About Skillyard

A UK-wide index of independent training and coaching businesses

Skillyard is a national directory of trainers and coaches, indexed by subject and location. When a business or individual needs a trainer or coach, Skillyard is where you find the right person or team to deliver it. The directory covers seventeen subject categories spanning leadership development, HR, marketing, sales, health and safety, compliance, coaching and more, with trainers listed across the UK.

Why an index?

There are many ways to find training providers online. Search engines return a mix of paid results, blog posts, websites and social media posts. LinkedIn tends to surface the best marketed rather than the best qualified and often gives mixed results. Lead generation sites broker introductions in return for a commission and that deliberately defines who they show you and who they allow you to contact.

Skillyard works differently. We offer a flat index, with no opportunity for training providers to compete for top billing or force their way into your searches. Trainers are found by browsing categories, filtering by location or delivery format, or giving the finder tool a fuller description of what you're looking for. When a training provider looks right for you, you contact them directly. Skillyard does not pass messages, does not broker anything and takes no cut.

What we mean by independent training providers

All businesses and trainers listed on Skillyard are direct providers of training, meaning they do the training themselves. These are training consultancies, individual coaches and specialist training firms who deliver the work rather than reselling someone else's programme. There are no training marketplaces listed here, no aggregators and no one white-labelling training from someone else.

Unlike the big marketplaces, when you contact a Skillyard trainer, you are contacting the person or team who will deliver the training. This means you can really assess the fit before you commit. And you'll know who will be walking through the door on the day. It also means the trainer is accountable to the work, not to a middle layer that sold it to you. It often means the prices are cheaper as well, because the trainers aren't paying a cut to a middle man. On top of that, it's better for the trainers. They don't get white-labelled, they don't lose money to a marketplace and they build their own reputation instead of building the reputation of a company who don't actually do any training.

How trainers get onto Skillyard

Every listing on Skillyard is human-reviewed before it goes live. Trainers submit their details through a structured signup and each application is checked against the directory's standards before being approved. Listings that don't meet the requirements are declined or sent back for changes.

Whether a trainer appears in your results depends on whether they match what you're looking for. The order they appear in is set by a daily shuffle, so no trainer holds a permanent advantage and there is no option for a training provider to pay to appear higher in the list. What you see in a category or a filtered search is what fits your query. How we rank sets out the detail.

How to use Skillyard

Skillyard offers a few ways in. Category pages let you browse by subject. There are seventeen main categories covering leadership, HR, marketing, sales, health and safety, finance and more. Each category has multiple sub-categories for your specific needs. So leadership breaks down into first-time manager training, senior leadership, executive presence and other focus areas.

Once you are looking inside a category, the filters allow you to narrow results by region, delivery format and funding. Whether you're looking for a trainer who offers in person training in the North West, or you're looking for an online trainer, the filters will help you find what you need. To find trainers based in or covering a particular town, such as Birmingham, you can use the search function.

The finder tool is an AI-powered conversational alternative. Type a question in your own words describing what you need, who it is for and any specifics and the finder will return matching training providers, along with a short note on the subjects that fit what you need. This works well when you are not sure which category your need sits in, or when the requirement cuts across several subjects.

You can also ask an AI assistant such as ChatGPT or Claude to find a trainer for you. Skillyard has an open API that AI assistants and agents can search directly, using the same categories and location options as the rest of the site. Agents see the same listings in the same daily order, with nothing boosted by payment, and can point you to the trainer's listing page or website to get in touch.

Getting in touch

If you have questions about how to search, what to look for in a trainer or how a listing works, the buyer FAQ is the place to start. It should cover most of the questions buyers tend to ask, from advice on filtering to what to expect the first time you contact a trainer.

For anything the FAQ doesn't cover, or if you have feedback on the directory itself, you can get in touch through the contact page. Every message is read by a member of our team within 24 hours.

If you are a trainer or coach interested in listing your business, more information is available on the List your business page.