Technical Instructor from Teacher, Technical Worker or Military Veteran
Technical Instructor Job Qualifications
Although there are beginner job titles, such as Associate Technical Instructor and Technical Instructor I, there are few entry-level opportunities for job seekers who are fresh out of school.
That's because technical instructors are authority figures, similar to the way teachers are. To earn student respect, they must be of higher authority than their students. In the world of technical instruction, higher authority comes from having more technical knowledge and practical experience than students.
Subsequently, employers usually require broad-to-specific technical knowledge, along with technical experience of two years or more. Technical experience generally outweighs teaching experience, as indicated in this excerpt from a previous job ad at Manpower:
Job Title: Technical Instructor
Skills Required: Technical experience
Job Description: Teacher for network classes, specifically Microsoft NT. Prefer a systems engineer or a Microsoft product specialist, but someone with extensive network experience will do. Technical experience is more important than teaching experience.
However, technical training departments, particularly the more sophisticated ones at larger corporations, sometimes hire experienced teachers with limited or newly-learned technical skills, and then bring them "up to speed". More about that is in the next section.
If employers have military contracts, then they might prefer military technical experience over other types. Because of the nature of the job, strong written and oral communication skills are typically a must, as are strong innate or learned presentation skills.
Employers might require a security clearance for technical instructor jobs, especially if they have government or military contracts or they are the government or military.
Remaining technical instructor job qualifications vary by employer, as do specific job titles. The best way to discover technical instructor job requirements, is to conduct an extensive job search to see what employers are currently requiring. Then, take it from there.
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