Value of Ongoing Professional Development Coursework

Whether provided by your current employer, past employer(s) or training seminars/workshops/conferences you participated in and paid for yourself, professional development is highly valued by employers.  While you wouldn't want to list everything on your resume if you have taken a great deal of professional development in last 10 years, you want to track everything you take, and ultimately provide the best of the best info for the resume document.  Furthermore, a secondary addendum document with a full listing of development opportunities taken in the last seven to 10 years can also be created to supply for performance reviews, networking, interviews, or promotion opportunities.  

There are many different types of professional development that should be tracked and these include:  leadership, management, marketing, sales, customer service, business protocols, EEOC, sexual harassment, computer applications and systems, specialized compliance or technical training related to job or industry, and OSHA, just to name a few.  Keep those professional development completion certificates, listings from your employers, and any accompanying educational materials.  Now you will have both a terrific list of coursework along with the proof!  To your career success!    

Career Management Tip

Many companies/organizations offer a variety of professional development courses to their employees, including computer applications, leadership, management, sales, marketing, industry-related compliance, and business communications.  Companies may also send employees to regional and national conferences for additional education frequently in the form of breakout sessions.  Often, employees don't take advantage of these seminars and workshops and lose out on the benefits to their career.  Whether looking for a promotion at your current workplace, a better performance review, or wanting to move to another company, employers value employees that continually develop their skills through ongoing training.  

 

Take advantage of the learning opportunities your company provides, or seek out the many low cost or even free, quality professional development opportunities available to you online and at local community colleges and organizations. Additionally, keep track of the training you take, including name of course, and date (year or month/year) so you can add it to your resume.  As your knowledge grows, so will your career!