Halloween is right around the corner and this is the time of year many of you will be working hard to complete your IDP for FY15. But this is also an opportunity to take stock of where you are in your career and whether or not you’re gaining the experience, expertise and insight you need. Halloween is about transformation (temporarily we know) but just like you would pick a costume that fits you well, your career should match your skills, interests and goals.
Here are some tips to help you through the IDP process:
- Think about where you want to be in a few years and come up with training and professional development ideas that will help you get to that point.
- Identify those skills that you still need to work on and come up with training opportunities to help you strengthen those areas.
- Not sure what you need to get your dream job? Talk to people that are doing what you want to be doing or that are in a leadership role (if that’s where you want to be) and ask them what are the top 3 skills you need to be working on and what kind of experience you need to gain.
- Once you’ve determined the skills and experience you want to gain check out the variety of Open Opportunities professional development projects and tasks that will allow you to gain those skills. It might also make you feel good about the path you’ve set yourself on.
Here are a few “spooky” opportunities feds are currently participating in:
- Updating the mobile code sharing catalog
- Capturing metadata to improve the results searchers on USA.gov see
- Leading a group to tasked with updating Section 508 accessibility content on DigitalGov
- Leading a project to create content models, and more.
So this Halloween, don’t be afraid to knock on the Open Opportunities door and while you’re at it don’t forget to send us a picture with your costume!
* Participants must be federal employees, clear their participation with their boss, and leave any questions or comments at the bottom of each opportunity.
This was a fun post…lots of good tips. Especially liked: “Identify those skills that you still need to work on and come up with training opportunities to help you strengthen those areas.” But I think too often we think traditionally about how to get skills – it might not be having to take a class or formal learning — could be something as simple as getting coffee with a coworker, finding a mentor, or thinking super creative on how to get skills, maybe something like an improv/cooking class. And the big thing that I have found is once you take on those training opportunities, immediately work with your boss to find opportunities to put them into action. Thanks for sharing!
That’s the cool thing about participating in Open Opportunities, your are using what you are learning at the same time!
Great program!