Many employers will ask a job interview question to help better understand the job applicants’ motivation to develop professional skills. A candidate that can clearly communicate how they are a lifelong leaner, and how they have attended regular professional development opportunities to improve industry-related skills and knowledge, is likely to score high on a ‘continuous professional development’ interview question.
This article will help a job interviewee prepare for the job interview question: ‘Can you give an example of working towards your (CPD) continuous professional development?’
Professional development plan
Career professionals have a clear career goal and a professional development plan. Continuous professional development, is the ongoing process of gaining the required skills to keep up to date with changes happening within the job sector. As technology, artificial intelligence, robotics, customer demand, and global politics, continue to change the job market, today’s employee needs to continue their development to be seen as highly employable.
Employers understand the importance of recruiting staff that have a passion for the sector and are motivated to attend training, to gain new skill sets, and become more knowledgeably about their industry. For this reason, the interview question: ‘tell me about any recent continuous professional development opportunities you have attend?’ is a commonly asked job interview question.
The interviewee needs to answer the question by discussing relevant information. Talking about public speaking or art for a role where these skills aren’t required won’t meet the job criteria on the recruitment panel’s interview scorecard. When hiring a new employee an organisation needs to ensure fairness, research has found that a structured job interview – asking each applicant the same interview questions and scoring each interview answer against the criteria on the interview scorecard, results in the most appropriate hire.
To gain a high-scoring job interview answer, the job candidate can use the job advert, role description, and their own industry knowledge to create a list of the job duties, required skills, qualities, and knowledge required to be successful in the advertised position. The insight of the job role allows an applicant to tailor their job interview answer to meet the essential skills and requirements the employer has associated to the job position.
In addition to meeting the essential job criteria, each job interview answers must be communicated confidently in a self-promoting way. Within a job interview downplaying a skill set or knowledge rarely pays off, as research has shown how self-promoting interviewees are much more likely to gain job offers.
Returning to the professional development plan, the plan should list the required skills needed for a certain job role and how they can be gained. In some cases, the plan will include industry qualifications, sector-related skills, and personal qualities. Each required skill should have an achievement deadline date, and a milestone. For ease, most career professionals will embed course links into the plan, and or add, application deadline dates.
For sector knowledge, the development plan may list useful industry magazines, blogs, or books. These articles may possess relevant information that can be used to showcase industry professionalism.
Answering the job interview question: ‘what is your professional development plan for the next 12 months?’
The interview will, in most cases, take under one hour to complete. A panel of three senior employees will be seated on the interview panel, with each panel member asking two to three interview questions. The interview question ‘what is your professional development plan?’ is generally asked in the later stages of the interview.
A lack of a development plan, especially in fast-paced job sectors, can be viewed as a red flag. Applicants who mumble something about ‘wanting’ to develop skills are seen as having an ‘insincere’ interview identity.
Whereas a charismatic interview identity will confidently deliver a detailed answer that highlights their interest in the job role, their enthusiasm for the sector, and their plan for developing relevant skills and knowledge.
How to answer professional development plan interview questions
Start with a confirmation statement that highlights a passion for professional development:
‘Yes I have a professional development plan that I have been working towards for the past 12 months with the aim of gaining X (sector knowledge/skill)…’
The second line of the interview answer needs to give more specific information by discussing the development plan, and detailing actions taken:
‘To achieve this development goal, I have started a course in (course name) where I have learned (industry-related knowledge) and to date, I have successfully passed (unit/qualification). X months a go I also attend a (short training course) to improve my knowledge in (sector-related knowledge) and I am currently working on (detail current development opportunity….’
Follow the past and current professional development opportunities with future actions:
‘My CPD actions for the next 12 months include (give course date, desired outcome, and duration)…’
End with a summary:
‘To summarise, I have passionate about professional development as I believe that having up-to-date industry-related knowledge will help me improve my performance in work.’
All job interview questions, especially the interview question around continuous professional development, must be answered in detail, by positively communicating (selling yourself) specific information.
