These Training Specialist interview questions provide a snapshot of what type of questions to ask in order to assess the skills, approach and knowledge required for the profile. You can modify these questions according to your needs.

Training Specialist Interview Questions

Training Specialists are responsible for conducting skills gap analysis, planning and coordinating learning programs. Also, they deliver curriculums and instructional materials. Overall, they are responsible for employee development; from learning programs and in-house seminars to professional courses and outsourced training programs.

As this is a senior position, it is best to hire experienced professionals who can organize training sessions from scratch. Use behavioral and open-ended questions to know how they managed to learn programs in their previous roles. If you are interested in particular roles (like how to train sales executives), modify the below-given questions to know about candidates’ industry-specific experience. Also, if your prospect Training Specialist will be traveling to various locations, ask about their availability.

Look for candidates having excellent presentation and communication skills. Check their familiarity with event planning. Give preference to candidates who have a background in HR (academic or professional), because your future hires will be involved in employee performance and career-pathing.

Behavioral questions

• Tell me about an in-house training program you have organized. What learning material and technology did you use?
• Have you ever outsourced employees’ learning? How did you choose the best programs and partners?
• What is your approach when it comes to discussing career path options with employees? How do you identify their strengths and weaknesses?
• Tell me about a learning activity that failed to address employees’ needs. What did you learn from it?
• Tell me about the most challenging training program you have ever executed? What did you do?

Role-specific questions

• Do you have any experience of using e-learning software?
• What are the keep points you keep in mind when preparing training sessions, like materials and activities when there are both junior and senior employees in your sessions?
• How do you determine training needs? Describe a skill gap analysis.
• How do you decide the effectiveness of an educational program? How do you evaluate the impact of training on an employees’ performance?
• Describe on-the-job training, coaching and mentoring. How do you choose between the three?

Operational and Situational questions

• Have you ever forgotten to order educational material for an important seminar and realized it too late? How did you handle the situation?
• What would you suggest to improve sales executive’s negotiation skills?
• According to you what are the best training sessions for new hires? How do you organize these sessions?
• If you have to convince an employee to take an optional course on safety in the office. What would you tell them?
• How would you convince the CEO and executives to invest more in employee development and learning programs?