We all want to grow our careers, learn new skills, keep updated on the latest trends, and increase the opportunities to advance our careers.
For HR professionals (or anyone interested in learning how to be a better people manager), a great place to start is being a member of SHRM-Atlanta.
Our Volunteer Leaders and Full-time Leaders are always challenging ourselves to enhance the value of an SHRM-Atlanta membership. Creating value helps us keep our current members and attract new members. It makes sense, doesn’t it?
Professional development is one of the biggest reasons why HR professionals come to SHRM-Atlanta. They all know that our chapter has a long history of offering various educational programs and program formats designed to help HR professionals and people managers. No matter where our members are in their HR career – early career to senior executive – they know that they can further develop their HR skills and competencies, business acumen, and leadership capacity at SHRM-Atlanta.
So what are the professional development opportunities at SHRM-Atlanta?
The most popular pathway that our members select is HR Certification. Earning and maintaining an SHRM-CP and SHRM-SCP certification is a great way to demonstrates your mastery and application of HR technical and behavioral competencies. Our chapter provides training courses and continuing education to help our members continue to be leaders in their field.
Another development opportunity for our members is attending the wide range of events and programs that the chapter provides. Our Educational Programs team works extremely hard at selecting and curating a wide range of relevant speakers and topics. Throughout the year, SHRM-Atlanta runs conferences, chapter meetings, webinars, special-interest forums, workshops, and informal gatherings, all designed to help our members advance their HR IQ.
One of the more robust and frankly under-used development opportunities that SHRM-Atlanta provides is our Online Learning Portal. There 70+ unique titles covering every strategic topic that you will need to know to be a high-performing HR leader. Subject matter experts develop the course materials to ensure relevancy and value. The courses all also offer continuing education credits.
There are also peer-to-peer learning opportunities offered by our chapter. Some examples:
- Rising Leaders – where HR leaders under 35 can gather to learn, share, and grow.
- Accomplished Leader Exchange –a forum for senior HR leaders to meet to talk about their unique opportunities and challenges.
- Mentoring Community – a fantastic matching service where senior HR leaders provide valuable career mentorship to emerging career mentees.
Much has been said about the importance of building a personal brand. An effective personal brand is when you can effectively communicate how your unique combination of skills and experiences will create value. The more robust and more differentiated the brand you have, the more career opportunities will come your way.
For HR professionals of all levels, SHRM-Atlanta offers so many different ways for you to get smarter, get connected, and get on top of what is the latest in HR. I hope that you will explore all of the programs that we have. If you have any questions, please contact me or any one of our volunteer or full-time leaders.
By: Pat Lynch, 2021 SHRM-Atlanta President
