Professional Development

[Anonymous]

I have an opportunity to go all in on professional development. I typically don’t have the time or financial resources to do so, but my company is encouraging this.

I’m curious to hear from others, what forms of PD do you find to be most beneficial and why? Conferences, webinars, certifications, reading papers, etc?

[Anonymous]

Just pick a nice location. You want Hawaii, not Cincinnati.

[Anonymous]

I did employer-paid executive development programs at two different Ivys. They were useful both in terms of imparting relevant training/education for my field and in connecting with new professional contacts in my field from other employers. It probably also doesn't hurt my resume or LinkedIn to be able to cite those institutions as part of my "educational" background.

[Anonymous]

The most important question for you is what's your goal? That will dictate what types of professional development you should select. If your goal is a promotion, look at all of the folks in your company that are above you and see what they did for PD. If your goal is to set yourself up to jump companies, look at the same people in the companies for which you want to work.

Don't squander this opportunity - it's rare.

[Anonymous]

It's all a waste of time and money. Just another scam.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I did employer-paid executive development programs at two different Ivys. They were useful both in terms of imparting relevant training/education for my field and in connecting with new professional contacts in my field from other employers. It probably also doesn't hurt my resume or LinkedIn to be able to cite those institutions as part of my "educational" background.

Those “elite” certifications are so cringe

[Anonymous]

I’ve done a fair amount of PD learning over a long career. The most rewarding and relevant by far are in-person all-day courses. I’ve done some that take a full week. Of course these are a big investment, but things like webinars and independent study are just not as good. I have several certificates collected over the years, but they’re just paper. It’s the skills and connections that mattered.

Conferences are supposedly “training” but they’re really for networking. If you’re early career, go in order to meet people. If you’re late career, go as a speaker and welcome others to meet you. For me that transition happened when I was around 40, so not until after I had been around for a long time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did employer-paid executive development programs at two different Ivys. They were useful both in terms of imparting relevant training/education for my field and in connecting with new professional contacts in my field from other employers. It probably also doesn't hurt my resume or LinkedIn to be able to cite those institutions as part of my "educational" background.

Those “elite” certifications are so cringe

How are they cringe?

I attended a month-long one in person and it was fantastic. I came back smarter, refreshed, energized... it was well worth the investment for both me and my employer. I don't pretend that I'm some Ivy graduate now if that's what you mean. But I got real value out of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did employer-paid executive development programs at two different Ivys. They were useful both in terms of imparting relevant training/education for my field and in connecting with new professional contacts in my field from other employers. It probably also doesn't hurt my resume or LinkedIn to be able to cite those institutions as part of my "educational" background.

Those “elite” certifications are so cringe

Hardly. It's obvious that employers don't send low potential, low performing employees to them, given their cost. So to have been sent to one speaks to that, certainly, apart from whatever new skills or abilities the employee may have acquired as a result.

You may, however "cringe" if not selected by your employer to attend, given that nonselection means.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did employer-paid executive development programs at two different Ivys. They were useful both in terms of imparting relevant training/education for my field and in connecting with new professional contacts in my field from other employers. It probably also doesn't hurt my resume or LinkedIn to be able to cite those institutions as part of my "educational" background.

Those “elite” certifications are so cringe

How are they cringe?

I attended a month-long one in person and it was fantastic. I came back smarter, refreshed, energized... it was well worth the investment for both me and my employer. I don't pretend that I'm some Ivy graduate now if that's what you mean. But I got real value out of it.

I don't think going is cringe, but putting it on LinkedIn is, because it does seem like that's the claim being made.

And it's not clear when people do that if their employer paid.

[Anonymous]

If employer is paying just go. Some will be a waste of time, but someone will be handy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did employer-paid executive development programs at two different Ivys. They were useful both in terms of imparting relevant training/education for my field and in connecting with new professional contacts in my field from other employers. It probably also doesn't hurt my resume or LinkedIn to be able to cite those institutions as part of my "educational" background.

Those “elite” certifications are so cringe

How are they cringe?

I attended a month-long one in person and it was fantastic. I came back smarter, refreshed, energized... it was well worth the investment for both me and my employer. I don't pretend that I'm some Ivy graduate now if that's what you mean. But I got real value out of it.

I don't think going is cringe, but putting it on LinkedIn is, because it does seem like that's the claim being made.

And it's not clear when people do that if their employer paid.

LinkedIn is for factual information about one's qualifications, education, and experience. Executive education programs and relevant substantive professional certifications certainly qualify. Why would one deliberately underrepresent oneself?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did employer-paid executive development programs at two different Ivys. They were useful both in terms of imparting relevant training/education for my field and in connecting with new professional contacts in my field from other employers. It probably also doesn't hurt my resume or LinkedIn to be able to cite those institutions as part of my "educational" background.

Those “elite” certifications are so cringe

How are they cringe?

I attended a month-long one in person and it was fantastic. I came back smarter, refreshed, energized... it was well worth the investment for both me and my employer. I don't pretend that I'm some Ivy graduate now if that's what you mean. But I got real value out of it.

I don't think going is cringe, but putting it on LinkedIn is, because it does seem like that's the claim being made.

And it's not clear when people do that if their employer paid.

LinkedIn is for factual information about one's qualifications, education, and experience. Executive education programs and relevant substantive professional certifications certainly qualify. Why would one deliberately underrepresent oneself?

I disagree that it's a qualification. They're cash cows for universities, and that only works because they don't actually dilute the brand because they're not taken seriously. The signal this conveys to me on LinkedIn is that the person posting it doesn't realize that. But maybe whoever you want to hire you feels differently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did employer-paid executive development programs at two different Ivys. They were useful both in terms of imparting relevant training/education for my field and in connecting with new professional contacts in my field from other employers. It probably also doesn't hurt my resume or LinkedIn to be able to cite those institutions as part of my "educational" background.

Those “elite” certifications are so cringe

How are they cringe?

I attended a month-long one in person and it was fantastic. I came back smarter, refreshed, energized... it was well worth the investment for both me and my employer. I don't pretend that I'm some Ivy graduate now if that's what you mean. But I got real value out of it.

I don't think going is cringe, but putting it on LinkedIn is, because it does seem like that's the claim being made.

And it's not clear when people do that if their employer paid.

LinkedIn is for factual information about one's qualifications, education, and experience. Executive education programs and relevant substantive professional certifications certainly qualify. Why would one deliberately underrepresent oneself?

I disagree that it's a qualification. They're cash cows for universities, and that only works because they don't actually dilute the brand because they're not taken seriously. The signal this conveys to me on LinkedIn is that the person posting it doesn't realize that. But maybe whoever you want to hire you feels differently.

This is the right answer. You just never know. There are cohorts that get excited about this stuff and they want to post about it and hire people like that. There are cohorts that will see it as unselfawareness and unprofessional. You just never know where anyone falls. Just try to read the room, really.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did employer-paid executive development programs at two different Ivys. They were useful both in terms of imparting relevant training/education for my field and in connecting with new professional contacts in my field from other employers. It probably also doesn't hurt my resume or LinkedIn to be able to cite those institutions as part of my "educational" background.

Those “elite” certifications are so cringe

How are they cringe?

I attended a month-long one in person and it was fantastic. I came back smarter, refreshed, energized... it was well worth the investment for both me and my employer. I don't pretend that I'm some Ivy graduate now if that's what you mean. But I got real value out of it.

A lot of people stretch any connection to Harvard. I have lots of coworkers who put Harvard Business Publishing Courses on their LinkedIn. I would feel skittish about mentioning that since I have a grad degree and undergrad from other schools. I only put the course my employer paid for on my internal resume. It was facilitated on a Harvard platform and had a Publishing arm staff team who work for Harvard. But it was not live-taught.