The power of lifelong learning: How continuous education can boost your career
Posted on: December 13, 2024by Ben Nancholas
If you’re hoping to boost your career by progressing up the ladder to a more senior position, committing to lifelong learning and going back to education can help you in your quest.
Continuous education can help to boost your skills and knowledge, while signalling to employers that you’re ambitious and self-motivated. These are attributes many recruiting managers look for when hiring for new roles.
In this blog, we’ll outline what lifelong learning is, how it can keep you relevant in the modern job market, and the best strategies for integrating lifelong learning into your career development plan.
What is lifelong learning?
Lifelong learning is the ongoing pursuit of learning on a voluntary and self-motivated basis. It can be for either personal or professional reasons, though when it comes to expanding your skill set, it can undoubtedly benefit both.
Continuous learning is also used interchangeably with this term, though its meaning differs. Continuous learning is the ongoing process of acquiring new skills and knowledge in a particular area or field and is often associated with professional development.
How can lifelong learning keep you relevant in a changing job market?
Being a lifelong learner sparks a curiosity in new knowledge, skills, and ideas which can help you in the modern, competitive job market. Below, we discuss some of the benefits and the importance of lifelong learning.
Staying up-to-date with latest trends and development
If you’re constantly seeking out new ideas and learning about them, it enables you to stay up-to-date with the latest trends. This may not always be specific to your job role, but the knowledge could help you in your career and open new career opportunities.
For example, understanding new and emerging technology like artificial intelligence (AI) may give you the advantage of being able to see where AI may help or hinder your industry. Keeping up-to-date with recent news may also help you to more deeply understand your target market.
You can also commit to staying on top of industry trends in your own time, becoming a trailblazer in your chosen field.
Adapting to change
By always learning, you’re always open to new ideas. This is particularly useful in the ever-changing modern world of work, where processes are being updated and improved at rapid pace due to technological advancements.
Being open-minded and able to understand things from many different sides will make you adaptable. Adaptability is a highly sought-after characteristic amongst employers, as they want to know their workforce will be able to change and grow with them seamlessly.
Growing personally and professionally
Learning new things can be a source of joy and satisfaction in your own life. If you decide to commit to learning a new skill, you’ll feel a great sense of achievement at every milestone and will achieve personal growth.
Applying yourself to something and continuing to learn will help you professionally. You’ll learn resilience and patience as a skill improves, both of which are valuable assets.
Increasing knowledge and skills
When you decide to learn something new, you’re also deciding to expand your knowledge and skills. If you’re productive and seek training opportunities, you’ll increase your abilities.
You may opt to develop hard skills relating to your current role, either through continuous education or a coaching or mentorship programme. Many skills developed outside of your field of expertise may also improve your soft skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving, decision making and communication skills. All of these are beneficial to your career and will look good on your CV or LinkedIn profile.
Advancing your career
There are two main ways in which lifelong learning can help to advance your career growth. Firstly, you may enrol on a course which gives you a more in-depth knowledge of your industry, enabling you to develop skills for the next level of your career.
Secondly, committing yourself to learning a new skill is seen as a positive thing by employers. Showing that you’re self-motivated enough to take the time to learn something new outside of work indicates that you’re able to grow and develop in your career.
Networking and connecting with other professionals
If you choose to commit time to learning more within your chosen specialism, there are many networking opportunities likely to be available to you.
Meeting other professionals in your field will have a huge benefit. You’ll get to hear and understand other people’s viewpoints and will have people to discuss your own experience with or to talk through problems with. Having a professional network will also expand your opportunities when you’re job seeking for your next role, too.
Diversifying your knowledge
When you experiment with your learning and diversify into different areas currently unknown to you, you’re able to gain new perspectives.
Opening your mind in this way enables you to be more creative, think bigger, and innovate better.
The best strategies for integrating lifelong learning into your career development plan
Incorporating lifelong learning into your life may seem like a challenge, particularly when you’re busy and have other commitments to work around. Here are some strategies on how to commit to it effectively.
Find the best courses and resources for you
There are many different ways to absorb new skills and knowledge. There are online courses and certifications for a range of specialisms, or perhaps you could sign up to some webinars or seminars if you’re not ready to take the leap to committing to formal education. There may be podcasts relating to your interests which you could listen to on your commute, or an industry magazine you could subscribe to.
Many employers have training programme offerings in-house. Speak to your manager to see what you have available to you. Some companies allow time for their employees during the work day to learn new competencies and upskill, so see if this is also an option.
Set realistic goals
When you start learning a new skill or developing new knowledge, it’s important that your learning goals are realistic, otherwise you’re unlikely to stick to them.
Assess how much time you can spare a week for the learning opportunities available to you, see which ones will fit in with your current lifestyle, decide how you want to learn — whether through independent study or joining a group, and filter courses based on this.
Manage your time efficiently
If you do decide to commit to lifelong learning, you must ensure you’ve carved time out of your weeks and set it aside to dedicate to your learning journey.
By ring fencing specific times for learning, you’re more able to prioritise your learning and see it as important enough to stick to. Time management is a useful skill to have, and working on it while you undergo self-directed learning will give you an advantage when seeking new opportunities.
Apply your learning in the real-world
When learning new skills, see how you can apply them to your current role. Developing your knowledge is good, but it’s best to be able to say you’ve transferred the theory into practice.
See if your manager is able to help you by giving you a certain project to work on relating to what you’re learning. Volunteering is also a good way to put new skills into practice, so see what opportunities are available in your local area.
Commit to ongoing learning for professional growth and personal fulfilment
There are many benefits of lifelong learning at all stages of your professional life. Whether you’re happy in your chosen career path but are seeking skill development for career advancement, or if you’re hoping to launch a new career in a different field, continuous education can help.
We offer a range of part-time and online courses, all taught flexibly so you can gain in-depth skills and knowledge around your current commitments.
Take your commitment to learning to the next level. Choose your degree:
MBA degrees:
- International MBA
- MBA with Project Management
- MBA with Healthcare Management
- MBA with Supply Chain Management
- MBA with Hospitality Management
Computer Science master’s:
- MSc Computer Science
- MSc Computer Science with Data Science
- MSc Computer Science with Cyber Security
MDES Design
- MDES Design
- MDES Design with Fashion Design
- MDES Design with Graphic Design
- MDES Design with Animation
Management master’s:
LLM degrees:
Blended nursing degrees:
Nursing degrees:
