How to Become a Training and Development Specialist
Successful organizations understand the importance of retaining their employees. First, it saves them money: According to Gallup, replacing an employee can cost anywhere from 40% to 200% of the employee’s salary, depending on their role. It also can boost employee loyalty, improve the overall culture of the organization, and increase cohesion among employees, ultimately helping the organization achieve its goals.
Properly training and developing employees plays a key role in retaining them. Training and development specialists are central to this work.
To pursue this important role, prospective training and development professionals should learn how to become a training and development specialist, including the educational foundation and professional steps required.
What Is a Training and Development Specialist?
Training and development specialists oversee an organization’s employee training programs and in-house employee improvement initiatives.
They create, develop, and implement the organization’s training programs, devising the core materials needed for the various programs, such as training manuals, learning modules, and course materials. They also deploy tactics such as employee interviews, surveys, or discussions with managers to assess employees’ training needs, so they can tailor programs to address these specific areas.
In addition, training and development specialists may lead training sessions in-house, online, or at off-site training facilities or classroom-like environments. In these situations, they can employ any of a host of strategies to accomplish the session’s set goals, such as lectures, videos, online applications, or interactive team exercises.
Training and development specialists help to create environments that encourage collaboration and interaction among co-workers, including employees from other departments. This can increase workplace cohesion and lead to a more productive workforce.
The Steps to Become a Training and Development Specialist
Individuals interested in this role should know the educational and professional steps to take to become a training and development specialist.
Educational Requirements
The typical educational benchmark for a training and development specialist is a bachelor’s degree. Students commonly earn a degree related to the field, such as an organizational leadership degree.
If they choose, prospective training and development professionals may pursue a graduate degree in a related field, such as human resources management or organizational leadership. This can help them hone the necessary organizational leadership skills needed for success and advancement into higher level positions.
Experience Requirements
Before seeking a training and development specialist position, graduates may want to gain experience in other roles associated with employee training or talent cultivation. These may be roles related to staff development within human resources. Or they may be roles related to the training aspects of the job within education.
This experience can be essential in cultivating the necessary competencies for employee development work. This can include hard skills in areas such as instruction, analysis, or project management, and soft skills in areas such as teamwork and communication.
Consider Certification
Certification is not required to become a training and development specialist. However, earning a certification can serve as additional validation of an individual’s knowledge and skill set. This could potentially help a candidate stand out from the competition.
A certification can be obtained from any of a number of organizations that offer training and development programs, including the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) or the Association for Talent Development (ATD).
Training and Development Specialist Salary and Job Outlook
Training and development specialists have solid earning potential. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the 2023 median annual salary for the profession is $64,340. Several factors can dictate the precise amount an individual earns in the role, including their education level, years of experience, and job location.
Now is a promising time to enter the field as a training and development specialist. The BLS predicts that job growth for the profession between 2023 and 2033 will be 12%, which is significantly higher than the 4% average growth the BLS projects for all professions.
Prepare to Make an Impact
By learning how to become a training and development specialist you are also learning how to make a significant impact within an organization. Successful training and development specialists can help their organization boost its production, cultivate a positive culture, and improve employee retention — factors that are all critical components of organizational success.
Claremont Lincoln University’s Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Leadership program can help prepare you to excel in this vital role. Our comprehensive online program immerses you in a curriculum that emphasizes collaboration, leadership theories, and analytical thinking — elements important to building impactful training and development strategies.
Additionally, you can choose from our four concentrations — Management, Professional Studies, Human Resources, or Integrated Policing Studies — to hone your knowledge and skills in a specific subject area.
Learn how CLU can help you get ready to step into the professional landscape with confidence.
Claremont Lincoln University is a non-profit university offering affordable online degrees, graduate certificates, and professional development programs. Through a socially conscious education framework, CLU’s mission is to create a new leadership ecosystem through its proprietary Claremont Core®, a distinctive model that encompasses the knowledge needed to become an effective leader of positive change in the workplace or community. CLU is regionally accredited by the highly regarded WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC), which ensures institutions meet strict standards and fulfill their missions to serve their students and the public good. Degree programs at CLU focus on healthcare administration, human resources, organizational leadership, management, professional studies, public administration, social impact, and sustainability leadership.
Claremont Lincoln University is the university of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, a non-profit global thought leader solving social, environmental, and economic challenges. Together, we are mobilizing leaders worldwide to tackle the most pressing climate, land, water, finance, housing, infrastructure, and other issues.
