Individuals Need to Take Hands-On Role | Workforce Magazine

In Workforce Magazine, author Andie Burjek speaks with Pepperdine Graziadio Practitioner Faculty of Organizational Theory and Management and Academic Director of the MS in Human Resources program Mark Allen about the importance of learning for one's career. Dr. Allen discusses how ongoing learning can help professionals stay viable to companies even as their roles phase out due to technology.

Dr. Allen illustrates how skills can be acquired even as you work. Degree programs, online courses, corporate universities, and videos are all available to those who want to expand and sharpen skills on a wide variety of timelines and budgets: "The ability to learn separates people, no matter how good of a degree you have from how fine of an institution." To address both employee and employer responsibilities on the matter, Burjek's article subdivides into three sections: Competing With Change; Retaining Through Training; and Professional Development in Nonprofessional Settings