CRITICAL NEED

At a recent conference for Chief Learning Officers (Fall, 2005), the theme centered on skills that workers bring to the job and the training needed for proficiency in those jobs. The conclusion brought to light is the skills "gap" that employers are seeing today and how to address that need. There is a critical need of the American workforce to update their skills to remain competitive in the face of advancing technology, increased globalization and an aging workforce.

While many in the workforce already have a BS or BA degree, the speed of change in the job environment requires you as an employee to constantly update your skill sets to be attractive to employers. The expectation of hiring managers is that you will come to the job with up to date skills.

CHALLENGE

Moving from formal, organized education that is structured with a clear path, to an individual path for updating skills and knowledge is daunting for many individuals. Many do not even know where to begin. You may have several compelling reasons to seek a path for skills development. You may be satisfied in your current career and want to move up a particular career path. You may be between careers and want to leverage skills you already have to enter a new career. Or you may want to take a completely different career path and need new skills. This plan, to be consistent with the concept of life-long learning, needs to be a process that is supported by an underlying framework. The framework that you use will be dependent on what you have available to you. You may have resources available through your place of employment. If none is available, a robust, easy to use model has been developed by IBM's Learning Solutions Group (see figure 1). This model is referred to as Learner Empowerment and can help direct you in the first step to enhance or change your career.

OPPORTUNITY

Using this model, it becomes apparent that you must be the driving force behind your personal learning and skills upgrade. The only way to stay current is by self-managing your learning. Reaching out to resources readily available to you (through your current position) is the first step. To supplement these resources, reaching out to Continuing Education at a college or university is another good choice. The Continuing and Professional Studies division of Baruch College is a resource you can utilize to help you in this process. We are here to help-look through our current course offerings and call us to help you develop a simple five-step process for lifelong learning that will yield a successful and fulfilling career!

Best regards,
Peter McAliney

Acting Academic Director