Lifelong Learning and Professional Development

It’s no secret that the past five years have been rocky in the world of work. One of the best strategies to stay employable is to stay current. According to former President Bill Clinton, “In today’s knowledge-based economy, what you earn depends on what you learn.” As we begin the new year, use this opportunity to focus on staying current in your field, or better yet, becoming a trend spotter. Fortunately, technology has made professional development and lifelong learning fun and easy to achieve. Use the following resources to help you learn, advance and grow in 2014.

Acinet.org/certifications new – Certifications in your field

Conferencealerts.com - A worldwide list of conferences searchable by topic

Udemy.com – Free and low-cost courses

KahnAcademy.org – Free library of videos

Quora – Question and answer site replied to by a community of content experts

ITunes U – Catalog of free educational content taught by instructors from reputable schools

TED.com – 18-minute lectures on a wide variety of topics

Coursera.org – Free courses from 30+ colleges and universities

Busuu.com – Learning a foreign language

Hbr.org (Harvard Business Review) – Articles on general business from The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and New York Times

Alltop.com and Technorati.com – Lists of popular blogs

Ocw.mit.edu (Open Coursework) and Venture-lab.org (Venture Lab) – Access to learning opportunities and staffed by MIT and Stanford students

Not convinced you have the time or energy? Read the following article for additional justification on why you must proactively manage your career: 6 reasons why it's important to keep learning at work; avoid stagnation.

By using these resources, you will keep current in your field, learn new skills and become the expert employers can’t live without.