Corporate Trainer

☛ We're back to the tree/forest concept from earlier. Training is about both details and the big picture. In a business setting, it's about the needs of the learner balanced against the needs/demands/constraints of the business.

☛ This type of question also allows insight into your decision making process. Businesses need people who can make decisions while learning from mistakes or missed opportunities. It's a bit complex at time, but in reality, good training programs, on any level, are about knowing what approach to take and what to not do or not to include.

☛ A question such as this also allows you to show how you learned and grew professionally in a roll. Everyone knows next to nothing when they start out. Everyone also does not know what they don't know. Still following? So being able to relate how your work, your tactics, your approach, your design, etc. changed as you grew and learned is a great way to show yourself off. But be wary again - be specific and be precise. There's a fine line between self-awareness and bragging.

☛ 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.

☛ 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).

☛ Why did you decide to become a fitness trainer?

☛ Are you CPR-certified? What other certifications do you hold?

☛ How do you keep your fitness training knowledge up to date?

☛ What group classes have you taught? In your group classes, explain how you accommodate varying skill and fitness levels.

☛ What diet and nutrition education have you received?

☛ What experience do you have with customer service? Describe how you handle customer service situations involving difficult fitness center members or prospective members.

☛ Walk me through how you start a class from the very beginning to the end of the warm up.

☛ How important is nutrition to you in creating a client's regimen?

☛ What evaluations do you conduct with a new client eager to begin a fitness regimen?

☛ Describe your time management approach for assisting individual clients versus group workout classes.

☛ Describe how you handle a client who is unhappy with your work, or a client who doesn't achieve her goals, when you know the problem is with her level of motivation.

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☛ Tell me about a time when a client was unhappy with your work. How did you handle the situation?

☛ Imagine a client is discouraged during a training session. How do you keep him motivated?

☛ If a client complains about a previous injury, how do you handle that when constructing a fitness regimen for her? What do you do to prevent further injury or to discourage the client from engaging in activities -- during the client session or working out on her own -- that would exacerbate a pre-existing condition?

☛ What techniques use to increase your clientele? What are your goals for increasing the number of clients you serve?

☛ What are your thoughts about organic food? What are your thoughts on a vegan diet? When you encounter a client or prospective fitness club member who is committed to a diet that differs from your own, how do you remain objective?

☛ Give me an overview of a training program you would set up for a client strictly looking for weight loss and toning? What do you tell clients who are looking for instant results?

☛ Do you have fitness goals for yourself? If so, what are they?

☛ Give me three essential exercises you suggest for all clients? Why are these in your top three?

☛ Several different ways to phrase it - some more direct than others, but essentially they're all looking for the same thing - what's your thought process and how do you go about gaining clarity, building a project, establish milestones, and evaluate. It's basically question 1 all over again - but this time masked under some confusing language or presented as a situation where you are lost and without direction. Again, a great opportunity for you to share what you know, to share problems you helped solve. And, a great chance to talk about how you work.

☛ Alas, it's also a way to shoot yourself in the foot. Maybe you are uncomfortable without clear directions, I still am sometimes. Maybe you just don't have enough time with someone to really gauge their personality. Maybe, you judge others too quickly to form a really accurate picture of who they are and how they approach things. Anyway you cut it, there are times we all get over our heads, when we get lost, we don't know what the other person wants. So, it's essential when answering this type of question to gain clarity from the interviewer as a way to demonstrate you know what they're looking for, and to focus on actions more than thoughts. Oh - and again - don't go bashing anyone!

☛ Alas, here's another way for a hiring manger or interviewer to check the way you think. I heard a story from a fellow panelist on a webinar I was a part of the other day say that back in the day of almost guaranteed employment for college grads, she was swooped up by a tech company and she thought it was weird at first because she had a degree in English. But they told her after bringing her on board - we can teach you certain skills, we can teach you about technology, we can't and can't afford to teach you how to think. So - it's very important for a hiring manager / company to check your ability - you can learn a new design model or a new processes for creating training, graphics, evaluation, etc. If you can't clearly articulate how you did it in the past or how you were taught (if you have no prior experience) than that's an immediate red flag.

☛ This is also a way to check to see where your strength lies - in the details or the big picture, and if you can float to the other one when needed. Human beings are not always rational creatures and our emotions or emotional experiences can lead to a variety of interpretations to any given situation - but you cannot stay in the weeds nor can you stay in the sky forever. You must be able to float between the jungle floor and the canopy on a regular basis.

☛ Even if the hiring manger or interviewer isn't well versed in training and instructional design, you can certainly bet they wouldn't have gotten to be a hiring manager or interviewer without a modicum of intelligence and an ability to understand people. So, this is also a way for someone to check your approach and appreciation for training inside of a business setting. Even with all the blame, excuses, and compliance courses out there crowding the room, most people at least possess a basic notion of when someone know what they're talking about - so demonstrate your proficiency here - just keep it grounded with examples.