Continuing Professional Development - A Definitive Guide
As you advance in your career, you may be wondering how best to develop your skills. Enhancing your abilities, particularly in the workplace, is essential for achieving career goals and moving up in your industry.
While these skills may have been easy to nurture in a school or university setting, thanks to teachers' guidance and clearly defined assignments, advancing your skill set in a career requires a more proactive approach.
This is where the concept of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) enters the picture. In this guide, we'll look at the phrase, talk about its significance, and share some tips and examples of CPD.
What is CPD?
Continuing professional development (CPD) is the intentional development or acquisition of new skills and knowledge in order to advance your professional career.
This could be fine-tuning your current skill set, which got you the job in the first place, or it could be learning new skills that will help you advance to the next stage of your career.
Some employers also want their employees to expand on their current role through CPD, utilising their skills to adapt their role to a new level that benefits both the employee and the company.
CPD is typically delivered in the form of training, either in the office and organised by your company, or set up by yourself and completed in your own time. The latter may be the case if you want to move on from your current position and need to improve in a variety of areas to do so.
In the workplace, your employer may keep a record of your CPD in the form of a folder or digital portfolio. Both you and the organisation will be able to clearly recognise your increased knowledge and reflect on what this means for your present and future position.
Why is CPD important?
CPD is important because it can help you advance in your job and achieve your personal goals. By continuing to develop your skills and knowledge, you demonstrate to your employer that you are capable of taking on additional responsibility and are passionate about your career.
Partnering with your employer to track your CPD can help you both determine when things like salary and job title need to be considered, as you progress beyond your present work parameters.
CPD allows you to clearly demonstrate your increasing and acquired talents, some of which may be required to obtain a pay raise or a higher position.
On a more personal level, it may also assist you in determining which parts of your role you enjoy and don’t enjoy, allowing you to reevaluate and analyse whether this career path is suited to you or if a change is required.
CPD also highlights knowledge gaps, allowing you to swiftly fill any potential gaps when it comes to improving your career. It also improves your CV and cover letters for prospective future opportunities and shows companies your professional standing.
Maybe most importantly, your CPD portfolio serves as a wonderful reminder of how far you have come in your professional journey, showing your outstanding achievements and inspiring you to keep striving for your goals.
Examples of CPD
Many employers have their own methods of tracking and encouraging your CPD. When it comes to identifying potential for skill advancement, applying it to the role, and measuring the impact, most follow a similar cycle:
- Identify – gaps in your knowledge and make a continuing professional development plan.
- Act – carry out training, courses, etc.
- Reflect – on the skills and knowledge acquired.
- Apply – the skills to your role.
- Share – the skills with the wider team if beneficial and discuss progress with your employer.
- Impact – assess the impact this knowledge is having on the role, and its benefits.
Your company may require you to participate in training courses or observe higher-level members of the team as part of your CPD plan.
But, most CPD is employee-led, which means it is mostly up to you to identify your own skill gaps and recommend strategies to fill them. For example, you may have seen a new trend in your industry that you believe your organisation is currently lacking in. Rather than simply informing your employer of the gap, it is critical that you have thoroughly investigated how to educate yourself in this new knowledge and describe what and how you require your employer to contribute.
On the other hand, you may believe that your leadership abilities skills are inadequate, an essential if you ever want to advance to a managerial role. Perhaps you can take leadership of a project or observe a manager at work for the day?
Finally, you will discover that CPD enhances your capacities and expertise in several areas of knowledge and skills connected to your role.
Tips for Building Your CPD Plan
- Keep an eye on developments in your industry, particularly from individuals or companies
you admire and recognise when anything comes up that you would benefit from learning.
- Check in on how you're finding your day-to-day work - are you challenged enough? Do you feel at ease advising or managing team members? All areas of uncertainty could be opportunities to build abilities.
- Maintain a learning log and update it regularly. Note the situation, what you learnt, and what you will do differently in future as a result. This can be extremely helpful in assessing your progress towards your long-term development objectives.
- If you're really stuck, getting advice from others is an excellent way to determine what your CPD plan should be. Your co-workers and manager might have spotted any skills you have the potential to develop.
- Don't set unreasonable goals or plans for yourself. You will most likely be working on your CPD plan for the rest of your professional career, so you will have plenty of time to accomplish your goals. Begin by defining what is most important right now, such as what you need to demonstrate to get that promotion and work your way up from there.
How Can We Help?
Searching for an opportunity in the construction industry? Or are you a hiring manager in search of the top talent in the market today? Contact James Gray’s Recruitment’s team of industry experts to start the conversation. getus@jamesgrayrecruitment.com