Institution news
Making CPD a ‘little-and-often’ habit can help you realise career goals.
Career Developer can help all members set goals and reflect on the benefits of their CPD steps.
Use Career Developer to:
- Develop a proactive, visionary approach to your career goals
- Reflect on the benefits of your CPD activities
- Upload documents, such as company appraisals
Our tool has been redesigned so that it’s easier to use – and members are calling it ‘a huge leap forward’.
Emma Taylor CEng MIMechE, uses Career Developer regularly.
A CPD assessor who works with IMechE members as well as engineers registered with other professional engineering institutions, she suggests the tool can be used in many ways to suit your individual development needs.
Emma encourages others to dip into the system regularly, keeping the process live and dynamic:
She said: “Most CPD recording is about as appealing as filling in a tax return or doing homework. I use Career Developer more as diary – it’s personal, written in my style, and allows me to make plans and reflect on my activities.
“It has a user-friendly interface. As soon as I log on, it shows me my goals and CPD activities, which I can set up in ways that suit me best, either grouped in a package or individually.”
Career Developer has recently been improved and piloted. It is now more flexible and user-friendly than ever. During a trial of the updated system in 2016, almost 900 members applied to have their CPD records audited. It is proving so popular that the Institution is looking to recruit more volunteer assessors to help provide feedback to members on their CPD.
The pilot was also a useful opportunity to test features, which received additional ‘fixes’ to meet concerns of users:
- Career Developer records can now: be sorted by start date of the activity or goal, not simply by date of entry
- Goals or activities created in error can be managed by the user, without having to resort to IMechE staff to intervene
- Users can link new documents to their goals and activities, as well as documents already uploaded within their vault.
The Engineering Council’s requirement on professional engineering institutions to audit a sample of their members’ CPD records is effective from January 2017 onwards. You could be asked to submit your continuing professional development (CPD) records for assessment by the Institution, which will review them and provide feedback if requested.
Emma said: “Using Career Developer strategically can enhance your career planning. For example, it can help you to adopt a proactive way of thinking that links goal-setting with a vision for your career. When you regularly reflect on your outreach or training activities, you can also see what more there is to do.”
Emma says that some people may avoid Career Developer because they think it requires long and detailed entries about their CPD, which they don’t have time to do. She advises considering a lighter approach:
“It doesn’t have to be wordy, but the process of putting a little time aside and setting your own goals can help clarify your thoughts about what you want or need to do to achieve them.”
After a pilot audit of 2300 members’ CPD records (with their permission) in the summer of 2016, members who had participated were asked to complete a survey about the improved Career Developer.
Seventy-five per cent of respondents said they were either ‘very satisfied’ or ‘satisfied’ with the new Career Developer tool.
One participant stated: “I think this is a huge leap forward in the CPD process. The system is very easy to use and a great idea.”
Another member said that recent improvements revealed a more user-friendly format:
“It was a lot easier than a previous attempt. I entered five years’ worth of CPD over a week. I had found the previous tool so unhelpful and clunky that I had started to record elsewhere. However, I thought I should give it a go again and found it a lot better.”
Log on to Career Developer to support your goals and CPD activities.