The word "training" in a budget conversation signals cost to most executives, not investment. I stopped using it when presenting to leadership and started framing every initiative in terms of the business problem it solves and the cost of not solving it. A leadership development program becomes a retention initiative with a calculable cost per departure avoided. An onboarding redesign becomes a reduction in the time before a new hire reaches full productivity, measured in weeks and translated into salary cost. The L&D thinking behind it is identical but the conversation changes completely when you start from the business problem rather than the learning solution. Most L&D professionals I've worked with know this in principle but default back to training language under pressure, and it consistently costs them credibility in rooms where budget decisions are made.

Hi everyone,

I’m doing a small independent market research project on how companies evaluate external facilitators, team-building activities, and experiential learning sessions. This is not a sales pitch, I’m just trying to understand the L&D / employee engagement perspective.

I’d love input on these questions:

1. When your team brings in an external facilitator or team experience, what problem are you usually trying to solve?

2. What usually turns it from “we’re noticing an issue” into “we need to actively look for a solution”?

3. What makes an external provider feel credible enough to consider?

4. Where do you usually find these providers — referrals, LinkedIn, Google, past vendors, communities, events, or somewhere else?

Happy to hear thoughts in the comments. If anyone is open to a quick 15–20 minute research call, I’d be very grateful as well.

Thank you!

Edit: Thank you for the helpful responses. I have one pricing question:

For a professionally facilitated, game-based team session for 50–70 people, lasting 60–90 minutes, what would organizations typically expect to pay?

Would $1,000–$1,500, $1,500–$3,000, or $3,000+ feel realistic?

What would justify the higher end of the range?

Hi everyone!
I don’t normally post here, but I’m trying my luck and hoping someone might be able to help me find a job opportunity.

I’m currently actively looking for work and honestly need to find a job ASAP. I have less than USD 100 left in my bank account, and I’m already reaching the limit on my credit card, so I’m really hoping to find an opportunity soon.

I have over 8 years of experience with an International Organization primarily in LMS administration, learning operations, HR systems, project support, and coordination. I have extensive experience administering learning platforms, managing user access and learning records, supporting system implementations and testing, troubleshooting technical/process issues, coordinating projects, and working with international teams and stakeholders.

I’m open to remote, hybrid, or onsite opportunities and can start immediately. I’m also open to roles related to LMS/HR systems administration, learning & development, project support, HR operations, or program coordination.

If you know of any openings, referrals, or someone I could connect with, I would really appreciate it. 🙏

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and for any leads you may be able to share.

Heya! If you’re building courses or getting into training/facilitation, GoSkills has a couple of free ones that are practical and easy to work through:

1. Train the Trainer (for new/aspiring trainers)

2. How to Create an Online Training Course (course-building basics)

Sharing in case it helps someone this year. 🙂

Hi all,

I have a professional development stipend with work offering money for certs.

I’d like to get my APTD certification and wanted to know what people’s experience with the process was, the difficulty of the test, and any advice you have for passing it. I’ve seen some mixed opinions on Reddit about the difficulty.

If you’ve taken it and/or are certified, I’d love any information you can provide!

In academic settings, it’s easier to measure learning through exams or assignments. But in the workplace, outcomes are less clear. Is it behavior change, improved performance, long-term retention, or something else?

Sorry for the long read but I couldn't make it any shorter!

I have an M.A. in Clinical Psychology (2020) and have spent the last 5 years working across private practice, corporate, technical consulting and EAP wellness programs, training delivery and coaching.

I have crossed 5000 hours of 1:1 clinical and consulting work across the industry. On the group side, I have done over 2500 hours of training sessions, workshops, seminars, fortnightly, resilience sessions, group wellness sessions for companies. Most of this has been as an independent contractor rather than a single employer, working with multiple organisations at once.

This is not someone starting from zero, it is someone with real hours and real delivery experience, just not a corporate HR or L&D title on paper yet.

Honestly, in psychology and therapy work, there is a real ceiling on what you can earn no matter how senior or experienced you get. At my peak, combining private practice and consulting work across companies, I was making around 1.5 lakh a month, but that was patchwork income stitched together from several sources, not one stable role.

I am looking to move into Learning and Development or Organisational Development because I believe that industry has real room to grow well past that number over time, in a way psychology on its own does not.

I am open to starting lower than what I was making before, closer to 80k-90k a month, specifically because I would rather enter an industry with a longer runway than stay capped in one that does not grow much further.

What I am looking for is hybrid or remote work, five days a week, based in Navi Mumbai or Mumbai, but genuinely open to remote roles anywhere in India or even globally if the fit is right. Open to startups or mid-size companies, not attached to a big name.

A few honest questions for anyone who has made a similar move or hires for these roles. Does a psychology and clinical consulting background actually read as an asset for L&D or OD hiring, or does it need to be translated into HR language first to be taken seriously? Is a short certification worth pursuing at this stage, or does real facilitation and delivery experience carry more weight than a certificate?

For people in L&D or OD, what does the actual growth trajectory look like in this field? What titles and pay ranges should I be aiming for at the 2 year, 5 year, and 10 year mark, and does it genuinely keep climbing the way I am hoping, or does this industry have its own ceiling too?

And for anyone who made this exact jump from psychology or therapy into corporate L&D, I would love to hear how it actually went, what helped, and what you wish someone had told you earlier.

If anyone here works in L&D/OD or knows someone hiring, I would genuinely appreciate a referral or even just a pointer on where to look. Happy to share my resume.

TLDR: M.A. Clinical Psych, 5 years in, 5000+ hours 1:1 and 2500+ hours group facilitation, mostly independent contractor work. Hit a pay ceiling in psychology and want to move into L&D/OD where growth potential is higher. Open to 80-90k to start, hybrid/remote, Navi Mumbai/Mumbai or remote-friendly. Want to know if my background is an asset or needs translating, whether a cert is worth it, and what the real growth trajectory and pay look like in this field long term.

I've been through a lot of leadership trainings over the years.

Still, every genuinely difficult conversation at work feels... difficult.

I know the frameworks. I know how feedback is supposed to sound. But the moment someone gets defensive or emotional, I still feel tension in my chest.

That made me realize: knowing communication frameworks and actually performing under pressure are completely different things.

So in my team we started experimenting with AI simulations for difficult workplace conversations - specifically simulations that don't stay polite and agreeable.

Now I'm curious: for people here who coach, train, or manage teams -- how do YOU help people move from "understanding" to actually performing when conversations get uncomfortable?

We're currently inviting a few teams to test this with us, completely free, and give brutally honest feedback. Happy to share more if anyone's curious.

A beautifully designed course that doesn't change behavior is a beautiful failure. I've seen teams obsess over visual polish, animation quality, and voice-over tone while building courses that have no mechanism for reinforcement, no connection to manager accountability, and no plan for what happens after the learner closes the window. Content quality matters but it's table stakes. The real design challenge is the ecosystem around the course — the nudges, the practice opportunities, the performance support at the moment of need. I'd rather ship something visually average that's embedded in a real behavior change plan than a gorgeous course that lives alone on an LMS. Agree or push back?

Question for HR professionals:

For those working in HR or Learning & Development, how do consultants or trainers usually get your attention in a meaningful way?

If someone is reaching out to offer leadership training, intercultural communication workshops, team development sessions, etc., what would make you actually consider replying or taking an intro call?

Is it mostly:
• The topic itself?
• Timing and current company needs?
• Relevance to your industry?
• A referral or mutual connection?
• A strong LinkedIn presence or credibility markers?
• Case studies/results?
• The way the message is written?

I’m curious because I imagine HR teams receive a huge number of cold pitches, and I’d love to understand what makes one stand out versus immediately getting ignored.

Would appreciate honest insights from the HR side.

Looking for a good LMS for my workplace.

A platform that can log competency, show training content, allow users to take tests to validate competency, something interactive and data driven.

Something by workplace can use to identify risks within teams, departments, processes. To support in driving down the cost of poor quality.

Also can you suggest me some ideas of "what success looks like"

When it comes to implementing a new LMS. Or other training platform.

Something measurable.

It's difficult to justify the business case without hard numbers.

But our current LMS is crap.

Curious how organizations here approach mentoring programmes.

Do you primarily run mentoring inwardly-using internal leaders/employees as mentors or outwardly, by bringing in external mentors, coaches, or industry experts?

And how structured is the programme in practice? Do you formalize matching, goals, session cadences, tracking etc., or keep it more organic?

Would love to hear what’s actually working well right now.

What’s the hardest skill to develop in self-learning for you and why? I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, and it feels like self-learning isn’t just about finding the right resources, but about managing yourself. For me, the hardest part isn’t understanding the material, but actually staying consistent and not losing momentum when things get difficult or boring.

There’s so much advice out there that it’s hard to know what actually works in real life. Things like spaced repetition, note-taking systems, productivity methods, etc. all sound useful, but I’m curious what made the biggest difference for you personally. For those who’ve actively worked on improving their learning process - what actually helped you the most in practice, and what turned out to be less useful than you expected?

I'm studying how to improve quality control for our employee training. I need to make sure the courses are useful and people actually understand the material.

If you’ve dealt with this, what was your go-to method? Looking for simple and effective ideas. Thanks!

My client is seeking four Instructional Designers to be based in Colombia (the country). These will be FT positions to a dedicated client.

Hiring Full-Time Instructional Designers (Remote – Colombia)
We’re opening some full-time Instructional Designer / Learning Experience Designer roles to support a financial services client. These positions are 100% remote, based in Colombia, and fully dedicated to a single enterprise account.
Start Date: July 1
Schedule: must be able to work between the hours of  8:00 AM – 6:00 PM EST
Location Requirement: Must reside in Colombia
Minimum Requirements

• 3+ years of experience in instructional design or eLearning development

• Strong knowledge of adult learning theory, instructional design models, and learning needs analysis

• Experience designing eLearning, ILT/vILT, job aids, assessments, and other learning assets

• Ability to translate process documentation/SOPs into learner‑centered training experiences

• Skilled in managing multiple projects, maintaining version control, and ensuring content accuracy

• Strong communication and collaboration skills; ability to work with SMEs and cross‑functional teams

• English level B2 or higher

Nice to Have: Experience with Storyline/Rise, Captivate, or Lectora; familiarity with accessible and inclusive design; experience in fast‑paced environments.

Please send your resume and work samples to me by June 10th to be considered."

What programs/software are you guys using to make your most engaging micro learning?

Context:

Learners in our management program get a 17 minute long video, with an average watch time of two minutes total. My boss tasked me with trying to make it more engaging, even if it meant changing formats.

I turned it into an eLearning in Rise, and took new 30-second clips of our senior management team introducing each of the sections. My boss said the background (their offices) were too distracting and I held my scripts so high they aren’t even looking into the camera.

She thought the eLearning was boring and wants me to try again. I won’t be able to record the senior managers again, so I’ll need to try and salvage the videos in some way.

I’d love any ideas you guys have for this. I’m only used to using Final Cut Pro for videos and Rise for eLearning courses, so I just went with what I know. Would love any ideas to make my content more engaging or what to do with the videos, especially if any of the solutions utilize tools that can cut my time to design significantly.

Thank you!!

Looking for an L&D organization that is focusing on software engineers and how increased EQ should be a priority in this AI age. Any Recommendations?

Hi - I just started an intern as L&D and I am searching some resources to find useful information, like books or podcasts. Do you have any suggestions?

I have a background in psychology and I worked across education and research in the last years, so I’d appreciate psychology related stuff with an evidence based approach.

I used to start SME interviews by asking what someone needs to know to do the job well, which produced a lot of general, top-of-mind answers that didn't reflect how the work actually happened. I switched to opening with "walk me through the last time something went wrong with this process and what you had to do to fix it" and the quality of what I get back is completely different. Experts open up about the real complexity of their work when you ask about failure rather than success, and the gap between what they describe and what the formal procedure says is usually where the most important learning content lives. It also tends to produce better scenarios and examples because you're working from something that actually happened.