Did you know that more than 400,000 job offers are abandoned each year in France for lack of candidates? In a context of increasingly rapid change in the world of work, employability is now the key word. Everyone’s ability to find a job and keep it is, indeed, crucial. Contrary to popular belief, employability is not only taught at school, but also (and above all) through continuing professional development. But is it for everyone? Who does continuing professional development concern?
Lifelong Learning
Nowadays, we must work on our employability throughout our professional lives. Continuous training thus helps to better prepare us for new waves of technological innovation, as well as various revolutions in terms of company management and transformation.
Continuing professional development benefits everyone, in particular by making it possible to:
- limit internal turnover
- help talents to develop
- reduce unemployment rates by helping workers tackle skills obsolescence
Whatever your situation, it pays to understand how you can take advantage of it.
1. Developing the Skills of Tomorrow
Continuing professional development is a useful springboard to enriching your profile by working on new skills. As digitisation affects all economic sectors, companies are increasingly welcoming their employees’ willingness to learn new digital technologies. 74% see a good command of these tools as a professional asset and a way to boost employability.
Moreover, training employees is a good way for organisations to support their internal mobility. In so doing, they help each employee to develop in a rapidly changing professional world. It is thus a loyalty booster that ensures that everyone feels good in their job and in their company.
For employees, continuing professional development contributes to individual autonomy and combats skills obsolescence by teaching everyone to adapt more easily to technological and organisational changes.
2. Developing in Your Company with Continuing Professional Development
Apart from maintaining your skills, continuing professional development is also an interesting lever for development in your company. It is a relevant way to demonstrate your investment in your position and to send positive signals to your employer. Continuing professional development can thus help you qualify for a promotion or get a position with more responsibility, particularly in direction or management. At some companies, getting a diploma may also be a basic requirement for promotion.
New responsibilities also mean a salary increase, which continuing professional development can help you to negotiate! On average, a university degree holder earns twice as much as an employee without a degree. Going back to university can therefore be a good long-term investment in addition to boosting your employability.
This is the choice made by Nicolas Croquelois, Terminal Director with an independent European leader in the storage of petroleum and chemical products. In order to give his career a boost, he decided to upgrade his skills and studied for the EDHEC Corporate Finance Certificate. “Today, I hold an operational management position on an industrial site,” he explains. “Consequently, the financial aspect is not a sphere I have to intervene in very frequently. Acquiring additional skills and a certain general culture in the field of finance and business management was important to me to qualify for promotion. EDHEC Online distance learning allows me to meet this objective by learning how to interpret financial tools, income statements and balance sheets.” Beyond the content of the training, the possibility of taking courses online remotely is a real plus for professionals. As Nicolas sums it up: “Distance learning is a very practical method! You can take classes when you get home in the evening or at weekends. I would have found going to class and having to combine business and training complicated!”
