Professional development is a process that lasts throughout a person’s working life. It can include different elements, including continuous training. These are tools for learning and improvement throughout a person’s working career.
The need to improve and promote lifelong learning has proved to be basic in any sector. The advantages of lifelong learning incorporated into professional development are clear, although we do not always realize its value.
What is lifelong learning in a career?
Lifelong learning does not refer to a specific course or a specific training model. When we talk about maintaining training tools throughout one’s working life, we are referring to all the options and possibilities to improve professional development and skills.
This could be anything, from external courses to internal training and retraining programs. In addition, learning tools that are not directly related to the job can improve productivity or working conditions.
Continuous training courses and professional development tools
We can distinguish two main groups of continuing training courses:
- Those provided by the companies themselves: these are usually re-training courses. They are aimed at improving the worker’s skills and helping him/her in his/her professional development. They are usually held every so often (for example, every 10 years), depending on the frequency of the different productive sectors.
- External courses: these are courses chosen by the employee or the company itself, but which take place in an area other than the workplace. Here the options are enormous because any training that helps to improve the employee’s skills is always a good idea for both the employee and the company.
On the other hand, even if they are not courses, throughout professional life, they may learn knowledge and improvement techniques in terms of tools that can help them in their professional development.
A clear example of this is the constant learning in the use of new technologies, which nowadays is applied to practically any sector and any kind of company.
Why is the continuous training process so important?
As part of the professional development of any career, challenges and the ability to adapt are going to be present in one way or another. In a globalized world, repetitive jobs that will remain unchanged for a long period of time are becoming fewer and fewer.
Therefore, the importance of remaining attentive to career-related improvements and modifications is essential.
In addition, improving knowledge and upgrading skills and abilities make the difference between the right career progression and one that remains stagnant over time.