Introduction
Everyone would agree that the job market today is transforming rapidly. A templated CV stacked with qualifications and experiences is not enough to land your dream job or secure that promotion you’ve been anxiously waiting for. As the global workforce continues to evolve, the demand for versatile professionals capable of adapting to dynamic challenges becomes increasingly pronounced.
When it comes to seasoned Training professionals, leveraging one’s skills and knowledge emerges as a crucial differentiator, elevating individuals from being just competent to truly indispensable assets.
In this article, I will be discussing ideas and ways to help Training and L&D Pros to understand how to effectively harness their unique skill set, secure a competitive edge, and present themselves as an irreplaceable resource within any organization.
My background in a nutshell
My passion for understanding how things work led me to major in electrical engineering in 2001. I dedicated the first years of my career developing and improving RF circuits, moving next to practice Software Development (C++) but my desire to help others eventually led me to dedicate my entire career to Training, Learning and Development.
Training new hires, developing content from scratch and mentoring was not new to me. I gained the experience and skills during my military service (1992-2012), and applying those “military” practices in the private sector was not a real challenge, mainly thanks to the pace of how things were moving back then in the early 2000s, slow and steady.
The biggest and most impactful change in my career occurred 15 years ago when I was tasked to optimize a selling process by creating tailored playbooks, scripts and guides. Needless to say, I knew absolutely nothing about Sales, Sellers and Sales terminology. Long story short, I saw a huge opportunity to expand my Training responsibilities beyond the traditional Post-Sales ecosystem and at that moment I knew I was about to embrace the start of a new chapter in my career journey! If there was a way to go back in time I would restart the whole journey sooner.
The Reskilling Revolution
Since those days of the “PowerPoint Era”, the professional Training sector has gone through some major milestones: Articulate came out with its phenomenal “E-Learning Heroes” campaign disrupting the entire world of content creation platforms, learners and business owners finally realized that online courses and “How To” tutorials need to transition from hundreds of pages to microlearning, LMSs are being replaced with DAP (In-App Guidance), and Online Design tools (i.e. Canva) are taking over G-Slides and MS PowerPoint.
Today, we live in the Fourth Industrial Revolution era (4IR, first announced in 2016) where Productivity drives every Change Management decision.
Similar to other industries and sectors, Training is going through its fastest stage of its evolution. The 4IR is changing our lives and work environment at the fastest pace humankind has ever experienced. The demand for millions of new jobs is increasing with vast opportunities for fulfilling people’s aspirations and potential.
The scary side-effect of this technological revolution was recently articulated in the World Economic 2023 report which stated that half the global labour force might need reskilling by 2025.
In order to bridge these gaps, the World Economic Forum embarked on a new journey in 2020 aiming to “contribute to building a fairer, more inclusive world that will deliver benefits to economy and society through better skills and education for generations to come” – the Reskilling Revolution was born. Amongst its members (i.e. Champions) you can find Allen Blue, Linkedin’s Co-Founder and PwC’s Global Chairman Robert E. Moritz who describes the challenge we are facing these days so well –
“Upskilling is one of the most urgent challenges of our time”.
To prove the above, a survey in India (September 2023) has found that Indians are willing to spend nearly Rs. 2 lakh or around $2,401 annually out of their own pocket on further education, showing the growing appetite for upskilling to suit industry demands.
This is a positive sign for the Indian economy (and the rest of the world), as it shows that there is a strong demand for skilled workers. The study also highlights the importance of personalized learning and career support for Indian professionals.
Where and How does Training fit into this agenda?
Now that we have uncovered where the world is heading to and what is needed to help humanity, obviously someone needs to steer the wheel and execute this agenda…By definition, the accountability would fall under Training and L&D to materialize the idea into reality.
However, in light of the Reskilling Revolution and its important promise to humankind and the global workforce, this invokes a Catch 22 for those who are required to train, reskill others and deliver results.
Training professionals and content experts cannot escape the continuous and ongoing labour of training others while little time, thought and effort is invested in their own career path. Training Professionals will most likely continue to work in a “Swiss knife” mode unable to break the glass ceiling (reporting lines, salary, strategic impact).
This paradoxical situation forces Training Practitioners to ask themselves “What can I do to make this transition the most beneficial for myself and my family?”.
The inevitable course of events invokes three core decisions one may consider to take:
- Gain new skill sets today so I can reskill others, expand my impact today and create new opportunities in the future
- Linger with my decision and actions, take the risk that others may gain a competitive advantage over me
- Quit practicing Training and move on to other areas of expertise
Whatever decision one may consider, career change can be challenging and frightening to beginners, let alone veterans. One of the most common fears or concerns among Training professionals is to visualize how their gained experience and skills could benefit them in a new career despite a chance to improve their income.
But changing professions does not have to mean losing your past experience. In fact, it has the potential to make your employment unique compared to others who did not dare to board the Reskilling Train.
As the World Economic Forum states – wages are declining as a result of an ongoing cost-of-living crisis, reskilling is a necessity, not an option.
Training and L&D can leverage their skills into a new game
By strategically leveraging your past training experience and emphasizing your transferable skills and qualifications, you can effectively position yourself for success in a new career path.
Simply be open to learning and adapting to the requirements of the role or career you are aiming for. Recognize that while your past training experience provides a solid foundation, there may be differences and new challenges to navigate in the new field. Demonstrate your willingness to grow and evolve professionally.
The first step is recognizing the transferable skills and knowledge gained from previous training jobs and applying them effectively to the requirements of the new role. Once you have identified your strengths and unique skills, you are all set and ready to unlock your new career opportunities.
Here are a few thoughts and ideas that could help you to reinvent your personal brand within the Training space or beyond:
Have a plan or be part of someone else’s plan
How many times have you heard this phrase –
“If you don’t invest in yourself, don’t expect others to invest in you”.
Working in a very demanding and rapidly changing environment creates a huge challenge for employees to pause and think about their career path, regardless of the role, function, department, employment type etc.
To make things worse, when decisions are not taken – Procrastination takes over our daily routine. We have to have a plan for our career path and personal future, otherwise we’ll be part of someone else’s plan, not necessarily meeting our specific needs and goals.
We simply need to find out where we see ourselves in the next two or five years, e.g. are we planning on doing more of the same? Or perhaps applying those skills into a new area? Will we be helping a different target audience? Which of these skills would be relevant? Which skills will we need to leave behind?
Recognize your skills
Analytical thinker, creative thinker, communication, problem-solving, leadership, project management, these skills are industry agnostic and can be applied across various roles. If you are aiming to move up the ladder, technical writing will probably not help you to get there.
Conduct your own gap analysis, find out which of your skills may require further Education or Certification: targeted learning can enhance your qualifications and make you more competitive in the job market.
Monetize your expertise
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (1561 – 1626) was an English philosopher who led the advancement of both natural philosophy and the scientific method, and his works remained influential even in the late stages of the Scientific Revolution. Francis Bacon is also known for his famous quotation:
“Knowledge is power“
As mentioned earlier, the World Economic Forum shares that wages are declining as a result of an ongoing cost-of-living crisis. It’s not surprising that Industry Experts and professionals are joining consulting firms such as GLG as Freelance Subject Matter Experts and Thought Leaders alongside their day job.
Gaining knowledge is one thing, being able to monetize it – that’s a game changer.
Find a new career, not a new industry
Doing more of the same for a different employer creates a strong sense of security and confidence but the truth is, experienced trainers and content creators with 5+ years of experience feel the routine drains their soul, put simply – they feel burnt out. Moreover, it does not open new doors nor does it create a competitive advantage to deal with the exponential increase in the number of applicants per job.
From “How To Tutorials” into a Freelance Brand Marketer !
Creating content is probably one of the most common tasks and skills among learning & development and training managers. It’s also one of the most emerging jobs on social media, aiming to help digital brands and logos with frequent content posted on every possible channel. You can further monetize your skills by helping others with their branding strategy, composing powerful brand messaging or simply lifestyle content.
A “Swiss knife” Multidisciplinary Role or a focused field of expertise?
Training and L&D work closely with every function, role and department in the organization. This “wide aperture” or cross-departmental work format yields a broad exposure (great) but on the other hand, it holds you back from becoming an expert in one specific field of expertise (e.g. Sales, Marketing, CS, etc.).
Take Soft Skills for example – collaboration, communication, problem-solving or strategic thinking – developing a “One-Size-Fits-All” course saves a great deal of dev time and can serve multiple roles and departments. Does it turn you into an Expert in Sales? Or Customer Success?
Honing to a specific field of expertise, need or team allows professionals to leverage their skills to their fullest potential.
Transition from Training into Enablement
The difference is not just in the wording but mainly in the approach.
Training refers to a relatively speaking long-term learning path where learners decide when and what data to pull (e.g. Learn, Consume). On the other hand, Enablement refers to a shorter-term, proactive, surgical and highly granular PUSH journey.
Let’s explain.
Training and L&D are accelerating towards Microlearning and In-App guidance, long and tiring PDFs are replaced with bite-sized modules. Yet, these techniques fall under the PULL bucket, we instruct learners to consume content when they are available, we rely on their willingness, motivation or ability to find our content and share their feedback upon completion. This approach may work well for some use cases (e.g. Resource library), however – other roles require a more proactive approach, surgical and granular.
Training Professionals are last to join, first to go
The title speaks for itself. To improve our chances of presenting ourselves as an irreplaceable resource within any organization, we must expand our responsibilities, brush up on our skill set, wade into new waters and demonstrate what employers mostly seek today: agility, adaptability and creativity.
Wrapping up
The business landscape is constantly evolving, with new technologies and methodologies emerging regularly. The demand for seasoned content creators and training professionals is increasing in the digital marketing sector as well as in the Sales Enablement space.
Those who take action today, will secure their future tomorrow.
(This article was inspired by a research conducted by World Economic Forum and great insights collected from the global community of Trainers and L&D Professionals.).
