Why Continuing Professional Development Matters

What is Continuing Professional Development?

Before we explore continuing professional development further, it’s helpful to define it. Continuing professional development refers to the additional training and courses that professionals take once they’re qualified to work in their chosen careers. For example, if you’re a doctor, you will have already gone to medical school to qualify. However, taking additional training after you’ve qualified will help to broaden your knowledge or could be used to help you specialize in a specific area of medicine. Likewise, if you’re a teacher, you’ll need to be qualified before you get your first full-time teaching job. In this case, continuing professional development will help you to acquire new skills to benefit your career.

​Who Needs Continuing Professional Development?

Continuing professional development is something that can benefit employees working in almost every industry. If you’re a doctor, continuing professional development may be compulsory in some areas of your work, such as periodically qualifying for your CPR renewal. However, it doesn’t matter whether you work in hospitality, insurance, fitness, fashion, or pretty much any sector, as professional development will always be beneficial. In short, continuing professional development really is for everyone. So, no matter your current career, professional development is always an option worth considering.

The Benefits of Continuing Professional Development

So far we’ve established what continuing professional development is and who needs continuing professional development. Now, let’s take a look at some of the benefits that continuing professional development provides:

Keeps Your Skills Up-to-Date

Some industries require continuing professional development for their employees. In these industries, regular, compulsory training is required to ensure that employees are able to perform their jobs safely. For example, health and safety training for employees working in a high risk role. In this case, ensuring team members have up-to-date skills is a must.

For those working in industries where continual professional development isn’t compulsory, it’s still really helpful to keep skills up-to-date. Taking courses and training to update your skills ensures that you don’t fall behind in your knowledge and remain confident in your ability to do your job to the required standard.

Ensures You Know About All the Latest Trends

Whether you’ve worked in your industry for decades or just a few months, it’s vital to keep on top of all the latest happenings in your sector. For your career to thrive, you need to ensure you stay relevant. New employees and those who are recently qualified will constantly be entering your industry. This means that many more people will enter your industry with fresh knowledge of the latest developments and best practices. 

Failing to keep up with what’s happening and not having the training needed to stay up-to-date can make it hard for you to play an active part in moving the company forward and into the future. Of course, your existing experience in the industry is extremely valuable. But it’s even more valuable when combined with knowledge of the latest trends in your sector.

Increases Your Employability

The job market can be a tough place, so it pays to have as much of an advantage as possible. When you work in a popular sector, you’ll probably find that for every job vacancy that becomes available, many candidates put themselves forward. 

When the competition is fierce, you need all the help you can get to further your career. Having professional development courses listed on your resumé is an excellent way to increase your employability. These extra qualifications demonstrate to would-be employers that you’re motivated and engaged with your work and that you’re prepared to put extra work into your career to make it a success. Continuing your professional development also shows prospective employers that you’ve got the latest knowledge and skills. This is all extremely advantageous when you’re trying to apply for jobs in a highly competitive industry.

Stand Out From Your Colleagues

When you’re trying to further your career, you need to ensure that you stand out from the crowd. Standing out from other candidates when you apply for a new job is essential. However, it’s also helpful to stand out from your colleagues in your current role. Everyone wants to be noticed at work for the right reasons. The best way to do this is by showcasing your knowledge and ability to do a great job.

Committing to your continual professional development by taking courses and seizing opportunities to grow your expertise will always keep you a step ahead of your colleagues. The knowledge you gain will be especially useful if you’re looking for promotion opportunities at work. The professional development courses you have taken will not only look great on your resumé but will also provide you with more knowledge to demonstrate your expertise during interviews.

Provide Customers With the Best Service

When you have a job you enjoy, you take pride in your work. This means that you’re committed to providing the best possible service to all your customers. Continuing your learning and developing your professional knowledge plays a huge role in being able to do this. Keeping your knowledge up-to-date while also learning new and better ways to perform at work will benefit both you and your customers. Knowing that you’re providing the best service is a great way to boost your job satisfaction and really make your work engaging and enjoyable.

How to Get Started With Continuing Professional Development

There are so many benefits to be gained from continuing with your professional development. However, you may be wondering how to get started. The following tips should help you to start moving forward with your professional development:

Check With Your Employer

Checking with your employer to see if there are opportunities to take courses and continue your learning within the workplace is an excellent starting point. There may be internal courses or even an employee development scheme that you can sign up for.

Assess Your Skills

To ensure that you get the most benefit from continuing your professional development, it helps to assess your skills. Thinking about the knowledge and skills you currently have and then looking for gaps in your learning is useful. This will help you to focus your attention on the main areas that need to be developed, and you may choose to make these a priority.

Consider Your Interests

As you will be working on your professional development in your free time, it is essential that you enjoy the courses you take. Therefore, it’s helpful to consider your interests and the areas that you would find the most engaging to study in more detail. This can be a useful way to develop a specialism in a specific subject and to hone the knowledge you have until you become an expert. 

Carry Out Research

If you’re serious about developing your career quickly, it pays to do some research. Examining job roles you’re aspiring to have and then looking at the qualifications that are needed to perform them is really helpful. You can then start working toward gaining these skills in a focused way so you’re completely prepared when the time comes to start applying for these positions.

Final Thoughts

Continuing professional development is sometimes thought of as an industry-specific form of training. However, pretty much anyone working in any industry can benefit from continuing professional development.

We all spend so much of our time at work. So, it makes sense to be the best we can be at our jobs, to fulfill our potential, and to thrive in our careers. Continuing professional development helps us to do just that.