You’ve done one of the hardest parts of assembling a student media business team — you’ve hired great people! But now, it’s time for an often-overlooked part of the process: training.

The following guide will help you provide a foundation for these key roles.

TL;DR:

1. Create and share a roadmap or an outline for the training experience, so everyone knows what to expect.
2. Keep your training practical and hands-on, rather than theoretical. Build in practice and real-life activities whenever you can.
3. A new business team member will probably need about six weeks to feel “fully” trained. Start with onboarding and basics before moving onto core skills.
4. Many different formats work well for training, but we recommend short sessions that mix presentations and “lectures” with hands-on practice.

‍Before training starts

Training a business student isn’t a one-day operation. Just like student reporters, editors, photographers and designers, a student sales rep or business manager will learn and grow throughout their career at your campus publication.

We recommend building a training pathway (you could also call it a roadmap or even a syllabus!) for the learning journey you want your business students to go on.

A few things to include on that pathway:

• Define success in the first week, month and semester. 
• Build in checkpoints like a bi-weekly 1-on-1, a mid-semester evaluation or even the occasional quiz.
• Explain both mandatory trainings and optional add-ons (i.e. joining an experienced sales rep on a meeting or attending an editorial planning meeting).

The characteristics of a great training

Many advisers and student leadership teams already have years of training to build on. If that’s you, you may not need guidance on the what of training — but we want to share a few principles to guide the how, when it comes to training your student business staffs.

1. Keep training sessions and material as practical and specific to your experience as possible.

It’s tempting to dive deep into LinkedIn Learning or YouTube courses for certain principles like elevator pitches, and these can provide great resources. But whenever you can, we recommend having practical, specific training materials for your student media organization. 

For example: Instead of general advice on elevator pitches, work with your new hires to craft elevator pitches for businesses on your campus’ main street.

‍2. Work your way up.

Build a progressive pathway, rather than everything all at once. Start with the basics of the role, before moving on to specific skill-building and more advanced, refined skills.

💡 At Flytedesk, we divide student media business training into two courses: 101, which covers the basics like products and sending professional emails, and 201, which dives into building strong relationships and closing bigger deals.

3. Keep it hands-on whenever you can.

At some point in the training journey, you’re going to need to present a PowerPoint to your new hires. But whenever possible, build in moments in that presentation for hands-on activities or practice, and encourage new hires to shadow with students who have been on the team for longer.

💡 If you’ve built a training syllabus, build in homework or activities into each lesson. For example, if you’re working on cold calling one day, encourage your new hires to call you and make a pitch over the phone or leave a voicemail.

Structuring your training program

In the first two weeks, focus on onboarding:

• What does every new team member need to know before doing this job?
• Provide an orientation to your organization, mission, platforms, and workflow.
• Share team vocabulary, tools, and expectations.
• Include exercises that build confidence.
• Help the new hires feel like part of the team.

In weeks 3-6, start to work on the core skills that will help them be successful:

• What are the fundamentals of this industry and this role?
• Explore your student media organization’s products and offerings.
• Dive into important key topics like prospecting and sales pitching.
• Provide opportunities for practical exercises and peer shadowing.
• Try to secure some small wins for the new hires early, and celebrate them!

After six weeks, your new hires are likely feeling more independent and confident, so you can start to build in more ongoing training and growth opportunities, like:

• Continued workshops on specific topics that are “higher level” than the basic role responsibilities.
• Regular feedback exchanges with leadership or advisers.
• Guest speakers who are alums of your student media organization or valued members of the community.

Training formats that work

Most of the time, training will look like one of two things: throwing someone into the fire and seeing how they handle it, or an extensive, multi-hour orientation session. 

If it’s not broken, no need to fix it, but if you’re looking to mix up the format of your training or you’re starting from scratch, here are a few formats that other publications find success with:

• In-person bootcamps or retreats that mix “lecture” with hands-on practice. 
• Short sessions (no more than 25-30 minutes at a time) broken out across multiple days or weeks with activities in between.
• Modular asynchronous training, with opportunities for check-ins and feedback throughout.
• Mentorship or buddy systems, which rely on peer-to-peer learning.

What’s next?

We hope this has given you some guidance and structure to add to your training program. Training is a key tool for short-term staff retention and development, as well as crucial to your student media business’ success and wellness in the long term. While it’s time-intensive, a well-trained staff member can be incredibly valuable — and gaps in training can lead to mistakes or bigger issues down the line.

If you’re ready for the next topic, check out our guide to staff retention.