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What training have you had this year and who initiated it?

Do Tell...

Andrea

A day long desktop publishing course.  

The need arose as a result of my last year's appraisal.  Our Courses Officer left, and the admin side of her work fell to me.  This included designing leaflets for our two main theological courses.  As I knew zippo about DTP, the boss agreed for me to go on a course, which was great fun and beneficial.  I've used my new skill not only in the course of my own work, but also designed a brochure for some awards that my SO is involved in (we're not in the same field of work), which seemed to go down well.  Hoping to go to the advanced course next year.

This year I have completed the remaining 2 disciplines of the MOS course and I am now a certified MOS Master.

I inititated this to add to the 3 disciplines I achieved in 2002/03.  My company agreed to pay for the exams as it was in both of our interests that I achieved this qualification.

G

None.  I was supposed to have training on our accounting system but they can't get it together.  I was also supposed to do the Exec PA course and a copy editor course but since my boss is now gone I'll have to start all over begging a new boss to sponsor me.



They still haven't figured out a way to your email to my brain, use the CC field!

With my present boss I have initiated all training that I wanted to do and as long as I have a reasonable reason and can show the results afterwards he is very happy.  

If I feel I need training in a specific area I will discuss it with him and the company has contract with a training company so there are usually a number of them going on to chose from.  And I believe in taking all the training I can get, within reason.

I attended a Skillpath training course on Managing Multiple Projects, Objectives and Deadlines in February.  Most of my work involves juggling a variety of company projects, all with overlapping deadlines, so this was pretty useful.  It also covered things like time and stress management, dealing with difficult people, and building effective workplace relationships.

I initiated it and my boss was very supportive.  

This year I enrolled in a program at work called Civilian Leadership Development.  It is the "umbrella" that covers several shorter courses that are supposed to help us (me) develop certain core competencies.  It covers things such as:  Oral Communication, Written Communication, Problem Solving, Interpersonal/Team Skills, Self-Direction, Quality Principles, Core Values, Customer Orientation, Flexibility/Stress Management, Decisiveness, Technical Competence, Diversity Awareness, and High Impact Leadership.

Some of the classes were as short as 2 hours and were combined with other short classes to make up a full day.  The longest are 3 days long.  

The whole program is 130 hours long.  I've completed 90 hours of it.  

Other" training" I received this year was while I was at the National Training Program sponsored by the Federally Employed Women.  I took seminars on Effective Telephone Shills, Identity Theft (what to do if you are a victim and how to protect yourself), and a team-working seminar called Pins and Straws.  In addition, I attended my agency forum to stay informed on changes and trends in the agency (Dept of Defense).  I also enjoyed networking with other Federally Employed Women and I'm looking forward to next year's conference in Reno, NV.

JusPeachy

Oh, I'm excited because I can contribute to this.  Being self employed, I am 99.9% self taught with everything I use and those training courses that I've gone on, (free!) have been worse than useless.

Anyway, yes, I have had training in the past year - in the past month actually.  We had an intensive half day fire safety training at the Fire Training Centre in Edinburgh prior to our move to the new parliament building.  The building's quite complex so it was a mandatory thing - they initiated it - and I got to use and learn how to for the first time(!) a fire extinguisher!  Learnt a lot, hope most of it never has to be put into practice though.

Jackie, Peer Moderator
www.iqps.org

I received training on our accounting software when I was told I would be taking over the duties of a lady they were letting go.  They knew how little she had actually taught me on what she did and that I would need someone to at least show me how to enter basic info.  I've taught myself a lot and the powers that be around here know it.  But they also knew that I would learn faster with real trainer and it would make a smoother transition.  The training was initiated by our Exec VP.



Michelle

I just got back from a 2-1/2 day training on Administrative Investigative Boards, which was needed very badly.  My boss initiated the training, seconded by my co-worker (who is also senior to me), and which the facility paid for.  I'm very happy to have been allowed to go and have learned a lot that I'm hoping to be able to share with folks locally.

Other training has all been initiated by the company, to include our normal annual refresher training done via computerized courses.  Not much of any substance, but mandatory.  As we are required to have 40 hours of training each year, you'd think that we'd get opportunities to go to worthwhile training, but that isn't the case normally.  That is why I was pleasantly surprised and ecstatic to get to go to that AIB training.

CountriGal
Peer Moderator

I make continuing education a priority. As a result, I make professional development goals annually which are personal goals I set for myself. These may or may not correspond with the goals my employer and I set for myself during my performance review.

This year I have done the following:

Participated in a leadership development program (modeled after about 7 different management books) which my company developed in cooperation with a local college. This has involved monthly meetings over a ten month period. My company "volunteered" me for this.

My company offers regular safety training classes, which I attend. This year we have had sessions on Electrical Safety, Fire Extinguisher Training, Mold, and BioMechanical Engineering.

Attended Coaching, Teambuilding, Mentoring Class through Rockhurst University (love that 25% discount that IAAP gets for my whole company!)

Attended the IAAP International Convention and Education Forum (where I taught two classes and attended several).

Planning to attend a Technology Tune-Up Workshop in October.

Planning to attend (and conduct a seminar at) an Executive Assistant Summit in November.

Attend monthly IAAP Chapter meetings, which include educational programs (we started a new chapter here in April). I am the program chair for the 2004-2005 year, so if I don't like the program lineup, it would be my own fault! However, we have arranged for 9 out of a possible 10 recertification points for attendees of our programs, so I know these are all solidly educational.

It was on my list to take the MOS 2003 certification exams, but as Microsoft has been so slow to release them I haven't gotten that done yet. I am MOS Certified at the Master Level in earlier versions.

I achieved my Competent Toastmaster designation in May of this year. I am working towards the Advanced Toastmaster - Bronze now. I figure Public Speaking Skills will be asset no matter what my career or position.

Another thing I do to keep my education current is write articles, as this forces me to do research and strengthens my organization skills. My goal is to have an article published on an annual basis or every other year. I can write the article, but that doesn't guarantee a magazine will accept it for publication, so I have only limited control in this area. I had an article published in the May 2004 issue of OfficePro magazine, so this year's goal was accomplished.

Finally, something I do to keep my skills current is teach classes, as my students keep me on my toes. I teach an average of 1-2 classes a month through my local park district, my workplace, as well as the general public and associations/organizations. I also tutor students privately.

All of these actions contribute to my training and development.

Marie

I haven't received any formal training this year.....or indeed since about 1997! lol!  (I have only worked as a PA for the last 2 years but also did not have any formal training in the IT department I worked in here previously).

I was keen to learn more about Access so I bought myself the SAMS 'Teach Yourself in 10 Minutes'.  It did take longer than 10 minutes but it was very good!  And I also got some great support from G and others here in the forum to enable me to set up a very useful invoice database.

I have picked up a few pointers on Powerpoint in the last week as for some reason I offered to do the main presentation for our recent holiday exhibition, but had never used Powerpoint before (only to view email jokes and the like!).  I often find the best way for me to learn is to make a few mistakes, and ask for tips as and where I can, both in my office and here of course!

I do appreciate the full value of proper training though.  When I first started working for my company, I was working selling flights to travel agents.  My company was a lot more affluent then and sent me on a week's training course in London to learn the airline reservation system.  It was a brilliant course and I came away with so much confidence and was able to bring a lot of knowledge back to the office.  

I get a lot of post about the Skillpath courses and have always fancied doing one of those.  I would also like to do the MOS courses and have my book ready for when bossie agrees to it!   I would also like to do some more training in travel and tourism.  Whilst not related directly to my job, it's the industry that I work in so I'm pretty interested in it!

All the best,
Nicola.

My supervisor and I attended a 2 day course on beginning QuarkXpress a month ago. She wants me to help in layouts of brochures and postcards we mail out to our policyholders.

It's a great coincidence since one of the classes I am taking this semester we work with QuarkXpress. This is more of a page layout software; you don't actually create graphics with QuarkXpress.

semaxwell1

I organise the training for everyone in the company as part of my role of being the MD's PA.  Earlier this year I began to realise how much marketing/PR was involved in my position and I have previously had very little experience in this area.  I found a correspondence course, Copywriting Diploma, that I wished to do and approached my MD who said I could go ahead and do it and the company would fund it.

I have also recently purchased MOUS books - that is my next project, but not until I finish the Copywriting diploma I am doing at present.

Coz

I just started taking some training classes. I was going to go to the local school and take some Microsoft Office classes, but I found some classes/tutorials online that I thought I'd try.  My company would only pay $100 towards classes of any kind, whether classroom or online. I checked out what I could find on the web and decided to go with Learn2.com.  Has anyone taken courses from them before? Their courses are approved for the Microsoft MOS program, which is my goal. Anyways, it's a start and I can "study" at lunch if I want to.

Kjorg - I haven't done those courses specifically but I started out at a night class and passed 3 MOS exams.  For the last 2 I studied myself at work when I wasn't busy and also at lunchtimes.  I have just completed these and received the MOS Master cert.

I wish you all the best with your studies.  If you need any help, DD is the forum to ask.

G