What’s it all about then?

As the Learning & Development Co-ordinator working in a food manufacturing environment you’ll be responsible for ensuring that everyone in the company from top level to factory floor is encouraged to make themselves as useful to the business as possible through learning and development.

You’ll be assessing the levels of skills and knowledge of staff at every level of the company and taking the action needed to maintain and develop these skills for the ultimate benefit of your employer.

You’ll be responsible for all of the administrative work needed to ensure that all of the training programmes run successfully.

What might I be doing?

This will vary from company to company and depends on whether or not you have ultimate responsibility or report to an L&D manager.

The role is likely to include the following responsibilities:

• Manages the operational and administrative components of learning and development and ensures courses run to schedule and budget.
• Coordinates the activities of trainers and instructors
• Assists with the design and development of suitable learning and development programmes.
• Ensures that delivery of programmes meets needs of learners
• Making sure that external delivery agents are delivering training which meets company needs
• Producing materials for internal delivery
• Assists with the development of the company learning and development strategy.
• Manages own learning and that within the training department so that all staff are completely up to date with any recent developments.
• Writes and presents recommendations and reports for senior management.
• Evaluates all training activities to ensure that targets have been achieved.

What will be expected of me?

You’ll be a people person who enjoys a lot of contact with other members of staff through discussions, meetings, and training.

As a member of what is likely to be a small department you’ll have to be extremely well organised and able to manage your time effectively; whilst you will report to more senior members of staff you’ll have a lot of leeway and be expected to act independently and with minimal supervision.

As a representative of the business you will be expected to act professionally at all times, particularly when dealing with external contacts.

Naturally you’ll be an expert in all aspects of HR and Learning & Development issues relevant to your job, as well as having experience with computer programmes that you will use to design and deliver training.

What can I expect?

While your regular hours of work are likely to be around 9am to 5pm, you’ll be expected to manage your time so that you make sure training occurs to suit shift patterns etc.

If you work for a multi-site employer you can expect a lot of travel in your role of learning and development coordinator.

What about the pay?

You should expect to earn between £20,000 and £25,000 for this role in a food manufacturing company, depending on sector and your defined level of responsibility.

There are lots of promotion opportunities in this role and you could well be earning significantly more than the above figure with proven experience and results.

What qualifications do I need to get in?

You’ll probably have started out in HR or a different specific role within your company; that means you will either have come in with a degree or worked your way through the ranks from the shop floor, taking relevant part time qualifications along the way (these might include Food Safety and Health & Safety qualifications which initially enabled you to deliver training on a part time basis within the business).

For someone starting out, the likelihood is that a degree will be considered as the minimum qualification for entry and subjects such as HRM, Business and Psychology are common for someone starting out in a junior role in training. As a food sector worker, a food related qualification is also helpful.

What about further training?

Although a postgraduate qualification is not necessary, a Masters degree or diploma recognised by the CIPD will enhance your career prospects.

These include:

• CIPD Level 3 Foundation Certificate in HR Practice
• CIPD Level 3 course in Learning and Development Practice

Additionally there are loads of different part time qualifications that you can choose from and these range from broadly based to role specific – it’s entirely up to you and your employer!

Anything else I might need to know?

Yes, the role of learning and development coordinator is not likely to be one for a new graduate or school leaver, but rather a role which you will find becomes available with some years experience either delivering training or working in another part of the HR department.

So you might look to start off as an HR Officer or Administrator and get the relevant qualifications on a part time basis; these will then fit you to become a Learning & Development Coordinator.