I don't know what they have to do to become an elder, but I do know this for sure. First and foremost, do NOT ever put any trust in any elder. They are not there to help, but to judge, and they are not even qualified to do so. I say this because a few years back, my husband and I were having some marriage troubles. He had committed adultery.
Anyways, while my husband was going through the judicial meeting with them, they had actually had me there for one of the times. They asked me all kinds of things, that I had no knowledge of, because I was not at home when the deed had went down. Anyways after it was all over, they had put my husband on private reproof, and that was it. I thought that at least they would help me in how to deal with my feelings of betrayal, and all the other feelings that a spouse goes through when their partner cheats on them. But all I got from them was not a dam thing, no counseling, nothing. The next seven years after that was pure hell for both me and my husband, because I was left to figure out how to deal with this whole mess all on my own.
Also there are double standards when in comes to elders. What I mean by this is from what I also saw. There were two elders, and both had gotten a divorce. The first one met and married a woman, and he did everything to make the marriage work out, but she left him anyway. They had no children, and weren't married very long. He lost his position as an elder.
The other elder, he had been married for several years, and had 2 children. He treated his wife like crap, and finally she had enough of him, and divorced him as well. I know the awful details of what his wife when through, because I had worked for him, and had spent quite a bit of time at their home. He never lost his position as an elder.