Participating in training and development programmes creates an amazing feeling of achievement. This sense of achievement then builds into feelings of enthusiasm and motivation for your career. They can help you move towards the ideal state where you feel your work is your hobby; it is something you enjoy so much that it does not feel like a burden to get up on dark, cold mornings. This might be true for some, but for others, training courses provide a more practical benefit – and in a tough market for jobs, this is what I am hearing more frequently this year:
Training and development courses take the risk out of:
- Hiring you
- Keeping you on during a re-structure
- Promoting you
- Giving you new opportunities and responsibilities
Training and Development for Hiring
In my corporate life I have been at the sharp end of hiring for my team. It is a difficult task, because you often only have one interview to detect if someone has the skills and abilities needed for the job, is likely to be committed to the work, bring energy and enthusiasm to the team and be the right fit for the challenge you are hiring for.
Certifications through training and development play an important part in the hiring process. When you have good candidates, going back over their CVs and realising that not only have they convinced you they know what they are doing, but they have the evidence that they have studied their subject and studied it recently, which is reassuring. It provides the confirmation that they are the best candidate to hire.
I know I always check what qualifications someone has, to assess if they are really investing in their professionalism, or whether they are just great talkers at interview. I also reassure myself that there is a pattern to their learning. If they have the right qualifications but they haven’t done any training for the last 5 years, then I worry that they are not prepared to keep themselves up to date.
How to Choose Training and Development Courses that Suit You
Before starting any training or development course, you could use neuroscience to take a brain-smart approach to see if it is right for you:
- Set your intention – be clear about what you want to learn and why. How will you apply this knowledge to your work? How will it help you do your job now? How will it help you build your career?
- Plan time for learning – there is no point turning up to a course if you have not had time to do the pre-reading. Make sure you have put time aside for revision and also time after the course to process all the new information and squeeze as many insights and new ideas from what you have learnt.
- Tell people what you have been doing – many courses provide you with a Digital Badge that describes what you have learnt and enables you to add this certification to your LinkedIn profile. This is a great start, but go further and write a short article highlighting what you learnt, why it excited you, and why it is so memorable for you. This helps embed your learning but also gives you a chance to let others know you have updated your skills and are even more accomplished than they thought you were.
Training and Development with Agile
Training is an investment of time, money and effort, so make sure you get a return on this very personal investment. If you want help in identifying the right training and development course for you, join me at this free session to learn about the different change management qualifications available : https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/complete-picture-which-is-the-right-change-management-qualifications-for-you/