Continuous
Professional
Development (CPD)
Why do we need CPD?
CPD offers numerous benefits to both
professionals and their employers, some of
which are of real importance. For you as a
professional, it helps to ensure your skills and
knowledge are up to date, and the professional
standard of your registrations and qualifications
are maintained
What types of CPD are there?
Formal CPD activities include :
● Attending formal accredited courses
● External seminars/workshops
● Conferences
● Industrial placement in external organisations
● Many more
What Formal CPD have you been apart off?
What types of CPD are there?
Informal CPD may include:
● work based activities such as projects
● Research
● Report writing
● Internal secondments/placements
● Involvement in planning, and liaising with external agencies
● It also includes Self-directed/informal learning e.g. updating
professional knowledge by reading professional
journals/publications, observation and reflection
AssignmentTutorOnline
Six Stages of CPD
● Define (Identify your career goals)
● Assess (Think where you are now in your career)
● Design/Plan (deciding how and when to learn)
● Action (recording what you learnt)
● Reflection (thinking about your practices as a engineering
professional)
● Evaluation (identifying your smart goals)
What is a Professional Development Plan?
A Professional Development Plan (PDP), also known as an Employee
Development Plan or an Individual Development Plan
Your professional development is your responsibility. While your
employer might require or encourage you to create a PDP as part of
your performance review process
There are 9 steps to completing a PDP
1. Assess where you are now
2. Identify your specific career goals
3. Gather information
4. Identify what professional skills you have and which you need improvement
5. Choose how you will accomplish your goals
6. Develop a timeline for accomplishing your specific goals
7. Write it all down
8. Evaluate your plan
9. Measure your progress
1 Assess where you are now
How is your career currently progressing?
Assessing your current career situation is a good place to start
● What have you been doing over the past year, 3 years or 5
years to help your professional development?
● Are you where you thought you’d be at this stage in your
career?
2 Identify your specific career goals
Where do you want to be?
● What does success mean to you?
● What activities do you love the most?
● Where would you like to be in 3, 5 and Ten years?
SMART
Specific – Measurable – Achievable – Realistic – Timely
3 Gather information
What professional skills are needed to get where you want to go?
Meeting with your line manager is a good place to start, as they might
help you identify other areas you need to work on and offer suggestions
about upcoming training opportunities provided by the company
4 Evaluate your professional skills
Now that you have identified what professional skills are desirable for
your ideal career path, take a moment to tick off ones you’re already
proficient in
Knowing your current strengths is important, so you can clearly
distinguish what you are lacking that might be holding you back
5 Decide on a strategy
Now that you have identified the areas you need to work on, it is time to
decide how you will remedy this
● Job embedded
● Strategic
● Continuous and ongoing
6 Develop a timeline
By planning and scheduling your professional development, you’ll be the
ideal candidate by the time that promotion you want rolls around
Plan your targets on a yearly basis, make sure to give each target more
time than you envision it taking because things rarely go to plan
7 Write it all down
Keep detailed notes of your Professional Development Plan
A PDP is not something to be written and forgotten. It is a
career-long tool that you should refer to regularly
8 Evaluate your plan
Before you commit to your PDP
● Specific
● Measurable
● Achievable
● Realistic
● Timely
Even though you should dream big, setting unreasonable goals and
targets will make the experience of following a PDP stressful and
disheartening. It’s important to evaluate your plan to make sure
you can meet your targets – be it task or time-frame – and that
your goals are realistic and achievable
Any Question???
Complete your own Personal Development Plan