Having what it takes to be a trainer

It's a tremendous gift to have a service-oriented career that enables you to share your work on such a large scale and be surrounded with people who appreciate your efforts. Coen Tan, a trainer, shares how he made a profession out of inspiring people to bring out their best.

"My parents were very strict with me, and brought me up with the adage that, 'a child should only be seen and not heard'. In school, I was an awkward kid who didn't fit in, I had difficulty making friends, and my confidence suffered."

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"What I do can be emotionally taxing as well, because of the intensity of energy I have to carry into my work. I have to remind myself to be gentler on myself and not push myself too hard."[/caption]

On the encouragement of a friend, Coen enrolled into a personal development seminar, which transformed his life.  He had found himself again, and had more awareness of why the way he is, and how he can take control of his life again.

Afterschool: How or when did you know you wanted to become a trainer?

Tan: In the that particular seminar, I was watching the speaker on stage when I had an epiphany.  I remembered telling myself "I dream to do what he does one day, changing people's lives."  I had a new found awareness of myself and my place in the world.  I knew that helping other people is what I was meant to do.

Afterschool: Was it easy to find a job after graduation?

Tan: I knew that I wanted to be a speaker to change other people's lives. With this clarity in my mind, I wanted to take on jobs in the training and development industry. I graduated with a Business Degree then, specializing in Human Resource, but I only looked for jobs in Human Resource Development. 2005 was a pretty good year economically, so I didn't really have difficulty getting a job.

I joined a training institute, and the work there exposed me to the training industry. I was involved hands-on in all the functions related to training, including marketing, administration, answering enquiries from Clients' HR Departments, and even setting up the classroom and catering the F & B. While the exposure of the job was good, I wanted to do more value-added work instead of only administration and handling general enquiries. I took a part-time graduate diploma in Training and Development, and it was there where I was to meet my next boss. She informed me that she was looking for someone to join her team in training program development, and I jumped at it. I joined the Civil Service College of Singapore (the Training Arm of the Government of Singapore. There, I was involved more in research, program development and curriculum design. This allowed me to be even more involved with crafting a training program, and working with the very experienced trainers there, my learning curve shot up even more.

Afterschool: What's a typical day for a trainer?

Tan:  A trainer is paid by the hour. That means we only get paid when we get a training engagement. On average, I will be training 1 or 2 days per week, but during peak seasons, I will be training practically every day. On top of that, I have to market myself, which includes writing online sales copies, writing proposals, and meeting potential clients. Only fairly recently, I have engaged some help by hiring interns to do work such as administration, logistics, and even research and writing for me.

Afterschool: What's the best and worst part of the job?

Tan: The best part of the job is that I enjoy what I do. The satisfaction of being able to empower, inspire and positively impact other people's lives is reward in itself.

The next best part of the job of course, is that it forces me to live life on the edge, to constantly expand my comfort zone. I feel truly awake because I have to continuously learn new things and reflect on my own life experiences, so that I can be a better trainer. I subscribe to the saying, "the teacher is first a learner", and therefore like a sponge, I am constantly improving and upgrading myself. In order to show up authentically in my training, I have to lead an authentic life in all my relationships with people, and the journey has made me a more mindful and compassionate human being.

The worst part? I guess, starting out, there was a lot of uncertainty about my choice of leaving the comfort zone of a corporate job. There were months where I had zero income, and it frankly did hit my self-confidence quite a lot, and there was the nagging uncertainty in my mind all the time. However, this also challenges me because I wake up each morning reminding myself of my purpose in life and to constantly be on purpose from moment to moment.

Afterschool: Any advise you would like to share with the students interested to become a trainer?

Tan: As a trainer, the focus is not on yourself.  Do not be too concerned about how you come across to your participants.  In the words of my mentor, focus not on the Performance, but on the Service.  Ask the question "What am I willing to give my participants?  How can I serve them?"