What do you do if you're a mid-career professional seeking professional development opportunities?

1 Assess your situation

Before you look for professional development opportunities, you need to have a clear idea of where you are, where you want to go, and what gaps you need to fill. Start by reviewing your current skills, strengths, weaknesses, interests, values, and aspirations. You can use self-assessment tools, feedback from others, or career coaches to help you with this process. Then, identify your short-term and long-term career goals and the specific skills, knowledge, or credentials you need to achieve them.

4 Choose wisely

After you have explored your options and negotiated with your employer, you need to make a final decision on which professional development opportunity to pursue. This can be a difficult choice, especially if you have multiple or conflicting options. To choose wisely, you need to weigh the costs and benefits of each option and compare them to your professional development needs and goals. You also need to consider your personal preferences, learning styles, and motivation levels. Don't be afraid to ask for more information, advice, or guidance from others who have done similar professional development activities.

5 Commit fully

Once you have chosen your professional development opportunity, you need to commit fully to it. This means setting realistic and specific learning objectives, creating a detailed and flexible action plan, and allocating sufficient time and energy to your learning activities. It also means staying focused, motivated, and accountable throughout your learning journey. You can use various strategies to help you with this, such as setting milestones, tracking your progress, celebrating your achievements, seeking feedback, or joining a learning community.

6 Apply and share your learning

The final and most important step of pursuing professional development opportunities as a mid-career professional is applying and sharing your learning. This means transferring the skills, knowledge, or credentials you have gained to your current or future work situations. It also means sharing your learning outcomes, insights, or best practices with your colleagues, managers, or network. By doing this, you will demonstrate your value, credibility, and growth as a professional. You will also create more opportunities for yourself and others to learn and develop further.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?