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Trainer Interview Questions

Trainer interview questions and answer guidelines to help you get the trainer
job you want.

Trainer jobs will vary from company to company, industry to industry and
according to the level of the trainer position but there are a number of common
key competencies for a professional trainer.

Whether the trainer is presenting sales training, management training, finance

training or customer service training the core skills and abilities for a successful
business trainer are the same.

These trainer interview questions explore those essential competencies or

behaviors needed to determine and meet employee development needs and to
facilitate and present successful and effective training courses.

What specific skills do you bring to the trainer position?

Refer to the essential skills and behaviors that every successful trainer needs.
These include technical skills such as knowledge of adult learning principles,
business core competencies such as knowledge and understanding of basic
business principles and organizational behavior and personal competencies
such as planning and organizing skills, information gathering and analysis,
communication and presentation skills, coaching skills, adaptability, creativity
and resilience. Support your answer with work related examples.

Give me an example of a learning intervention you implemented which was

successful. Why do you think it worked well?

Take the interviewer through each step of the training process from identifying
the training needs to designing the right learning intervention, to presenting the
training program and evaluating the effectiveness of the intervention. Highlight
the key skills you used from problem assessment to decision-making to
presentation skills to evaluation skills.
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What has been the most difficult training situation that you have had to
deal with and what did you do?

Training employees can present many challenges. Some common difficulties

include lack of manager or supervisor support, disinterest and lack of motivation
from the employee, lack of engagement from participants and poor learning
transfer to the job. The key to answering these trainer interview questions is to
explain how you analyzed why the difficulty occurred and what actions you took
to improve the situation from redesigning the training to conducting feedback
workshops with participants and supervisors.

How have you gone about identifying employee training needs in the
organization?

Finding out training needs includes communicating with managers and

supervisors, conducting surveys, talking to the employees and observing on the
job performance. Analyzing performance management feedback and
organizational, departmental and operational needs. Give a specific example.

Tell me about a recent training program that you ran. How did you make
sure that the skills were successfully transferred to the work situation.

Learning transfer is an ongoing process. Ways of assessing the degree of

transfer include observation, talking to supervisors, customers, colleagues and
getting feedback from the employee. Focus on key requirements for training
transfer starting with a training program that is properly linked to real work life
experience to manager and supervisor support and reinforcement back on the
job.

Describe a recent on-the-job training activity you facilitated.

On the job training presents its own challenges including distractions, lack of
structure and nervousness from the employee. Take a specific example and
discuss how you managed the difficulties.

What do you consider the key criteria for training to be effective?

When answering trainer interview questions about effective training relate it to

actual examples. Effective training means the employees are engaged in the
training, learn new skills, ideas and knowledge. The process enhances employee
self esteem and instills confidence and motivation. The participants are able to
transfer effectively what has been learned into the work environment. The
training meets the employee's development and training needs and helps fulfill
the organization's goals and objectives.
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What training methods have you used and which have proven the most
effective in your experience?

Professional trainers use a variety of methods including role playing, simulation,

lectures, case studies. Assess the training needs of the employees, determine
which skills and knowledge need to be learned and then decide on the most
appropriate training method for imparting these specific skills, abilities and
knowledge. The method must match the participants' profile and needs and the
learning material.

How do you keep current with the latest developments and ideas about
business training?

Focus on your motivation for professional development and learning. Do you

attend seminars, subscribe to relevant publications, do research on the internet
etc?

Behavioral Interview Questions for Training and Mentoring

April 20th, 2009 | Author: admin

Developing employees is critical to the success of an organization. Almost

every position in a company will train or mentor someone else in the company at
some point. Some positions have only minor training responsibilities, while other
positions are full time training roles. In either case, you may encounter questions
about your experience training or mentoring.

Behavioral interview questions provide a good way to ask about training and
mentoring skills. A Behavioral Question asks the candidate do describe how they
acted in a specific situation. This technique uses this past performance of the
candidate to predict how they will perform in the future. Below are a selection of
behavioral questions targeting training and mentoring responsibilities:

Palladian teaches how to prepare for Behavioral Interviews. We offer

comprehensive interview coaching programs and individual mock interviews.

• Tell me about a time when you trained a new hire.

• Tell me about a time when you retrained someone who was struggling in
their job.
• Tell me about a time when you mentored a coworker successfully.
• Tell me when you trained a superior.
• Tell me about a time when you mentored coworker but failed to help them
improve.
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• Tell me about a time when you delegated a task for developmental

reasons.
• Tell me about a time when you brought in an outside expert to train your
team.
• Tell me about a time when you taught a group in a seminar.
• Tell me about a time when you utilized interactive training techniques.
• Tell me about a time when you overcame disruptive behavior from a
seminar participant.
• Tell me about the greatest training challenge you have faced.
• Tell me about a time you had to train a group on a topic you were not an
expert in.
• Tell me about a time when you implemented new technology to facilitate
training.
• Tell me about a time when you identified a training need in an organization
that had been unmet.
• Tell me about a time when the training you delivered resulted in significant
bottom line results in the organization.
• Tell me how you would train me to do… (insert a common task or topic in
your industry).

What is the difference between training and development?

The basic difference between training and development is: Training helps to
make the employee of a company to be more effective and efficient in the
present role...............
Read answer

What is on and Off the Job Training?

On-the-job training is a type of learning process that usually occurs in an actual

work environment i.e. an employee will be learning the new job roles and
responsibilities while undergoing this training..................
Read answer

How would you ensure that the training is effective for an employee within
the company?

The training is effective in all means if it -Imparts new skills,Inculcates new ideas,
knowledge and concepts.................
Read answer

What are the different methods you could use in training employees?
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There are different training methods like on –the – job techniques, off-the-job
techniques, role playing,..................
Read answer

What are the key issues that should be addressed in the design, conduct,
and evaluation of training programs?

The following are the key issues to be addressed for a successful training
program:Place (indoor/outdoor),Audio visual aids..............
Read answer

What are the key issues that should be addressed in the design, conduct,
and evaluation of training programs?

The role of a trainer is to develop a competency and skill sets in an individual to

perform his/her effectively and efficiently in the work place..................
Read answer

What qualities does a company expect in a trainer?

The qualities of a good trainer are as follows: Methodical and well-planned,

Highly knowledgeable and competent enough................
Read answer

As a trainer, what are the steps you would undertake to make the long
training session not boring to the employees?

The following are the steps to be undertaken to make the long training session
not boring to the trainees/employees:...............
Read answer

How would you end your training session?

The well experienced trainer would end the training session with the summary of
the whole session/story/real life business example/ feedback................
Read answer

Subject - Re: Interview Questions as a corporate trainer

Its a great thing that you are looking at this field .. great scope .

Ok, couple of pointers.

1) Methodology...

Assess the Situation: The target company which requires specific training needs
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to assess its people/ performance, understand what they want to achieve, and
what training they would like their employees to undergo.

ii) Training need Analysis: Undertsand the training requirement, and also the
result expected from the delivered training

iii) Design Training Solution: Based on the expectation of TNA design the training
solution

iv) Deliver: Delivering training is a skill. Excellent delivery will be expected.

v) Assess Subject (Feedback Loop): After delivering the training, evaluate the
effectiveness of the training.

This was a very Broad guideline - OBJECTIVE of training deptt.

Now coming to the questions and expectations of the corporate from the trainers.

1) You should display quick grasping powers.

2) should have clarity of thoughts ...

Now apart from the normal questions ...

1) How will you go about creating atraining programme for a batch of people who
have FAILED in a certification programme.

2) How will you categorise and create a training prgramme for a batch of freshers
for different streams / verticals.

3) what is the importance of Training Need analysis in developing a programme.

4) what is the most important aspect of training programme

5) Where do u see your self 5/10 years from now ??

I would recommend you ask about adult learning theories. If they can tell you
what ADDIE or ICARE or even what the Kirkpatrick evaluation theories are - you
can bet they are a skilled trainer.

Ask them to explain: Instructional design, how they deal with a studen who falls
asleep and how do they get class participation.

If they're going to be involved in WBT or other online training development then

they'll need to explain what authoring tools (if any) they are familiar with as well
as what LMS experience they have.
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Selection of Trainers
« Return to Train the Trainer Solutions

Part I – Identify Trainer Competencies

Total Training Solutions has a set of seven core trainer competencies along with
definitions and behavioral indicators for each. The competencies are the
foundation upon which trainer candidates are evaluated, selected, and trained.
These competencies can be used as is, or can be customized to fit your
organization’s particular environment.

Part II – Behavior-Based Interview with Human Resources

Trainer candidates will participate in a 45-60 minute interview with Human
Resources. During this initial interview, candidates will respond to behavior-
based questions that relate directly to the identified trainer competencies. Total
Training Solutions has behavior-based interview questions that align with the
seven core trainer competencies, or the behavior-based questions can be
adapted for customized competencies.

Part III – Candidate Presentations

All candidates who pass the Behavior-Based Interview with HR will proceed to
the next phase of the interview process – the presentation. The candidates will
be required to present a 15-30 minutes section of a training module to a panel of
no more than four internal interviewers.

Total Training Solutions has a Behavior-Based Evaluation and rating scale that
allows interviewers to evaluate candidates on the seven core trainer
competencies. Like the behavior-based interview, this evaluation can also be
adapted to align with customized competencies.

Selection
Based upon the results of the Behavior-Based Interview and the Candidate
Presentations, the qualified candidates are selected and sent on to the next
Phase of the process – Train-the-Trainer Instruction.
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