I am a former secondary ed teacher and I'm trying to get into corporate training. I'm finding I'm having a hard time finding a job because I don't have any experience in Adult training (all my corporate experience is in technical writing). I'm in the process of starting a Master's degree in Corporate training. Does anyone have any other advice on how to break into the field?

Hi Marci -- Considering that I'm surrounded by trainers who never even went to a workshop on training, let alone hold a degree in education, I'm really surprised that someone with your teaching experience is being passed over for lack of "corporate" training experience. I mean to say - you deserve better!!

Honestly, you may want to first look at how you worded your resume and summary. Good teaching is good teaching...and as an added bonus to the prospective company, your experience as a teacher with actual education in the field means you know instructional design. It's all in the marketing...of yourself. Show companies how your degree, teaching experience and your technical writing skills relate to the corporate training environment. Good luck!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: LoveLearning,

I would say that your knowledge and skills gained as a secondary education teacher give you an edge for training positions. Most people who end up doing training don't have nearly that good a background. There's nothing magical about "adult learning." It's mostly common sense and you can read about it and learn all you need to know to get started in an hour or so. I don't think you will find any differences between secondary ed students and "adults" working for a corporation. If you want to also do course design and development work, you probably need to learn a little about ISD. And of course, to do e-learning (or use the technology) there is a bit of a learning curve. But here too, you don't need to over-do it in order to get a foot in the door. You've been putting courses together in your secondary ed positions already and can probably do that better than a lot of folks already out there in corporations.

I think the key is in how you package yourself - how you sell your skills to a company. And keep in mind that most hiring managers do not know half as much as you already do about training or learning - so don't sell yourself short. You might also bone up on all the current training buzz-words and phrases which you can easily do by glancing at the ASTD magazine and/or Training Magazine. But don't be intimidated by all the "stuff" in those magazines. There is really nothing substantially "new" in the field except maybe the buzz words themselves. Training organizations are constantly re-inventing themselves to stay alive. Just stick to the basics and you'll do fine - you already have them. Then once you are hired, you can specialize in whatever area you find most appealing. There's plenty of time later on to learn more about the field.

Yes - I forgot about your technical writing skills. That's a huge bonus for you. I agree with LoveLearning on all of it.

Thanks for your advice! I guess I've been down playing my secondary ed experience because I thought it really wasn't applicable.

I had one Learning and Development manager that read my resume and was actually turned off by my education experience. (In retrospect, I wonder if he was intimated by the fact I had more teaching experience than him). He's the one that told me the education part really didn't transfer to the corporate setting.

After hearing your inputs, maybe I should ignore that one manager and have some more self confidence! Thank you so much