Training and Development Manager Career Assessment

2What is a Training and Development Manager?

A training and development manager runs the learning function. You figure out what the real gap is, which is usually not what people say it is. You design the training or hire someone to design it. You choose how it gets delivered — in a room, online, on the floor beside the work, or some mix. You supervise trainers and instructional designers if you have them, and you do all of it yourself if you do not. You run the learning system the courses live in. And you have to show that the training changed something measurable, because training budgets are the first thing cut when money gets tight.

The Reality: The hard part of this job is not knowing the subject. It is adult learners. Adults will not sit still for training that wastes their time, and they can tell in about four minutes. They come in tired, skeptical, and thinking about the work piling up while they sit there. Nothing you do will matter if you cannot answer "why does this help me do my job" in the first five minutes. The second reality is the numbers. O*NET shows about 60 training and development managers in all of North Dakota and literally 0 projected annual openings — that is a rounded figure, not a promise of none, but it tells you this title barely exists as a job you can go apply for here.

Your Responsibilities:

• Find out what people actually need to learn, not what someone assumes
• Design training programs, or manage the people who design them
• Decide how training gets delivered and make that choice fit the learners
• Run the learning system the courses live in and keep its records straight
• Supervise trainers and instructional designers
• Track required and safety training so the organization can prove it happened
• Measure whether the training changed anything, and report it
• Defend the training budget when money gets tight

You change what people can do, and then you have to prove it.

3A Day in the Life

8:00 AM — Review yesterday’s new hire session feedback. Two comments say it ran long. They are right.

9:00 AM — Meet a department head who says their team needs training. Ask questions until you find the real problem.

10:30 AM — Rebuild a module so the practice comes before the lecture, not after.

12:00 PM — Lunch with a trainer you supervise. Talk through a session that did not land.

1:00 PM — Teach a supervisor skills session. Half the room is skeptical. Win them with a real example.

2:30 PM — Fix the learning system so the safety training records are complete for the audit.

3:30 PM — Pull the numbers on whether last quarter’s training reduced errors.

4:30 PM — Write the one-page result for leadership so the budget survives.

Half teaching, half designing, and always making the case that it was worth it.

4Training in North Dakota

Almost everyone gets here by being a very good trainer first. There is no license. Employers want someone who has actually stood in front of adult learners and made it work, plus enough design skill to build a program rather than just teach one. A bachelor’s degree is usual. A master’s in instructional design is the strongest single credential for the design side, and UND offers one online.

Training Pathways:

• Trainer first, then up (4 to 8 years): Subject expert, then trainer or training specialist, then training manager. Nearly everyone in this job taught adults well before they managed anyone. If you are already the person your workplace asks to show new people how things work, you have started.
• Add instructional design (1 to 3 years): A master’s in instructional design or a certificate in it turns "good at explaining things" into "can build a program that scales." UND’s M.S. in Instructional Design & Technology runs 34 to 36 credits and can be done fully online, with online and on-campus students in the same class sessions.
• Come from teaching or HR (2 to 5 years): Teachers and HR generalists move into workplace training regularly. Teachers bring instruction; HR people bring the organizational view. Either way, the missing piece is usually the same one — learning to design for adults who are at work, not for students in a classroom.

Where to Train in North Dakota:

• University of North Dakota (Grand Forks) — M.S. in Instructional Design & Technology, 34 to 36 credits, on campus or fully online, with synchronous evening classes capped at 15 students; UND lists corporate and workplace training, instructional design management, and training and development specialist among its graduate career paths (und.edu/programs/instructional-design-technology-ms)
• University of North Dakota (Grand Forks) — Human Resource Management B.B.A. and Management B.B.A., useful if you want the organizational side under the training work (business.und.edu/academics)
• Minot State University (Minot) — Master of Science in Management and a graduate certificate in Knowledge Management (minotstateu.edu/business)
• University of Mary (Bismarck) — Master of Organizational Leadership and an MBA, both online, with a graduate certificate in Human Resources Management that applies toward either (online.umary.edu/academics/business)
• North Dakota State University (Fargo) — Management B.S. with a Human Resources Management track; its core includes Leadership in Organizations and Human Resource Management (catalog.ndsu.edu/curriculum/undergraduate/management-major)
• Bismarck State College (Bismarck) — Leadership certificate, online or on campus, with no prior coursework or experience required, as an inexpensive first step (bismarckstate.edu/academics/programs/Leadership)
• ATD (td.org) — the CPTD credential, earned from anywhere, which is the recognized credential in this field

Before You Start: A high school diploma or GED to start. A bachelor’s degree for most manager-level jobs. Real experience standing in front of adults. Comfort with the software training runs on. Thick skin, because people will tell you your session was boring and sometimes they will be right.

Tip: Start with financial aid, scholarships, and any help an employer offers — that is where the money starts. After that, ask a career counselor or Job Service North Dakota whether WIOA or other programs can help with what is left over, like training, tools, work boots, or exam fees. What can be paid for depends on the program and on your own situation, so ask before you sign up rather than after. Registered apprenticeships let you earn a paycheck while you learn — see jobsnd.com/job-seeker/apprenticeships for ND programs.

5Certification & Licensing

No license. ATD’s CPTD is the credential this field recognizes. Nothing is required. The Association for Talent Development offers the credential people in this field actually name, and it is built for experienced practitioners rather than newcomers.

Credentials in Talent Development:

• CPTD (Certified Professional in Talent Development), ATD — ATD says candidates need at least five years of related work experience and deep knowledge of applying talent development principles. This is not an entry-level credential and is not meant to be (td.org/certification/cptd)
• CPTD cost — ATD publishes $1,099 for ATD members and $1,500 for non-members. ATD says the fee covers the exam seat, the score report, and the certification package, and that preparation materials are sold separately and are not included (td.org/certification/cptd/exam)
• A master’s in instructional design — in practice this carries more weight than any certificate for the design half of the job, and UND’s runs fully online at 34 to 36 credits (und.edu)
• SHRM-CP — worth considering if your training job sits inside an HR department, which many do. SHRM says no degree and no HR title is required to sit for it, and publishes $350 member or $450 non-member at the early bird rate (shrm.org)
• Whatever you teach — if you deliver safety training, hold the safety credential. If you train on a software system, hold that vendor’s certification. Learners check whether you have done the thing you are teaching

The Exams: The CPTD is a proctored exam covering ATD’s talent development capability areas. ATD requires the five years of experience before you sit it, so the exam is not the first step — the experience is.

Cost: CPTD: $1,099 for ATD members, $1,500 for non-members, with study materials extra. A master’s in instructional design is the larger investment, and UND’s online option lets you keep working. Ask your employer whether it will pay — training departments often can.

Keeping It Current: ATD requires recertification to keep the CPTD current. Ask ATD for its published recertification cycle and fee, because that detail is not on the pages checked here and you should not plan around a guess.

6Salary & Job Outlook

North Dakota Training and Development Manager Pay (May 2025):

• Starting out (bottom 10–25%): $41.69–$48.05/hour ($86,720–$99,950/year)
• Middle (median — half earn more, half earn less): $54.82/hour ($114,020/year)
• Experienced (top 25–10%): $66.59–$78.24/hour ($138,500–$162,740/year)

What that means: The middle North Dakota training and development manager earns about $114,020 a year, against a national middle of about $133,000 — a gap of about $19,000. At the bottom, ND is ahead: the ND 10th percentile of about $86,720 beats the national $79,550. At the top, ND is far behind: the ND 90th percentile of about $162,740 against a national $233,600. Look closely at the shape of the ND numbers and you can see why. They are bunched tightly together, from about $86,720 to about $162,740, because with only about 60 people in this job statewide, these are nearly all mid-sized ND employers paying a solid mid-range salary. There is no high end here, because the high end of this career is at large corporations, and North Dakota does not have many.

Jobs in North Dakota: About 60 people do this work in ND today. By 2034, that should be about 60 (about 6% growth). Expect fewer than 10 job openings every year in ND from growth and people retiring or changing jobs. Across the U.S., the change is about 6% growth — faster than average.

Outlook: This is the honest one. O*NET shows about 60 training and development managers in North Dakota in 2024 and about 60 in 2034 — a 6% growth rate that, on a base that small, does not add up to a whole new job — and the ND projected annual openings figure O*NET publishes is literally 0. Projections Central rounds to the nearest ten, so 0 means "rounds to zero," not "never." Still, read it plainly: as a title you can go out and apply for, this job barely exists in North Dakota. Nationally the picture is better but still small, about 6% growth and 3,800 openings a year across the whole country. If this work appeals to you, the realistic ND version of it is a training and development specialist job — a different, much more common occupation — or a training role inside an HR department, or instructional coordinator work in a school district or college. Any of those has more North Dakota openings than this title does. A training manager job here will almost certainly be created around you at an employer you already work for, not posted for you to find.

Who Hires in ND: Health care systems, energy and oil field companies, large manufacturers, banks and credit unions, state government, colleges, and the biggest ND retailers and employers. Anywhere with enough people that training becomes a full-time job rather than a duty attached to someone else’s.

Work Setting: A mix: a training room, an office, a desk with design software open, and the actual work floor where you go to see what people really do. Regular weekday hours mostly, with early or late sessions when you have to train a shift that does not work days. Some travel between sites.

Physical Demands: Low to moderate. Sitting and computer work when you design, standing and talking for hours when you deliver. Your voice is the thing that wears out. If you train on a plant floor or a construction site, you wear what that site requires and you follow its rules like everyone else.

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, North Dakota, May 2025 (SOC 11-3131); North Dakota and U.S. long-term employment projections 2024–2034, via O*NET OnLine. Numbers are rounded.

7Where This Leads

Path 1: Subject Expert — Be genuinely good at the work first. Nobody learns from someone who has not done it.

Path 2: Trainer or Training Specialist — Deliver training and find out whether adults listen to you.

Path 3: Instructional Designer — Build programs instead of only delivering them.

Path 4: Training and Development Manager — Own the learning function and the budget.

Path 5: Learning and Development Director — Set learning strategy for a large employer.

Path 6: Independent Consultant — Build and deliver training for several clients at once.

8The Real Talk

What's Great:

• You watch people become able to do something they could not do last week
• The ND bottom tenth of about $86,720 beats the national bottom tenth
• Design work travels — much of this job can be done from anywhere
• It combines teaching, writing, and problem-solving in one job
• Being a great trainer is visible fast, so good work gets noticed
• The skills move cleanly into HR, into school and college roles, and into consulting

What's Hard:

• O*NET publishes 0 projected annual ND openings against a base of about 60 people — this title barely exists here
• ND pay trails the country by about $19,000 at the middle and by about $70,000 at the top
• Adults will tell you your session was a waste of their time
• Training budgets get cut first when money gets tight, and yours is the budget
• You have to prove the training worked, with numbers, or it gets cut anyway
• You need about five years of experience before ATD will even let you sit the CPTD

Be Honest: Can you hold a room of tired adults who did not choose to be there? Can you take blunt feedback on your own teaching and use it instead of defending yourself? Can you prove with numbers that what you did mattered? And can you look at 0 published ND openings a year and still say yes, knowing your realistic path is a specialist or HR training role first?

9Part 1: What Attracts You?

10Part 2: Are You Ready?

11Part 3: Your Next Move

Your Training and Development Manager Assessment Results