Why should you undertake professional development?

Professional Development is one of the cornerstones of our working lives. It is the process which keeps us interested in our work, gives us the drive to progress our careers, keeps industry competitive and, ultimately, makes us employable throughout our lives. What’s more, it is something we do every day of our lives without even thinking about it.

If you are to maximise your potential for lifetime employability, it is essential that you maintain high levels of professional competence by continually improving your knowledge and skills.

The job market is forever changing. You may no longer be able to rely on your employer to identify and satisfy your development needs. You may well move jobs frequently during your working life. Therefore, you need to take ownership of your career and its continuing development.

The effect of such changes has increased the demands on people in all walks of life to maintain documentary evidence of their continued competence; and nowhere is this more important than in science and engineering, where technology is advancing so swiftly. In your own best interests, you should be developing a personal portfolio of your professional activities and their relevance to your current job and your continued career as well as your future ambitions.

By taking ownership of your career and focusing your professional development you will:

• be better able to recognise opportunity
• be more aware of the trends and directions in technology and society
• become increasingly effective in the workplace
• be able to help, influence and lead others by your example
• be confident of your future employability
• have a fulfilling and rewarding career

Taking a structured approach to your professional development will enable you to demonstrate continuing commitment to your profession. What’s more, the good practice of regularly reviewing your needs, and selecting appropriate learning activities to help you fulfil them, will give your career focus and meaning.

Focus on your professionalism... and your career

It is vital if your career is to be fulfilling and successful that you focus on maintaining and building upon your current competences. This is so, whether or not you intend seeking promotion, greater responsibility, professional recognition through membership of an institution or a professional qualification, or a change in career direction. Increasing demands for accountability, rising tides of regulations, legislation, new technologies and, of course, business’s need for diversification, affect the employability of all professionals. Therefore, it is imperative that you work at ensuring you continue to benefit from the standing and recognition you have already achieved.

You may have a desire to take on greater responsibility in your present working area, wish to move into another professional field or discipline, or even change direction completely. Whatever your aim, it is sensible to start thinking about where your career is going. Drawing up a career plan, however sketchy at first, will help you to identify various pathways that may be open to you now, pick out markers along the way, and help you to recognise options open to you as they emerge. Don’t forget, you will have some transferable knowledge and skills in addition to any new ones you will require, and these should be recorded.

Maintaining records of your development will help you to focus on your career plan. Again you should start simply and keep it under revision. As you progress with the process of planning, and recording, you will find it easier to review and amend as new options become available.

Take a look at the professional development cycle, which demonstrates how structured professional development becomes cyclical and self-fulfilling.