BPS 4950 Module 4 Final Project: Capstone Report on a Move Into Training and Development Example

Benchmarking the Goal: A Capstone Plan for Moving From Retail Management Into Training and Development

Student Name

Bachelor of Science in Professional Studies, Thomas Edison State University

BPS-4950: Bachelor of Science in Professional Studies Capstone

Mentor Name

Month Day, Year

Benchmarking the Goal: A Capstone Plan for Moving From Retail Management Into Training and Development

Introduction

This capstone asks whether a retail assistant store manager with twelve years of training experience can become a training and development specialist within two years of graduating, and how. It draws together my professional background, my degree, research on how the field is changing and evidence from the regional labor market, and it ends with benchmarks and a plan. The sections below were first submitted as written assignments and have been revised using my mentor's feedback.

Section 1: Foundations

I have worked in retail management for twelve years and currently supervise about 30 associates in a Cherry Hill, New Jersey, home improvement store. Training has become the strongest part of my role: I have onboarded more than 200 associates and designed my store's onboarding and safety training schedule. The B.S. in Professional Studies has added organizational behavior, communication and ethics to that experience.

My goal is a specialist role in workplace training with a retail, logistics or health care employer near Cherry Hill or across the river in Philadelphia, within two years of graduating. The protean career described by Hall (2004), self-directed and guided by values and continuous learning, fits the move I am making. Social cognitive career theory (Lent et al., 1994) explains why closing my skill gaps matters: confidence in a skill shapes the choices people pursue.

Section 2: Change in the Field

Training and development is changing in four ways: pressure to show results, virtual and blended delivery, short on-demand learning and AI tools for content. Salas et al. (2012) showed that effective training rests on lasting principles, needs analysis, practice with feedback, support on the job and evaluation, whatever the format. A new specialist must therefore learn both those principles and the digital skills that new formats require.

Section 3: Labor Market Demands and Requirements

The Occupational Outlook Handbook (U.S. Department of Labor, 2025) expects a bachelor's degree from people entering the occupation for training and development specialists. To see local demand, I coded twenty regional job postings. Most asked for a bachelor's degree, training experience and presenting skills, which I have or will have by graduation. More than half asked for instructional design and e-learning tools, and several asked for evaluation of training results, which are my main gaps. Retail and distribution employers valued front-line experience most, so I will target them first.

Section 4: Benchmarking the Goal

Why Benchmarks

Locke and Latham (2002) summarize decades of studies in which people did better with precise, demanding goals than with a vague request to try hard, provided they saw their progress and cared about the goal. A career goal two years away needs smaller goals with dates and measures so I can see progress and adjust.

Benchmarks

Action Plan

The first six months focus on knowledge: the certificate course and reading on evaluation methods. Months six through twelve focus on evidence: the e-learning portfolio, the store evaluation project and virtual facilitation, which together give me examples to show employers. Months twelve through twenty-four focus on the search. Kanfer et al. (2001) found job search behavior related to finding employment, so I will set weekly search targets and track them. Pierson (2006) advises presenting experience in the employer's language; my résumé will describe my store work as needs analysis, program design, delivery and evaluation.

Resources and Risks

The plan costs about $2,500 for the certificate, software and credential exam, which I will cover from savings and my employer's tuition program. The main risk is time: I hold a full-time job and care for a family. To manage it, the plan sets one major benchmark at a time. A second risk is that my current employer may offer a training role internally; the plan treats that as a good outcome, since it meets the goal.

How Mentor Feedback Was Used

My mentor's feedback changed three sections. In Section 1, I narrowed the goal from "human resources" to a specific occupation and region. In Section 2, I replaced a list of eight trends with four supported by research and added the principle behind each. In Section 3, I added the coded table of postings in place of a general summary, as my mentor suggested.

Reflection on the Degree

The capstone showed me how the parts of my degree fit together. Organizational behavior explained why training fails when the workplace does not support it. Communication courses prepared me to present, which every posting required. Ethics shaped how I think about fairness in training and promotion. Most of all, earning a degree while working proved to me that I can learn new skills on a schedule, which is what this plan asks me to do again.

PowerPoint Outline

The presentation will have ten slides: title; my starting point; the goal; how the field is changing; what employers want; my gaps; benchmarks; action plan timeline; risks; and what the degree contributed. As the syllabus requires, I will share the draft in Discussion Forum 5 for peer review before submitting it to my mentor.

Conclusion

The research supports the goal. The field is changing, but its principles reward the experience I already have, and regional employers want training experience, presenting skills and front-line knowledge. My gaps in instructional design, e-learning and evaluation are specific and can be closed. Six benchmarks with dates and measures turn the goal into a plan I can follow and check.

References

Hall, D. T. (2004). The protean career: A quarter-century journey. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 65(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2003.10.006

Kanfer, R., Wanberg, C. R., & Kantrowitz, T. M. (2001). Job search and employment: A personality-motivational analysis and meta-analytic review. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(5), 837-855. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.86.5.837

Lent, R. W., Brown, S. D., & Hackett, G. (1994). Toward a unifying social cognitive theory of career and academic interest, choice, and performance. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 45(1), 79-122. https://doi.org/10.1006/jvbe.1994.1027

Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2002). Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey. American Psychologist, 57(9), 705-717. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.57.9.705

Pierson, O. (2006). The unwritten rules of the highly effective job search. McGraw-Hill.

Salas, E., Tannenbaum, S. I., Kraiger, K., & Smith-Jentsch, K. A. (2012). The science of training and development in organizations: What matters in practice. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 13(2), 74-101. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100612436661

U.S. Department of Labor. (2025). Occupational outlook handbook. Bureau of Labor Statistics.