Continuous development and learning: The foundations of a successful career

Knowledge, know-how and interpersonal skills are the three key components that define a person's professional qualities. They form the basis for a successful career and effective interactions with others. Each person builds these skills throughout his or her life, enriching them through personal, social and professional experience. This richness is unique to each individual and represents a value that can be developed and channelled.

Understanding and recognising this uniqueness helps to maximise an individual's potential, especially in a professional environment. Utilising one's skills in the workplace not only allows one to succeed, but also to become a more effective team member. For skills to bear fruit, it is important to be able to identify their strengths, enhance them and adapt them to new challenges. In this way, personal development becomes the foundation of career development and successful interaction with others.

Careers require effort and professional life is never easy. Each career path is the result of factors such as:

• Personal choices and commitments;
• Opportunities that need to be seized;
• The environment that is more or less supportive and the constraints that sometimes have to be overcome to make a fresh start.

How to build a dream career?

Making a work life perfectly harmonious and satisfying is difficult because employment is influenced by many external factors. However, the key to a successful career is to take your destiny into your own hands. It is you who are the first and main actor of your professional path. It is important to make informed decisions and be prepared to adapt to new challenges in order to move forward.

The first job after graduation usually requires skills that are relevant to the type of training you have undergone. This knowledge will form the basis for further professional development, allowing you to gradually acquire new competences. During your career, it is important to keep learning, deepen your knowledge, study related fields and improve your language skills. It is also important to keep up with opportunities to gain additional qualifications and share your experience with colleagues.

The reality of career progression is often linked to internal promotion. For example, around 50% of managers started their careers in technical or entry-level positions, gradually developing their skills and increasing their level of responsibility. This can be a step by step path, with learning new competencies, or gaining qualifications through full-time or blended learning. It's important to remember that your commitment and eagerness to learn are key factors in opening doors to career opportunities.

Useful tips for career development

Effective career management requires a conscious approach and a willingness to change. Although everyone's career is different, there are universal principles that can help you move in the right direction. Here are a few guidelines that can provide a foundation for successful career development:

• Determining your direction: The first year should allow you to establish yourself in your career and/or field of study. If you are clearly wrong in your choice of direction, try to analyse what is going wrong and change it if necessary, but be careful not to give away your skills by shadowing;
• Strengthening skills: The coming years will allow you to strengthen your skill base, the foundation of your profession;
• Curiosity: Be inquisitive, take an interest in your work environment, try to understand how others in the company or organisation work. Ask questions;
• Goal setting: Think about what you want to do and who you want to become: becoming more and more expert in your job, trying to take on more responsibilities, using your skills to change jobs (lateral development), taking on managerial responsibilities, etc;
• Impact on the family: Don't forget that some decisions also have a big impact on the family, e.g. expatriation;
• Utilisation of resources: Take advantage of your company's training and development policy and make your wishes and aspirations known, especially during individual professional development interviews;
• Ambition and Reflection: Be ‘ambitious-reflective’ and try to match your ambitions with your capabilities. Any change is a form of self-reflection that requires a lot of personal commitment and the acquisition of new skills;
• Proactivity: Seize opportunities when they arise, be proactive (sometimes they only fall once).

Conclusion: Personal and professional growth over a lifetime

Lifelong learning has become an integral part of modern professional life. Companies play a key role in this process by providing opportunities for employee development through internal and external programmes. Legislation requires a minimum annual training plan, making education available for professional development. Moreover, professional learning can be enhanced through mechanisms such as VAE (Validation of Acquired Experience), which provides additional perspectives for employees.

Companies supplement the statutory regulations with their own training policy adapted to individual and collective needs. These policies are agreed annually with the social partners to ensure that they are up to date. Organisations become places of constant exchange of knowledge and skills, where employees learn not only through programmes but also from each other. As a result, lifelong learning becomes a tool that helps to adapt to change and move forward in professional development.