Switched on Business Services Blog

How often do you hear people say they must do some study to help their career move along but they're not sure what? And how far do they get making a decision? Not far at all quite often.

I've just been speaking with a new client - a manager with one of the countries well-know franchises. He is moving along well in his career and would now like to apply for one of the regional positions. He was wondering what he should study.

I see this a lot. people think they should study the next level of qualification and it will give them the edge to go for a higher position. of course there's nothing wrong with doing higher study, but it's not always the wisest choice.

The thing is when a person applies for a position, the person interviewing is looking for the skills, qualities and knowledge base theywant the person to have.

So how do you decide what to study?

Here's points to consider when looking for learning development.

Firstly do you want promotion where you already work? If that's the case, you'll be known to have certain skills already. Great! The idea then is to develop the skills that are wanted at work that you aren't well known to have or you want to be seen as more skilled than is currently thought. In this case it's probably not a complete qualification that's needed but one or two national strategic units such as Budget Planning or Leading a Team

Secondly are you applying for a position in your workplace or elsewhere where you don't really have the experience and the higher level of skills that is needed for this position. Then this is where you'd study a full qualification but again still choose the most needed units to study first coupled with mentoring to gain an insight into the new positions level of experience. And look for a flexible study program that gives you choice of units and timing.

How you generate interest in you!

Once you have enrolled in one or two of these supporting units, you will already have a more suited resume to your new desired position, because you've chosen units that fill the gaps in your experience.

The trend today, with such changing work needs is to plan your development to it's current and packaged to the list of criteria wanted for the position you want. This generally means be ready to learn faster and in job-related blocks of units.

I'd love to hear about the jobs you are looking to go for and we can include more information on innovative pathways. The main thing is that study can mean many things, but it definately needs to lead to your goals.

Bye for now - Jenny H