You’re a graduate! Congradulations. Now, get ready to keep learning for the rest of your life. Continuous professional development (CPD) is an essential part of most careers, whether you want to get ahead or even just understand the latest insights and developments in your role.
For some, this prospect is exciting. For others, it might fill them with dread.
The good news for all is that, whereas CPD once mostly involved a significant time commitment to a one-year full-time or two-year part-time postgraduate degree, today’s CPD comes in all forms, shapes and sizes. Yes, there’s sometimes a desire or need to do a postgraduate degree but today’s learners can equally avail of microcredentials, microlearning, short courses, traineeships and so much more.
CPD has always had a role to play, but why has lifelong learning become so central today?
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Kara McGann, head of skills and social policy at the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (Ibec) says it is because of rapidly changing technology, the speed at which businesses operate, people moving jobs and careers more often, and longer lifespans leading to longer careers.
“There are new regulations to comply with, greater global competition and shorter innovation cycles,” she says. “This means that the shelf life of knowledge has gone down while the amount that people need to learn has gone up.
“Talent is the source of competitive advantage, so it is necessary to have an agile workforce that can pivot when needed. Lifelong learning helps keeps organisations agile.”
With so many stresses and obligations in life – work, eat well, exercise, spend time with family and friends, keep a clean house, and seemingly endless life admin – do we really need to add another?
“People may have more time for CPD in their 20s but then in their 30s they may have children, career demands, a partner and other caring responsibilities,” says McGann.
“That is where time becomes scarce. But CPD does not necessarily have to be formal. It does not have to be classroom-based; it could involve microlearning, online learning on your own time and on-the-job learning. There may be opportunities to act up in a role if someone is sick or on leave, or for a graduate to work on a cross-functional project within their organisation. Learning from peers is invaluable too.”
Whatever form it takes, it has to be built around the mindset of the learner and what works best for them.
“We have never had so many ways of learning and so many reasons to learn. Learning for the sake of learning is important and always has a relevance for some people, while others learn to upskill or retrain in a particular role or area,” says McGann.
“It’s a really exciting time to learn, and the growth of online options has been important for time-poor people and people with disabilities who don’t have to navigate the logistics of getting to a classroom.”
These days many employers will support graduates who want to keep learning, whether by paying some or all of their fees, offering opportunities to learn at work or providing them with study leave (see case study: Rosemary Grace at Amazon). Indeed, for today’s graduates, companies that support and encourage CPD stand out as employers, while organisations that don’t support further learning opportunities are simply less attractive.
“There are so many benefits to lifelong learning,” says McGann. “These include enhanced professional competence, staying relevant in your field and being able to adapt to ambiguity. You develop new skills, abilities and resilience. You become more open to new perspectives, reduce stress and anxiety and feel a sense of accomplishment and purpose. And, perhaps most of all, staying curious is its own reward, and can be so rewarding and satisfying.”
Different ways to learn online
Jean O’Brien, digital consultant, designer and founder of Digital Charity Lab
- Can you tell us about the work you do, particularly as it relates to CPD?
Digital Charity Lab is a social enterprise that builds digital skills in charities and non-profits. We provide them with free and affordable learning resources, like online courses, training events and downloadable guides, plus an online community where they can support each other. We were very lucky to be funded by Social Entrepreneurs Ireland to build the organisation.
- What are some of the main trends/developments that your clients need to keep up with?
There’s a lot! Digital channels are very effective for campaigning, communicating and fundraising but it’s an area that has a lot of rapid change. People working in charity digital need to know which digital channels are delivering the best return on investment and how to craft messages and stories that will grab attention in the extremely cluttered online world.
Social media in particular changes a lot, and it’s so important that charities are staying up to date and not wasting resources on channels that don’t bring in measurable support.
- With ever-changing algorithms, new social media sites popping up and existing ones often mired in controversy (such as Twitter/X), how can CPD help your clients to stay on top of developments?
One of the most valuable forms of continual professional development is peer learning, through online communities, meetups and events. It’s so useful and enjoyable to exchange ideas with other people doing the same work.
Digital Charity Lab has an online community that people can join through our website and there’s a few international communities that I participate in myself – such as the Digital Charities Slack, and the Ecampaigning Forum list. There’s nothing like a hivemind, and people in these communities are both doing cutting-edge work and being hugely generous about sharing what they’ve learned.
- Continuous professional development is essential in most industries but how can experts keep up in an area moving as fast as digital?
It’s definitely challenging but it’s absolutely crucial to keep doing continual professional development as the digital field changes so quickly. For example, Facebook shut down their fundraising tools in the EU very suddenly earlier this year and charities who had been using them to great success had to quickly figure out alternatives.
The best way to keep up, on often very limited charity training budgets, is to do affordable short courses in technical and strategic skills, and actively participate in online communities to swap insights with other people working in the field.
I will say, while the technology does change quite often, there are some fundamental skills that will stand to you through this – like knowing how to design an effective online user journey, split testing different variants of online content and using a storytelling approach to talk about your cause. These techniques are relevant no matter what channels you’re using.
- Can you tell me about some of the training you offer and the formats it takes?
Digital Charity Lab does a mix of in-person events and online training events. We have loads of written guides on our website and we also have some on-demand online courses in key digital skills.
With in-person events, we always include interactive exercises so people learn by doing, and we’ll give attendees an opportunity to get feedback on their campaigns. The online courses are set up to be digestible and convenient to do; people can do them all in one chunk or dip in and out. It’s all about giving people control over their own learning experience, so they can fit it into their busy work lives in a way that doesn’t overload them.
- How can CPD address some of the issues in your sector?
I know many charities are struggling to recruit digital fundraisers at the moment; the problem is that the sector underinvested in digital fundraising for a long time and didn’t build the skills.
I’d love to see more non-profits recognise that CPD is great for staff morale and satisfaction, and also greatly benefits the charity as it’ll improve their results with digital, plus the skills can be shared within the organisation.
CPD options
- Postgraduate qualifications: A postgraduate degree is a tried-and-tested way of developing a specialism that can take your career in the direction you want. Particularly useful for graduates with a general degree, such as arts, business or science, they are usually completed in a year or two.
- Microcredentials: Instead of having to commit to longer courses, microcredentials allow learners to develop specific skills in a specific area, often delivered online and completed in your own time. Over time, learners may be able to combine credits from a number of microcredentials into a full postgraduate degree.
- Informal learning: Some jobs do require that piece of paper, but often people simply need to learn a particular skill and demonstrate their ability to do the job. That’s where it’s worth looking at organisations like Coursera, a database of massive online open courses or “Moocs” where learners can take a full course, either for free or at a low cost, from third-levels worldwide, and Alison.com, an Irish company that features more than 1,000 free courses
- Microlearning: Very short, very focused learning opportunities that are usually under 10 minutes. These could be videos on YouTube, GoHighBrow.com (which delivers a new, five-minute lesson, on any of 300 or more chosen topics, to your email every morning), or KhanAcademy (over 7,000 free online videos and lectures on a range of topics.
Supporting CPD in the workplace
“I’ve worked for Amazon since 2006, and I am one of the first people in Ireland to complete an Amazon career choice qualification,” says Rosemary Grace, who is currently a quality assurance specialist.
“I had always wanted to get a degree and, as my son started to grow, I began thinking about how I could develop my career. The Amazon programme paid most of the tuition fees, so I could learn while also continuing in my role at Amazon.
“Before Amazon, I had earned a diploma in travel and tourism. Later, I graduated with a diploma from the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) through the support of Amazon.”
Of course, it helps to engage in CPD when you really enjoy what you’re working towards, and Grace’s enthusiasm for her job is evident.
“Supply chain is a really exciting area to work in as it touches everything in life,” she says. “The tea you’re drinking as you read this, the soap you wash your hands with, the Microsoft Teams calls you’re on, the T-shirt you’re wearing: all of these things are in your life because of an intricate supply chain.
“My job involves psychology, technology and sustainability. It’s usually only when, for instance, there’s a big snow – or the pandemic – and people fear running out of bread or toilet roll, that they realise how important the supply chain is.
“I enjoyed it so much that I then decided to study supply chain management, transport and logistics at MTU.”
Grace says the courses have helped to boost her analytical skills, which is crucial for understanding the competition, the key players and the inputs.
“It also helped to develop my leadership skills as well because, in supply chain, you have to work with stakeholders and know how to talk to them.”
When she started working at Amazon, Grace’s son was a baby.
“He’s 19 now and he’s a student at University College Cork. He’s studying business information systems and I feel like he’s picked up his love for that from always hearing me talking about the things he’s now studying.
“Continuous professional development (CPD) has been so important in my career. I have learned how important it is to always pick up the latest knowledge and skills. Indeed, I recently completed a diploma in risk management in fintech, which has given me even greater insights into supply chain.
“I’d always encourage people to avail of the professional support here at Amazon. But, if you’re not working there, there are many other employers who will also support CPD, including paying all or most of your fees. They support you with learning and, ultimately, you make yourself more employable as a result,” she says.
- For eligible employees, Amazon will pay up to 95 per cent of tuition and fees, up to €12,000 over four years, and reimburses books and fees for nationally recognised courses.
- There is no obligation for participants to stay at Amazon (or pay the fees back) after they have completed their training.
- Amazon works with education partners to provide flexible schedules to students so that they can accommodate learning and their jobs.
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