Your Wisest Investment: Training and Education

By Deborah Murray

In today's fast-moving business world, technology change is inevitable. One of the biggest challenges people face is keeping up with these changes. The key is to keep learning through professional training and development. Studies have shown a lack of high-quality training becomes obvious and can directly affect the balance of employees through decreased operations efficiency, lack of staff motivation, increased overtime, and other major difficulties.

Training and education is money and time well spent since it is an investment both for employers and their employees. Employees feel valued, happier, and more confident in their roles. Employers reap the benefits by improved staff morale and increased productivity.

Employees nowadays are expected to possess, maintain, and develop a multitude of skills and knowledge. This is due primarily to the consolidation of job functions since companies are continually cutting back and restructuring to stay ahead. Maintaining and developing oneself requires continual personal career developmental training.

Corporations are beginning to realize that one of the main ways to stay ahead of the competition is to maintain ongoing training for employees. The number of corporations increasing their training budgets is therefore rising.

Deciding which training course will be the most beneficial is a decision made according to the individual's needs and the benefits it will provide to the business as a whole. You should examine the offering carefully. The trainers should be experts in their field and when they are not training, they should have "real world" positions in business.

Here are some other criteria to consider when evaluating courses:

Training can be time-consuming, and it requires both motivation and dedication. It's a never-ending process but one that is personally rewarding and gratifying.

Deborah Murray is conference and seminar manager for UniForum.


UniForum Association, a well-known provider of high-quality open systems education and training is committed to providing top-notch trainers and educational programs to its members and other open systems professionals. As a result, the Association has announced its Professional Training and Development Series. Two courses will be offered in Santa Clara, Los Angeles, and Dallas, October through November 1995:

"Advanced UNIX and Internet Security," instructed by Rik Farrow, UNIX security consultant and author

"Building and Designing your Enterprise World-Wide Web Server," instructed by John Stewart, Cisco Systems, Inc., and David Kensiski, MCI

For more information, call Karen Clapes, conference administrator at (800) 255-5620, ext. 30, or e-mail: karen@uniforum.org. You can also find complete course descriptions on the Web.