Futureboard joins Guardian Careers live chat

Futureboard’s own Managing Director Katherine Travell will take part in a live chat on professional development with Guardian Careers tomorrow from 1 PM to 3 PM.

The live chat sees Katherine joining:

• Angela McShane, head of talent and resourcing at Asda;
• Steve Nicholls, career coach;
• Helen Tupper, a full-time employee, part-time entrepreneur and student;
• Ravi Soni, careers adviser for the National Careers Service;
• Dan Hawes co-founder and head of marketing at Graduate Recruitment Bureau;
• Lisa LaRue, career coach at London-based career consultancy CareerWorx.

The Q&A will take place on the comment section below the Guardian Careers article linked here. It’s very easy to take part: you can create a free Guardian account, or log in using your Twitter or Facebook profiles to comment. Alternatively, you can tweet @GuardianCareers or email your questions to Hannah Friend who can post them for you.

According to Guardian Careers: “In an increasingly competitive job market, even if you’re not planning on changing roles anytime soon, gone are the days when you could get away with being lacklustre about your continuing professional development.”

Katherine Travell says: “I’m a firm believer that employees should not rely on their employers to develop their professional skills.  A self-directed approach to learning means you are more motivated and engaged to put in the time – whether it’s completing a course that’s relevant to your job or completing meditation classes to help you manage your stress better.”

She adds: “There’s a plethora of resources available to individuals, it’s a matter of adapting the right mind-set and being prepared to take a risk.”

The live chat is designed to help you if you’re unsure about your training needs – or if you need help to go about fulfilling them. It will address issues such as:

• Setting professional development and training goals

• Talking to your employer

• How to get the training you need

• Common mistakes to avoid

Formal training helps you to keep up your employability. Whether it focuses on practical skills or on communications and people management, it’s good to keep your development continuous.

This becomes important especially if you’re re-entering the job market after a long time, or if you’re considering a career change and need to boost your CV. For example, if you’re freelance, or are thinking about going freelance, you’ll need constantly think about adding to your set of skills to stay ahead of your competitors.

If you can’t join us then, comments are open now so you can post early and catch up with the responses whenever you like by revisiting the page.

Remember, tune in tomorrow from 1 PM to 3 PM on Guardian Careers!

Picture by: chinwag