In economics, capital refers to items businesses use to make money. It can take the form of currency used to purchase other forms of capital, the machinery and equipment needed to make goods or services, or to workers. This last category is sometimes called human capital. Therefore, human capital training can refer to both employee instruction and to the education people receive to prepare them to enter the work force.
Companies typically provide human capital training that is specific to their own needs and operations. This may include how to work with specialized products or computer systems, regulations, and procedures that are specific to the business. Employers usually also provide such training to teach entry-level workers how to perform specialized tasks or specific jobs. For example, marketing and sales employees may receive instruction in a firm's persuasive communication techniques.
Most people need a certain foundation of knowledge in order to be ready for any human capital training that a company may provide. This commonly takes the form of traditional education, received from childhood, through the teens and even to the college level. Each phase of such years-long education usually provides people with increasingly specialized skills that should prepare them for any on-the-job training they may need.
For less technical positions, employees usually only need basic skills, which are commonly learned in primary and secondary school. These can include a command of the language in which they will be working, and basic computer and mathematics abilities. More specialized positions generally require employees to have had more advanced training in a field related to the job.
Education requirements typically vary depending on the industry as well as position. For instance, human capital training is often required for people in sales jobs, so that these employees are very familiar not only with a their employer's products or services, but also in how the company sells them. Other highly specialized workers, such as welders or machinists, must complete trade-specific instruction that is not a normal component of high school or college. There are separate schools to provide this type of human capital training.
Typically, the education received prior to entering the workforce and any on-the-job instruction gained while working serve different purposes for people. The type of human capital training gained as a student generally allows a person to enter a particular professional field. Once in a job, however, any specialized instruction received usually helps him excel and build new skills.
