Training and Development Specialists

People in this career often have these skills:

• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Instructing - Teaching others how to do something.
• Learning Strategies - Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.

• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
• Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
• Active Learning - Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
• Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
• Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
• Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
• Time Management - Managing one's own time and the time of others.
• Systems Evaluation - Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.

People in this career often know a lot about:

• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

• Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.

People in this career often have talent in:

• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.

• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Originality - The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).

People in this career often do these activities:

• Train personnel to enhance job skills.
• Develop training materials.
• Coordinate training activities.
• Conduct surveys in organizations.
• Evaluate effectiveness of personnel policies or practices.

• Evaluate training programs, instructors, or materials.
• Monitor financial indicators.
• Prepare financial documents, reports, or budgets.
• Train personnel on managerial topics.
• Update professional knowledge.
• Coordinate personnel recruitment activities.
• Negotiate contracts with clients or service providers.
• Supervise employees.
• Advise others on human resources topics.
• Train personnel in organizational or compliance procedures.

• Training and Development Managers

• Management Analysts

• Human Resources Specialists

• Human Resources Managers

• Health Education Specialists

• Marketing Managers

• Communications Teachers, Postsecondary

• Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists

• Regulatory Affairs Managers