ALIA career development kit

The ALIA career development kit is free to all personal and institutional members of ALIA. Read on for an outline. The revised full text of the kit is now available online for ALIA members to download and print. For more information please contact ALIA National Office, ph 02 6215 8258, pd@alia.org.au.nospam (please remove '.nospam' from address). Feedback on the Career development kit is also welcome.

Introduction

The primary objective of a professional development plan is to maintain, improve and broaden the knowledge and skills needed for professional life. The ALIA career development kit is designed to assist you to build your acquisition of professional knowledge. The kit is designed to help you:

• analyse your professional development needs;
• set objectives for meeting those needs;
• gain input to your development from line managers, colleagues, mentors and training professionals;
• build and maintain a comprehensive record of your knowledge, skills and experience; and
• determine professional development priorities for the future.

While the Kit can be successfully completed independently, you are encouraged to seek the assistance of a partner or mentor, or participate in a facilitated group activity such as a workshop or seminar.

Planning your career development may take several hours - a significant but worthwhile investment in your future.

We hope the Kit is useful to both you and your employer, as you plan your performance improvements in your present job and identify opportunities for growth in your personal and professional life.

Structure of the Kit

The Kit contains a downloadable workbook, three work sheets and the skills audit*. The workbook guides you through exercises that will help you to consider:

• your primary goals and any barriers or constraints to achieving these goals;
• the skills you will need in order to achieve your goals and overcome barriers to success;
• the level of skills you want to achieve and the priority of these as short-, medium- or long-term objectives;
• the types of professional development (PD) activities available to achieve your goals;
• the role of workplace learning in developing these skills further;
• planning and recording PD activities;
• building a learning portfolio; and
• re-evaluating PD.

You will need to keep the kit's work sheets close at hand as you work through these exercises.

* the skills audit has been developed by Alison Edwards AALIA(CP)

ALIA professional development (PD) scheme

The ALIA PD scheme is a sub-category of membership which enables ALIA associate and technician members to formally record, and be acknowledged for and reflect on, their participation in PD activities.

Need more information?

Contact the ALIA Professional Development and Careers Manager (pd@alia.org.au.nospam), phone 02 6215 8216 or fax 02 282 2249