Over the past four weeks, we’ve sat down with each of our course leaders to talk through what they teach and who it’s for.
For our final instalment of Course Theme Spotlight, we spoke to Sarah Allen, Technical Career Pathways Lead, about the Careers and Professional Development theme.
About the course leader:
I’m Sarah Allen, a technical careers specialist and learning and development professional. My background is in careers, and what I do is help technical staff think about their career and understand what’s important to them about work.
The courses I lead cover two things, taking a proper look at where your career is going, and building the communication skills you need to get there. Both come back to the same question, how do you move forward in a way that works for you?
Why is Careers and Personal Development important for technicians?
Technicians often feel there isn’t a visible career pathway, and that their options are more limited than they really are. Without space to step back and look properly, it’s hard to see what else might be possible.
Alongside that, technical staff work with a huge range of stakeholders. Effective communication is vital to the job, but the harder parts, difficult conversations, presenting, influencing, are usually the ones people have had least support with.
Both aspects of self development are worth investing time in, and both are easier to tackle through training.
What will you gain from this course?
You’ll come away with a clearer sense of what’s important to you at work, and a broader view of the career opportunities open to you. You’ll receive practical support for applications and interviews, and be able to build a plan you’ll actually follow.
With our Effective Communication Skills for Technicians course you’ll look at the different types of communication you use day to day, and how to practise and get more out of conversations.
Why Careers and Personal Development is right for you?
These courses work at any stage of your career, early, mid or late. They’re for you if you’re at a crossroads and unsure what comes next, or if you’ve applied for roles without success and need help communicating what you’ve got to offer.
They’re also for you if you want to build confidence in your conversations and working relationships, whether you’re speaking to students, colleagues, academics or senior leaders.
