllabi at their own ease and the delivery of content is generally informal. In traditional teaching, the emphasis is given on the completion of syllabus and preparing the students to pass the examination.

      The Corporate Training, in contrast is totally diverted towards case studies, practical assignments and their execution. In case of corporate training, the instructor has to deliver the content with real life scenarios using latest tools with efficiency as well as accuracy within given time span. Moreover, the emphasis is given on labs, practical or hands-on sessions. The problems posed by the employees are those which they face in their routine work. In general, the corporate trainer must be expert in that subject, technology or tool so that a quality lecture can be delivered. Corporate training is subject specific rather than any broad area as the corporate trainer is required to possess expertise in a specific subject and to deliver the quality training in a given time span to those who are already doing that kind of job from years.

SKILL-SET AND ELIGIBILITY TO JOIN AS CORPORATE TRAINER

      First of all it should be noted that there is no specific license, degree or certificate to join the global industry as corporate trainer. The one and only parameter required is the expertise in specific subject. However, there is no explicit prerequisite to qualify any certification still a teacher can join the certification or course to present themselves in the market. In some cases, subject-matter trainers and coaches get certifications in their specialties from different self-regulating organizations but these certifications are not mandatory. Such kind of autonomous certifications promise the companies and clients that their certification-holder has received sufficient training and field experience to carry out their teaching assignment efficiently and effectively.

      Many organizations hire employee-trainers having a bachelor degree in respective discipline but this trend varies from company to company. However, there are some who require skill-set which is expected from a corporate trainer.

      The professional corporate trainers must possess the aptitude to create teaching-and-learning content in any environment. While most corporate training programmes are organized in lecture halls or hotel ballrooms, the trainers should also be efficient in one-on-one coaching scenarios in conference rooms and in client offices. The corporate trainers must be technology savvy so that they can allow students to participate in video chats and online discussion boards. It adds value to the professional development experience while extending the trainer’s reach to remote locations through webinar. A webinar is a seminar or presentation that is transmitted over the internet where each participant sits at their computer and is connected to other participants via the internet. A presenter has control of the meeting and the participants view the screen of the presenter and listen to the presenter speaking either by telephone or by accessing an integrated audio facility.

      The Corporate Trainer is expected to be comfortable and deliver the training using following Teaching Methodologies –

1. Classroom Lectures
2. Group Discussions
3. Case studies
4. Paper Presentation
5. Field Visits
6. Audio Visuals
7. Interaction with various organisations and experts from the fields
8. Gaining latest knowledge by maintaining up -to-date library
9. Learning by actual work
10. Observing live Models of various projects

(to be Continued)

(GAURAV KUMAR, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Applications Chitkara University (Formerly Chitkara Institute of Engineering and Technology) Rajpura, Punjab E-mail : kumargaurav@gmail.com & ANU SUNEJA Lecturer, Department of Computer Applications. Maharshi Markandeshwar University, Mullana, Haryana)