Part I of this acticle discussed the importance of lifelong learning.
Education is not limited to a college classroom. Here are some ideas:
Join a professional association in your field. These organizations typically offer scholarly journal subscriptions, informational newsletters, book reviews, a body of knowledge, national and local conferences, training and local chapter events. Here are a few of the better known associations
- Product Development and Management Association – pdma.org
- American Society of Mechanical Engineers – asme.org
- American Marketing Association – marketingpower.com
- Industrial Designers Society of America – idsa.org
- Project Management Institute – pmi.org
There are hundreds of other associations. Talk to your librarian about finding appropriate associations through a directory
Look into your local library. Many offer classes on new software packages, access to journals and magazines, textbooks and popular business books, all for free. In fact many are also loaning electronic books and e-book devices.
Search for podcasts related to your profession. iTunes has many free podcasts and iTunes U offerings.
Some of my favorites podcasts are:
- APM Marketplace
- Businessweek Innovation of the Week
- NPR Science Friday
- podcasts@Darden: The Darden speaker series
- TED talks audio and video
Some of my favorite iTunes U offerings are:
- Stanford University
- UCLA
- MIT
Look into training provided by companies endorsed by professional associations. Many offer traditional classroom courses, but many also offer online and on-demand training, as well as relatively inexpensive, highly targeted training that you can attend during lunch at your desk.
Disclaimer: Strategy 2 Market, Inc., the parent company of NPD Recruiting offers classroom and online training for NPD professionals. On-demand training is in the works.
Look into courses, seminars, networking events and conferences sponsored by your alma mater or a local university
- MIT Open Courseware Initiative – MIT has put complete materials for over 1800 undergraduate and graduate level courses online at no charge – http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm
Search the internet. Some universities offer free course materials, career planning tools and articles written by their teachers
- Florida State University Career Center has a comprehensive online system for visitors to evaluate and direct their careers
http://www.career.fsu.edu/techcenter/individual/index.html
Set up Google Alerts for keywords appropriate to your company, industry and profession. Google will send you a list of new webpages, news, press releases, etc. for each alert. http://www.google.com/alerts?hl=en&gl=us
Do you have other resources to suggest to your fellow lifelong learners? Please post your suggestions below – just click on the Leave Comments link.
Are you curious about the opinions and experiences of other NPD professionals? Unemployed, employed or employer? Please participate in our survey and we will share the results with you.
Tags: career advice, lifelong learning, recruiting survey, Training
