In Pursuit of Profession: The best career investments to make now – Part 1

It’s February, 2016. So far this year, the stock market’s in the tank and the presidential campaigns seem more like a high school popularity contest than a race to elect the most qualified person to run our country. What’s worse is that you’ve already blown your New Year’s resolution to shed a few pounds with the impromptu wing eating contest at your neighborhood Super Bowl party.

But fear not; 2016 isn’t lost just yet. It’s still a babe in swaddling clothes that we can nurture and support in the areas of our life that we can truly affect. We can’t control the stock market; there’s nothing we can do about the hijinks on the campaign trail. But there are investments we can make now, in 2016, that will ensure that our professional lives stay on track, no matter what job we have in the future.

THE FIRST TWO OF THE TOP FIVE

Steve Peglar, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, is senior vice president of The WhitneySmith Company, a full-service human resources consulting firm in Fort Worth, and our “go-to guru” for everything HR. I talked with him about what I considered to be the top five career investments to make. While Peglar provided some critical insight on each one below, he also boiled it all down to one directive: continual self-improvement. And it is under that directive where these five investments show just how they offer fantastic returns:

More education – “I believe that it is absolutely critical to invest in becoming more educated in your field, regardless of what that field is. The working world has probably never been so fast-paced as today, not just with technology but also with new ways of operating and ‘best practices’ within just about every career area. Exactly what type of investment you make in furthering your skills and increasing your credentials will depend on your particular field. Some employers may put a high value on, or even require, a particular certification. For example, holding the CPA (Certified Professional Accountant) designation in the accounting field, or the PE (Professional Engineer) designation in the engineering field, may be a tremendous edge for you in your job search, or may even be required in order to be considered for certain positions.

“Certain other designations in a variety of other fields are becoming more and more critical to hold. For instance, in my chosen field – human resources – these designations exist, and have even been expanded in scope recently, and are being highly sought after in HR candidates.

“As with certifications, advanced degrees may be very advantageous to hold, and may even be required by many employers, depending on the field and position. Individuals who may seek advanced degrees, however, must of course carefully evaluate the potentially high costs of pursuing and earning the degree, and even the ‘opportunity costs’ associated with time lost on a career path that is instead spent in pursuit of that additional education. Still, the effort expended in this pursuit may indeed pay off and is definitely worth the risk. It all depends on the situation, career field, and career path plan of the individual seeking to invest in more education.”

Be a better speaker/negotiator – “Communication skills are critical. As humans, all we ever do is communicate! Improving communication skills, and especially public speaking skills, is a benefit to anyone who makes the effort, regardless of their chosen career field. Still, it’s worth the effort to improve here.

“One-on-one communication, which is much more likely to occur to the average employee or job seeker (think interviews!) is another critical target of self-improvement. Practice interviews, for example, can provide some highly effective training in this regard, when job seekers take the time to engage in them.

“Beyond verbal communication training as described above, I always advise others to improve their ability to use, and to read in others, NON-verbal communication – specifically, body language and vocal tonality. Considering that science has proven that the vast majority of the ways in which humans communicate is non-verbal, then it should be obvious that mastering non-verbal communication skills would be highly beneficial…..for job seekers, employees….everyone!

“I also advise others to make it a priority to improve their own listening skills. Excellent listening skills and “active listening” takes practice, conscious focus, and intent, but success in this area is almost assured to pay huge dividends, regardless of career field. There are many excellent books and other resources available that can assist someone in becoming more educated, skilled, and aware of these critical aspects of communication. Also, Toastmasters International is a well-known non-profit organization that can help an individual improve their public speaking skills.

“Negotiation skills are also highly valuable, whether employed during the job search process, or elsewhere on the job…..and not just in a sales situation. Negotiation is an art, although science can offer additional observations and explanations as to why we succeed or fail in our efforts to negotiate. As with the other topics of body language, nonverbal communication and listening skills, there are many great books and other resources available that can assist those who want to be better negotiators.”

Next week, we cover the last three of the top five.

This story was originally published February 14, 2016 at 6:37 AM with the headline "In Pursuit of Profession: The best career investments to make now – Part 1."