Professional development
Professional development is the gaining of knowledge, skills and qualifications to improve your chances of employment or promotion.
It may involve:
- studying to gain a qualification that may be needed for advancement
- developing personal skills like communication and leadership to help you perform more efficiently at work.
Keeping up to date
It is important for employees to develop professional relationships and networks to keep up to date with what is going on with their industry or occupation. To improve your knowledge of changes to your industry, you can attend:
Contact industry associations and subscribe to newsletters, periodicals and magazines to improve your knowledge and professional skills.
You can also talk to your manager or your human resources department. They will be able to tell you if your organisation has a professional development program and how it works.
Personal skills
Improve your personal skills in areas like leadership, public speaking or managing a team by:
- searching online to see what kinds of seminars, lectures or workshops are offered near you
- finding a short course
- talking to your manager or human resources department to see if they can recommend any programs.
Further study
If you are thinking about more-formal further study, you can speak to a career adviser before deciding which training program or course best suits your goals and needs.
