10 Responses

1. Making a paper aeroplane
   Seriously, it will be fun not too hard to fit in to 5 minutes and you’ll get a feel for their training ability too.

2. Another possibility
   They could be asked to demonstrate how they would train someone to make a printer’s box.

   Go to http://www.dickbarton.co.uk/ and click on Free Downloads, or the direct link is:

   http://www.dickbarton.co.uk/Printersbox.doc

3. is five minutes actually enough?
   Hi Elaine
   Sorry to be the doubting Thomas but is 5 minutes actually enough? It may be if you want to see instructional/teaching ability (and the ideas presented so far are great for that aspect of a trainers role), however,
   if you want to test the applicants ability in terms of interaction with delegates or ability to draw learning points from an exercise you may need a lot more time.
   Rus

4. Do it the other way round!
   Hi Elaine,

   I’m with Rus and indeed my two-penneth is to turn the process on its head: run an assessment centre instead.

   The basic gist is that you invite all your candidates – say 8 to 12 – to one day’s worth of activities that accurately reflect the role you’ll expect them to do. In particular get them to run a training session, see how they work in a team when solving a problem, see how good their written communication skills are … and so forth. Then use 15-minute interviews to “grill” about anything you’re dubious about.

   It sounds time consuming, but actually tends to be quicker: it’s a 1-day event for all the candidates, in contrast to the hour or so that you usually give to each. And it’s FAR more enjoyable.

   By the end of the day you will have scored each person’s performance against the various tests, so that you gain a largely objective view of who’s the best candidate.

   The Fourth Level gives away free materials to use on our website, and instructions on what to do, for running an assessment centre. They’re designed to find an IT trainer but feel free to adapt it, eg change the IT literacy quiz to something else to test for more relevant subject matter expertise.

   http://www.thefourthlevel.com/Free/A%20better%20way%20to%20choose%20an%20IT%20trainer.html

   If you’re not convinced (what?!?) then feel free to lift a 5-minute chunk from the various activities.

   All the best.

5. Possible subects…
   Elaine, things I’ve had to do presentations on during interviews have included:

   1. One of – Mobile phones, Carpet Selection, Transport

   2. A place of importance to you

   3. How to configure a printer

   4. Free choice – tell them how long and see what they come up with!

   I guess it all depends on what they will have to do in the role. If it is instructional training, then even ‘how to make a cup of tea’ could be useful.

6. Quick Response Training???
   I personally think that this type of thing is totally unfair to any trainer regardless of the length of experience as any trainer will tell you there needs to be some preparation time in order to evaluate it properly. Unless of course you tell them before the interview. But there again I suppose you would find uot how quickly they can wing it and think on their fet so to speak.

   Keith Cheetham

7. Why a session?
   Elaine,
   I would seek to understand the purpose of such a session. How does it link to the job role they have applied for? In other words why are you asking them to deliver a 5 min training slot which at best only lends itself to a very small issue. If the job was one of a trainer then I think a longer demonstration of their skills should be expected.
   Hope this thought helps.
   Ian.

8. 5 minute INTRO
   I have used this many times and it gives you a good feel for a new trainers potential without putting too much strain on the individual.

   Write and deliver an introduction to a training course using the INTRO structure. (no need to acually write or deliver the course itself) Choose any subject you want.
   I= Introduction/Interest
   Introduce yourself and the course. Give the course an interesting and thought provoking title. For instance I call my Presentation Skills course; Feel the Fear.
   N= Need. Explain why this course is necessary for these particular people. How it fits into the bigger picture of their role.
   T= Timings. How long is the course? When are the breaks?
   R=Range. What does the course cover? What does it NOT cover? For instance my Presentation Skills course covers good use of PowerPoint, but does NOT teach you how to use it.
   O= Objectives. What are the learning objectives of the course?

   This should not take too long to prepare and will definitely give you a flavour of how your new trainers approach the art of training.

   Hope this helps, good luck!

   Nick

9. Presentation skills?
   I concur with Ian – what benefit are you going to get by looking at a person’s performance over 5 minutes? It won’t measure their training skills, more their presentation skills. If that’s why you want them to deliver on a topic, then give them a presentation to do (although 5 minutes is a very short time). If you want understanding of their preferred training style then ask them as part of the interview process.

10. 5 Minute sessions
    Thinking about this brought back memories of when I was a Sergeant Instructor in the Green Machine (Army for the Ignorant) and getting potential young soldiers who were attempting to become cororals, to get them used to standing up in front of an audience, we would ask them to talk about Matches, Broom Handles and other mundane things, where this would lay in the professional training Arena Now beats me……….

    Keith