CPD can be defined figuratively as ‘watering your garden’. Just like you water your garden regularly to provide care and attention to flourish, your career needs continuous learning and growth to excel in your career. With ongoing learning, you can grow and enhance your skills and understanding of whichever field you belong to.
This type of long learning is important to succeed in today’s job market. It will allow you to stay relevant and updated with the latest developments in the field. However, the advantages of CPD are not limited to just professional growth, it’ll enhance your employment chances, and earning potential as well.
Regardless of the type of CPD you choose, it will set you apart in the professional world and provide you with numerous other benefits and opportunities.
Why Does CPD Hold Importance in Today’s Job Market?
With the skill-first mentality, businesses and employers are constantly looking for employees with an enhanced skill set. If you are someone who wants to be one of the employees who instantly grabs the attention of the employers, then CPD is the way!
Following is the importance of CPD in today’s job market:
Let You Adapt Yourself to any Job Role
Stephen Covey said, ‘To achieve goals you’ve never achieved before, you need to start doing things you’ve never done before.’
It clearly states the idea, that man cannot do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result. To achieve your desired results, you must do and try doing things in a new way.
A professional setting or workplace demands the same attitude. In order to excel and grow, you need to learn and participate in multiple CPD events or activities, so that no matter what new job role or projects come your way, you can easily mould yourself to it – be it a leadership role, manager or team lead.
2. Allows You to Stay Up to Date with Changing Trends
This is especially helpful for the regulated professions. CPD for individuals who are associated with nursing, healthcare or law professions is extremely important yet beneficial. Participating in continuing education events will allow them to earn certain CPE points required to maintain their certification, registration or licensure. As a result, professionals will stay relevant to the necessary information required in their working lives.
3. Meets industry-specific requirements
CFA and CPA Certifications in Finance
Certifications like Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Certified Public Accountant (CPA) are highly regarded in the finance sector and play a crucial role in one’s career growth. If you are an accountant to a financial analyst, earning these certifications will demonstrate that you hold extensive knowledge and competence in the relevant field.
Furthermore, it will suggest that you are an expert in accounting, auditing, and taxation, essential for roles in public accounting or finance showing that you have an appetite for learning and growth in your career.
Ongoing Training for Patient Care and Regulatory Compliance
Like finance, for medical sectors Continuing Medical Education (CME) is especially focused. Nurses or healthcare professionals can greatly benefit from CME events or activities. Under most circumstances,
they must complete certain CME hours so that they can get hands-on training and provide the best medical care possible.
4. Become an outstanding employee and pave the path to career progression
When you participate in certain formal seminars, conferences or workshops, you earn CPD certifications that you can mention on your CV or resume.
Earning these might also mean you have devoted your time to certain CPD activities, demonstrating that you are committed to your role and helping you stand out when applying for new roles. Employers seek out these types of employees, which will be beneficial for them in the long run.
Considering these benefits, we can say that no matter what industry you work in or what role you play, CPD helps you excel and grow in personal and professional development.
Important Aspects of the Job Market
The two main aspects of the job market are the demand of labour and supply of labour, the representatives of these two main aspects are employer and employee.
Employers (Demand for Labor):
- The organisations or individuals who create job opportunities. They represent the demand side of the job market, specifying the types of jobs available, the skills and qualifications needed, and the conditions of employment (e.g., salary, benefits, work environment).
Employees (Supply of Labor):
- These are the individuals seeking job opportunities. They represent the supply side of the job market, bringing their education, skills, experience, and personal characteristics to the job market. They are the potential workforce that employers can hire.
Professional development plays a crucial role for both employees and employers. Following are the benefits employers and employees can seek from CPDs:
Benefits of CPD for Employers and Employees?
Benefits for Employees:
1. Enhancing Soft and Hard Skills
With CPD, employees can enhance and polish both their soft and hard skills. Whether you work in a corporate office as a manager or team lead, one way or another for job satisfaction, you would want to work on your skills and CPD is the right way. Some of the most prominent skills (but not limited) that you could learn by undertaking CPD are:- Communication skills
- Listening skills
- Problem-solving
- Time management
- Writing
- Public-speaking
- Computer skills
- Accounting or Finance
2.CPD helps Instil Confidence
3.Career Progression
Besides improving skills and building confidence, CPD can help you climb the cooperate ladder or even help shift your job as well. For instance, if you wish to be a team lead in an organisation, you can participate in relevant CPD activities like courses or mentorship programs to polish your leadership skills. On the other hand, if you wish to shift or change your job, CPD certificates can help you easily find new jobs that fit your demands and preferences as employers hunt for employees who are committed and devoted to their work and want to progress further in their careers.Benefits of Employers:
The benefits of CPD are not only for employees but there are also benefits for employers. Here are some of the benefits for employers:
- High Employee Retention
Offering relevant CPD training to your employees is highly important. The reason is that if you don’t provide training to your employees, they might think that the company does not care about their aspirations.
When they offer CPD and train their employees, they not only stay relevant to their job roles but there is a higher chance of becoming the company’s asset and a lower staff turnover in the long run as well.
- Recruit Better Talent with CPD
When hiring new employees, employers must show that their organisation offer CPD training opportunities for employees. For instance, as an employer, you can show that you train your employees regarding team building, and development skills or offer coaching or mentorship programs. As a result, you can ensure that standards remain high and consistent across your organisation.
- CPD Requirements are Met
CPD requirements in regulated sectors like finance, medicine and law are mandatory. When you offer courses that are a must for employees to participate in, you can ensure that they are staying relevant to their industry requirements and regulations.
How can I Strategise CPD to Make it More Effective?
In order to make Continuing Professional Development (CPD) more effective, it’s essential to adopt a strategic approach that aligns with your career goals, demands, and preferences. To achieve this, you can set SMART goals in a structured way to accomplish your desired objectives.
By developing a plan using this strategy, you will identify relevant activities, set specific times, and achieve these goals step by step easily.
Conclusion
To conclude, Continuing Professional Development is highly beneficial to fulfilling the demands of today’s job market.
There are several types of CPD events and activities to be engaged in like conferences, seminars, online or reading publications like magazines or articles. By engaging in these activities, you can adapt to any role or the changing trends in the market. Not only that but if you are associated with a regulated profession like nursing or finance there are specific CPDs you can take to maintain your registration or certifications.
Furthermore, there are many benefits from the employer’s and employee’s point of view as well. Continuing Education can help employees build confidence, progress in their careers, or enhance their skills. On the other hand, employers can attract and retain top talent by investing in CPD for their employees.
