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Training FAQ home

Updated November 22, 1998

While most questions people send me have been asked by many people before and fall in the Frequently Asked Questions catagory, some questions are more specific. This page contains a list of specific questions I have received and how I answered them. If you'd like to submit a question to me that is not already listed on the Main FAQs or here in You Asked, send e-mail to [email protected]. I will reply to you individually. If I find the question has broad appeal, I will post the answer to this list or make the question and answer into an FAQ page of its own. Because there are many ways to answer these questions, you are welcome to provide additional information that I will add here if appropriate. Thanks in advance for your great questions and suggestions on how you would answer these questions!!

You Asked

  1. Where can I find statistics about the training industry?
  2. How much of my budget should I devote to training?
  3. What are the current training trends?
  4. How can I tell if the training is effective?
  5. Where can I find salary surveys for trainers? updated_pink
  6. Which resources help with New Employee Training Programs?
  7. Where can I find objective articles about evaluating Web-based Training?
  8. With so many web tools out there to develop WBTs, how do I decide?
  9. Where can I find information about trainer certification? new_pink

1. General Question: Where can I find statistics about the training industry? Specific question was: ``I'm writing an article about the training industry. Where can I get some numbers about how big the market is, etc."

Marcia's answer: Most of the large training organizations and publications print. Some are available online, others you have to order.

  • Training Magazine's Yearly Report
  • ASTD lists some great statistics on their web site including: Ranges of average training expenditure as a percentage of payroll), Ranges of average total training expenditure per employee, Average training expenditure as a percent of sales, Employee-to-training staff ratio for comprehensive and sub-unit organizations, Employee-to-training staff ratio for specialized organizations, Use of contract staff, Centralization of organizational structure, Sources of revenue as a percentage of total budget, Training expenditures by course type, Training time by delivery system, Percent of companies using selected delivery systems, Percent of courses evaluated at Kirkpatrick levels, Percent of companies evaluating courses at Kirkpatrick levels. http://www.astd.org/virtual_community/research/bench/benchmarking _forum_training_statistics_1996.htm
  • HRD's Study
  • Simbas'
  • Benchmarking the Best from ASTD:
    http://www.astd.org/CMS/templates/index.html?template_id=1&articl eid=10697
  • Bureau of Labor Statistics: http://www.bls.gov/
  • ``The business of training workers via computer attracts the interest of would-be visionaries -- and Wall Street" Barron's March 2, 1998 http://ezesl.net/barrons/

[Back to You Asked List] [Back to Main FAQ List]

2. General Question: How much of my budget should I devote to training? Specific question was: ``I work in an IT department and am currently trying to put together a Training and Development budget for our next fiscal year.  I wanted to know what is the industry norm when figuring this budget, is there a certain percentage of employees salary that companies use or something like that?"

Marcia's answer: Depending on the organization's purpose, revenues, etc., you can hear everything from .1% to 25%! Though many IT organizations require lots of training, their hardware/software costs can really skew how big the training budget is as a percentage! But to get you thinking about all the angles, here are some great resources:

[Back to You Asked List] [Back to Main FAQ List]

3. General Question: What are hot training trends? Specific question was: ``I'm writing a paper for school on the trends in training. What's hot?

Marcia's answer: Here are some great reports on current training trends.

Specific Articles addressing trends:

[Back to You Asked List] [Back to Main FAQ List]

4. General Question: How can I tell if the training is effective? Specific question was: ``My company spends a lot of training but I can't tell if it's paying off. Any suggestions on how I can measure?"

Marcia's answer: That is a far larger question than I answer. Take a look at some of the published information on Training evaluation and Training Return on Investment to at least begin to answer your questions.

My two favorite books on training evaluation (which will also help you identify your effectiveness) with links to more information and how to buy from Amazon.com

Evaluating Training Programs: The Four Levels (paperback). (hardback link) Donald L. Kirkpatrick. This is THE definitive text on evaluation and training ROI.  If you only read one book on the subject, pick this one.

Training for Impact: How to Link Training to Business Needs and Measure the Results. Dana Gaines Robinson and Jim Robinson. Jossey-Bass 1989. An outstanding text on all facets of training, but especially wonderful on evaluation and ROI.

You can find all of the evaluation books on the T&D Book Recommendation FAQ.

[Back to You Asked List] [Back to Main FAQ List]

5. General Question: Where can I find salary surveys for trainers?  Specific question was: ``I'm interviewing for a new training job and want to make sure I'm asking for an appropriate salary. Where can I find salary information for trainers?"

Marcia's answer: While your experience, region, industry, and subject play a large part in training salaries, many publications track training salaries and publish them on-line. Here are a few.

Know of other salary survey resources? Let me know! This is a very popular question and I can never find enough links on the subject!

[Back to You Asked List] [Back to Main FAQ List]

6. General Question: ``Which resources help with New Employee Training Programs?"  Specific question was: ``I'm developing a new employee training program for a new group in the company. Are there any really good resources I could look at to get ideas?"

Marcia's answer: I've done a lot of work over the years creating new employee training programs. Because of that, I haven't spent as much time looking for new resources as I should have. I'll see what I can find and add it here over the next several weeks.

For starters:

Fast Company had a great article on New employee training in their June/July 98 Fast Start ``Your first 60 days" http://www.fastcompany.com/online/15/first60.html

Also I heard a wonderful recommendation for The Training Clinic's Make New Employee Orientation a Success 1-day workshop http://www.apc.net/trainu/orient.htm

[Back to You Asked List] [Back to Main FAQ List]

7. General Question: ``Where can I find objective articles about evaluating Web-based Training?" Specific question was, ``All of the articles I find on WBTs are written by the vendor who created the WBT. Are there any unbiased articles on the subject?

Marcia's answer: Here are some particularly good articles and sites designed to help you evaluate:

[Back to You Asked List] [Back to Main FAQ List]

8. General Question: ``There are so many web tools out there to develop WBTs. How do I decide?

Marcia's answer: Because you could use dedicated course development tools or HTML web-site tools, you do have a lot to choose from! Here are some articles comparing different tools.

[Back to You Asked List] [Back to Main FAQ List]

9. General Question: ``Where can I find information about trainer certification?"

Marcia's answer: There are several types of certification for trainers. Here are several sites that link you to more information on each type.

http://www.sylvanprometric.com/nav.htm for testing for CTT and CPDT

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