Let’s start by looking at what continuing professional development is. First, from now on we’ll use the term CPD when we refer to continuing professional development, it’s quicker and easier. So, CPD is basically learning new skills so that you can do your job better (and improve your promotion prospects too!)
So, why should you care about CPD? Well, it’s important if you want to get on in your career. In today’s fast-paced environment, learning new skills is a must if you want your career to continuing growing and developing. You need to keep up with the latest developments in your particular field if you want to compete with your peers and colleagues. You don’t want to miss out on a great opportunity just because you don’t know how to use a simple computer program that you could have easily learned about using CPD, do you?
So use CPD to expand on your current skills, learn new ones to improve your performance in your current role or branch out into new areas. And, it’s always worth asking your employer if they’d pay for your training. You’ll have to have a pretty sound reason for wanting them to pay. So, think hard about how your newly acquired skills will help you perform your job better and how your company will benefit – then use those reasons to persuade your employer to pay. And, if you’re struggling to think up reasons, I’ve listed some of them below, feel free to use them.
But before we get that far, let’s look at what CPD you already do. You are probably already doing CPD without even realising it. Everything that you learn each day that you can use in your job or a new position is continuing professional development. Maybe you didn’t know how to use a certain computer program and a colleague showed you – although it’s not ‘official’, this would be CPD as you’ve learned something new that you can use in your job.
How does CPD help you?
So now let’s look at the other advantages you’ll receive from participating in CPD. In short, it’ll help you in all aspects of your working life. Employers are impressed by people who take a structured and planned approach to learning throughout their career – it shows you are proactive, professional and serious about your career. And the benefits you’ll receive are pretty significant. You’re more likely to have:
• a competitive advantage over your colleagues
• the most up-to-date skills
• access to a wider variety of jobs
• the freedom to move around to where the work is available
• greater earning potential
• improved self-confidence
• better performance in your current job
• a better reputation
Some of these personal benefits translate into benefits for the company too. Especially better performance in your current job and the most up-to-date skills.
How does CPD help your company?
But that’s not all! Participating in CPD helps your company in other ways too. And any benefit your company receives should be passed on to you. If you work for a company that rewards skill and dedication to learning, you should see the benefits pretty quickly. That could be with a promotion, a pay rise or further training.
The benefits detailed below are your ammunition for persuading your boss to pay for your training. You can tell him that companies who invest in their staff with CPD training could benefit from:
• better motivation and morale of staff
• training that’s tailored to the needs of the organisation
• an unlocking of the talent and potential that’s already present in the company
If you combine these reasons, with the others I’ve given you above, you can see that CPD is a great way to improve your both yourself and your work environment.
I’m hoping that I’ve convinced you of the need for you to participate in CPD. If I have, why not have a look at the courses we offer. There’s all sorts to choose from, and they are all specifically designed to help you improve your career prospects. But unlike other correspondence courses, once you’ve enrolled, you’re not alone. There’s a really friendly team here to help you whenever you need it. And to give you that little push you need, the next Course of The Week is our Employing and Motivating Staff course – watch out for an email landing in your inbox.
Written by Shelley Bowers
