Instructional design consultant vs training consultant

The differences between instructional design consultants and training consultants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both an instructional design consultant and a training consultant. Additionally, an instructional design consultant has an average salary of $70,045, which is higher than the $56,760 average annual salary of a training consultant.

The top three skills for an instructional design consultant include instructional design, subject matter experts and elearning. The most important skills for a training consultant are training programs, training materials, and training sessions.

Instructional design consultant vs training consultant overview

	Instructional Design Consultant	Training Consultant
Yearly salary	$70,045	$56,760
Hourly rate	$33.68	$27.29
Growth rate	7%	8%
Number of jobs	47,057	52,054
Job satisfaction	-	5
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 65%	Bachelor's Degree, 64%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	4	4

What does an instructional design consultant do?

An instructional design consultant is responsible for assisting, developing, and managing instructional material and plans with other professionals such as programmers, web developers, and teachers in IT. They usually collaborate, coordinate, and interact with the aforementioned professionals to develop a program design to enhance their expertise and learning experiences. Also, they must research electronic learning, run usability tests, find learning objectives for a particular project, and do a content development review and analysis.

What does a training consultant do?

A training consultant's job is to prepare, evaluate, and execute an organization's employee education programs. Their duties and responsibilities may include developing instructional materials, identifying knowledge and skills gaps, and organizing learning activities. Other duties include selecting educational methods such as online courses and on-the-job coaching, organizing management training, and assessing the impact of this training on employee performance. The skills and qualifications for this role include a bachelor's degree in human resources management or a relevant field, previous work experience as a training consultant, and knowledge of learning management software.

Instructional design consultant vs training consultant salary

Instructional design consultants and training consultants have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Instructional Design Consultant	Training Consultant
Average salary	$70,045	$56,760
Salary range	Between $51,000 And $95,000	Between $38,000 And $84,000
Highest paying City	Washington, DC	Newark, NJ
Highest paying state	Connecticut	New Jersey
Best paying company	Qualtrics	Virtusa
Best paying industry	Energy	Finance

Differences between instructional design consultant and training consultant education

There are a few differences between an instructional design consultant and a training consultant in terms of educational background:

	Instructional Design Consultant	Training Consultant
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 65%	Bachelor's Degree, 64%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Harvard University	University of Pennsylvania

Instructional design consultant vs training consultant demographics

Here are the differences between instructional design consultants' and training consultants' demographics:

	Instructional Design Consultant	Training Consultant
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 38.4% Female, 61.6%	Male, 48.1% Female, 51.9%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.0% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 16.7% Asian, 5.4% White, 62.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 11.2% Unknown, 6.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.0% Asian, 6.1% White, 59.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	16%	12%

Differences between instructional design consultant and training consultant duties and responsibilities

Instructional design consultant example responsibilities.

Manage CBT and ILT course documents using SharePoint.
Manage a repository on SharePoint of all assign training modules and supporting documentation of recent updates and changes to material.
Develop and implement leader-led and online training programs, introducing new learning methods and growing eLearning market.
Create and facilitate effective wrap-around or stand-alone ILT curricula.
Create ILT participant and facilitator guide for Medicare open enrollment.
Consult SMEs when gathering information to design and develop effective training solutions.

Training consultant example responsibilities.

Lead training of enlist, officer, and warrant officer troops as well as DoD civilians.
Used Microsoft SharePoint, as an administrator, to store, manage, and electronically publish all documents.
Lead the migration of documents from windows explorer to a web-base document management software and coordinate training for staff.
Manage SharePoint governance with the use of site policies, record management, information management policies and configuring the content organizer.
Manage staff to evaluate emerging technologies, database and data storage strategies and develop training strategies and curriculum designs.
Provide technical writing support for ISD.

Instructional design consultant vs training consultant skills

Common instructional design consultant skills

Instructional Design, 11%
Subject Matter Experts, 8%
ELearning, 6%
Project Management, 5%
SMEs, 5%
Learning Solutions, 4%

Common training consultant skills

Training Programs, 11%
Training Materials, 7%
Training Sessions, 5%
Project Management, 5%
Training Courses, 4%
Training Delivery, 3%

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Instructional Design Consultant
Instructional Design Consultant vs Training Consultant

Updated January 8, 2025

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