With communication skills assuming importance in any corporate set-up, language and soft skills trainers are in demand. The mushrooming of BPOs and call-centers across the country, have only fuelled the need for professional trainers.

What You Need

1. Certification

These days, most companies will check your background and credentials before offering you an assignment. This is why it is better to have a certificate(s) up your sleeve to back your experience.

Online: For accent training, you can get certified online, with the help of courses like Ann Cook's after which you become a certified AAT (American Accent Training) instructor. There are also exams like TEFL which will allow you to teach English anywhere in the world.

Offline: It is a good idea to join any training institute - like NIS, NIIT, Evolve etc. before starting out completely on your own. These places offer their own training and certification programs.

Apart from these, K10 offers a 10 day 'Train the Trainer' certification program. The course touches upon English speaking and listening skills, US & UK accent, customer etiquette, culture and personality development.

2. Experience

An experience of about 2 years a trainer with any good company would stand you in good stead while starting out on your own.

Those who have some experience as a teacher or language instructor, or have dabbled in theatre, radio and other similar fields, have an edge as a voice and accent trainer.

If you are going to be an English language trainer, a graduate or post-graduate degree in English, though not absolutely necessary, will be an add on.