Professional Development

In addition to the basic training required for a trade, occupation, or profession, the labor market recognizes the need to continue training beyond initial qualifications in order to maintain, upgrade, and update skills throughout working life. This is known as professional development.

HR professionals describe their organization's approach to professional development

Select Video:Unilever (personal care products)Allergan (pharmaceuticals)T-Mobile (mobile telecommunications)

You can view the transcript for “The Unilever story | Learning in the flow of life” here (opens in new window).
You can view the transcript for “Company story: Allergan” here (opens in new window).
You can view the transcript for “Company Story: T-Mobile” here (opens in new window).

Professional development can apply to skills and knowledge attained for both personal development and career advancement. Professional development encompasses all types of facilitated learning opportunities, ranging from college degrees and formal coursework to conferences and workshops.

Individuals who take part in professional development range from teachers to military officers. Individuals may pursue professional development because of an interest in lifelong learning, a sense of moral obligation, to maintain and improve professional competence, enhance career progression, keep abreast of new technology and practice, or to comply with professional regulatory organizations. In fact, there are many professions that have requirements for annual professional development to renew a license or certification, such as accountants, lawyers, and engineers.

There are a variety of approaches to professional development, including consultation, coaching, communities of practice, lesson study, mentoring, reflective supervision, and technical assistance. Professional development may include formal types of vocational education—typically post-secondary or technical training leading to a qualification or credential required to obtain or retain employment. Professional development may also come in the form of pre-service or in-service professional development programs. These programs may be formal or informal, group or individual. It’s possible to pursue professional development on one’s own, or through the company’s human resource departments. Professional development on the job may develop or enhance “process skills”—sometimes referred to as leadership skills—as well as task skills. Some examples of process skills are effectiveness skills, team-functioning skills, and systems-thinking skills.

There has been significant growth in online professional development. Content providers have become well informed about using technology in innovative ways, incorporating collaborative platforms such as discussion boards and Wikis to maximize participant interaction.  These content providers offer training on topics ranging from sexual harassment awareness to promoting diversity in the workplace. The ability to customize training for a business or industry has placed these providers in a position to supplement or even replace in-house training departments. Because businesses can purchase access on an as-needed basis for as many or as few employees as necessary, the cost of training is reduced. Thus, businesses can provide more training and professional development opportunities to their employees at reduced costs and at times that are more convenient for both the employer and employee.

LinkedIn Learning

One provider of online professional development is the employment-focused social media platform, LinkedIn. LinkedIn expanded their content library through an acquisition of Lynda.com, a leading online learning company that offered courses in business, technology, and creative skills.^[1] Through LinkedIn Learning, you can learn about a variety of jobs in business, how to use specific kinds of software, and career development.

Check with your college or your local public library to see if they provide free access!

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