COO’s Corner: Take Control of Your Career with Continued Education
September 10, 2019
Recent studies have shown that growth opportunities, including continued education, are a top priority for today’s workforce – especially for millennials. In fact, one study found that 87% of millennials rate “professional or career growth and development opportunities” as important to them in a job, as opposed to the 69% of non-millennials who answered the same.
Continued education and professional development is a must, and at All Points, we take the two very seriously to ensure our team feels fulfilled in the workplace, both personally and professionally. In the spirit of back-to-school season, I’d like to take a moment to discuss one of the ways in which we promote continued education: monthly seminars.
Every month, someone from the All Points team presents to the office during seminar, speaking on a variety of current topics such as social media trends, relationship building with reporters and refining communication skills. This year alone we’ve covered many verticals, from best practices of pitching the media to executing creative and integrated campaigns. Plus, seminar is also a great time to gather for learning opportunities from professionals outside of the office. In March, we enjoyed the chance to dive into the digital trends of 2019 and beyond with a representative and sales leader from Google.
One of the reasons our seminars are such a huge hit is due to the diverse backgrounds and experiences each team member brings to the table. However, the beauty of seminar also lies in the planning process itself. With the guidance of Senior Director Bailey Hewitt, individuals or groups prepare slides, handouts and interactive exercises before their assigned seminar date. In order to finalize each presentation, Bailey will meet with the presenters to go through a test-run. The thorough, active planning and the delivery of the seminar really drive home the key takeaways for each presenter as they work to further develop their craft and share their findings with the office. After all, the best way to learn is to teach!
At All Points, employees come to find very quickly why we do seminar, and how these opportunities allow us to dive deeper into our careers by incorporating a variety of perspectives into our everyday lives. I believe we’ve all found that our seminars provide a nice change of pace every month to learn new information, teach relevant topics and reflect on how what we’ve learned can be applied to multiple facets of our lives, not just the workplace.
I look forward to what is yet to come in 2019 during our monthly seminars, and what the team will do next with these continued learnings.
Lauren Izaks is the COO and executive vice president of All Points Public Relations, a franchise-focused PR agency based in the Chicagoland area, www.allpointspr.com.
