How to get in
Learning and development (L&D) is growing as organisations recognise the value of their people, and that having willing, engaged staff increases productivity, improves retention and attracts the best candidates. You should have a CIPD qualification, along with any learning and development skills.
There are also opportunities for people who have backgrounds in general management, team leading, or any position where organisation of training plays a major part in the role.
Strong organisational and people skills are a must, as you will be dealing with external companies and internal staff.
What it involves…
Training is broken up into design, co-ordination and delivery. Main accountabilities include:
- delivering leadership development processes, from identification of potential leaders and induction to performance management and development
- advising managers to ensure best practice on learning and development issues
- overseeing the maintenance of all training records
- developing and monitoring performance indicators
- developing and delivering training programmes, including evaluation
- ensuring the proper dissemination of learning and development procedures and information
- preparing reports on specific L&D issues.
Moving up
You should acquire knowledge of modern training products or learning and development tools, such as 360-degree feedback and training needs analysis. It would also help to gain a professional training qualification.
The learning and development market is healthy and competitive, and there is plenty of scope for HR training professionals to develop their careers.
Even in the non-profit sector, a demonstration of commercial awareness and enthusiasm for your profession will often go a long way.
