Every parent has probably had this conversation with their school aged child.
Kid: I hate school. I can’t wait until I’m a grown-up and don’t have to learn or do homework.
Parent: Guess what, chief. You are never done learning and doing homework. I still have to learn new things all the time so I can keep my job.
So true, but how many of us are going the extra mile to invest in ourselves? As a Certified Financial Planner licensee, I’m required to document 30 hours of continuing education every two years. Lawyers, CPAs, doctors, and many other professions have specific education requirements to keep their licenses active.
What if you are in a profession that doesn’t have a specific education requirement? You can still engage in learning a new skill or enhancing your current ones. Who wouldn’t want to hire or promote that person who went out of their way to better themselves professionally?
With online courses, getting top notch certifications is more accessible than ever. Harvard Business School is now offering an online course called Disruptive Strategy under the HBX label with variety of courses still to be offered. I’ll bet having a Harvard certification under your belt wouldn’t hurt your chances of getting a raise.
What if business isn’t your bag? Have the fashion bug? Get a certification and become an Image Consultant. Do you like to be hands on and create things? Take an advanced Lego or robotics course. How about you sales people who want to earn more by closing more and bigger deals? There are abundant online and local classes for that if you just use your favorite search engine.
Sure, after we’ve dragged that cursed science fair project to school for our 5th graders, we hardly have the energy to go do our own homework. However, if you just did one online course per summer (when your kids don’t have homework), think how great that would look on your resume. Of course, don’t forget to tell your boss, too!
If these topics sound like they would be of interest to your employees, sales conference, or professional organization, contact me at 303-324-0014 or kristi@
