Blog Post: No Time Like A Recession!

It was the kind of morning news headline that made you wonder if you really did wake up when the clock radio turned on: Recession Babies.  The quote from the story, the one that made me pause in the middle of my shave, went something like this:  “I’m out of work, and don’t have any job prospects lined up, and we’ve always wanted another baby, so I figured, what better time?”

The quote was a teaser for a later news program, and what a teaser!  But it got me wondering as I sat in traffic on the morning commute: what if everyone treated their professional development with a similar attitude?  “Well, I’m out of work, and I’ve always wanted to do more than my previous job let me, so I figure, what better time to expand my skill set?”

It doesn’t take much to do this.  Fumbling about with all these new computer programs that people keep talking about at work?  There are plenty of extended education programs that address the big ones.  Recognizing that you could benefit from speaking Spanish at work? Community colleges can give you the basics.  Want to focus on developing your professional skills? Examine what your local professional organization has to offer.

For instance, ASTD National offers a CPLP (Certified Professional in Learning and Performance) Certification. 

The impact of such certification is that such a certification lets employers know that you have real-world, practical expertise that can be applied to any work environment.  The CPLP is rapidly becoming a baseline for workplace learning and development departments.  More than that, anyone with a CPLP has the tools to be the best in the field.  So not only does your extended network know you rock, so do you.

Now, ASTD National is not a local professional organization.  So while you will get your CPLP from them, it’ll be tough if you just work with them, because they don’t offer many practical, real-world tools to help you prepare for your certification.  There’s info on their website, of course.  And they offer study guides at a cost.  But if you’d want to work within a community of like-minded people to prepare for your CPLP, then my recommendation is that you find your local ASTD Chapter.  They will be the ones who have experienced workplace learning and performance professionals, able to provide the support network to help you get your CPLP.

I’ll give you a for instance that is blatantly marketing our own chapter.  ASTD-Orange County is re-starting its CPLP Special Interest Group (SIG), and invites all members who are interesting in furthering their professional development, and their career, to attend its inaugural meeting this coming June 25.  Details for the event are just beyond this link.  The CPLP SIG plans to meet monthly, and at each monthly meeting explore one topic that is tested on in the CPLP Certification Exam.  It’s been an invaluable study group for the people who joined the CPLP SIG last year, and we were proud to report that some members did pass the exam, while others opted to take the exam at a later date.

How does this help one’s professional development in a recession?  Well, ASTD-Orange County lends, library style, the same resources that the ASTD National would sell to you. ASTD-Orange County provides its members a community of like-minded individuals who will support and encourage you. The primary investment made by the recession-afflicted person is time, and that’s admittedly at a bit less of a premium than before.  Imagine working full-time, raising a family, and studying at the same time.  Some of you may have done that already, and found that you were stretched further than you really wanted to be.  Now imagine how less of a burden doing two out of three would be.

So: developing your skills during a recession maximizes the time you’d spend between networking and job interviews.  Connecting with a professional organization to help you achieve your goals will maximize your return on your investment. 

You’ve always wanted to expand your skill set.  What better time?

If you found this interesting, you may wish to check out:

   *  ASTD-Orange County Special Interest Groups

   *  CPLP SIG Introductory Meeting (This is free, by the way. No cost to check us out!)

  *  Does Your Resume Need New Acronyms? (CNN.com article)