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Earlier this year we made the strategic leap towards advancing our learning and development employee offering, by welcoming LinkedIn Learning to our career development resources.

In an era where continuous learning is paramount to career development, our colleagues across the globe have been embracing the new platform as a catalyst for career development. We caught up with Tom, Digital Manager, to find out first-hand the level of impact the LinkedIn Learning platform has already had on his career development, as he navigates the ever-evolving landscape of gaining new skills and knowledge.

What do you think of LinkedIn Learning as an addition to our QinetiQ learning and development platform?

“I think that LinkedIn Learning is a very clever investment for a company to make, as while you are investing in just one system it provides value to people all across the company in whatever role they have, or desire to move in to. The fact that I have the flexibility to either work with my manager and define a career development plan and identify courses to support that, or use it in my own time to develop a personal skill or interest is something that is really important to me. It’s also valuable that while provided by the company, it also links to my personal LinkedIn profile so I can share my development easily with my connections.”

How has your experience with the platform been so far?

“It’s easy to search and find courses, and I have also found specific tutors I like to watch and listen to. The platform is easy to browse for courses, the course interface is well designed and a feature I like is being able to take notes, which are timestamped. I also like that longer courses are split down into shorter videos and sections. I’m getting into a ten hour course so it’s great to have it broken down into small chunks so I can allocate time to it each week.”

What does the platform mean for your personal or career development?

“For me personally, I had heard the term Product Management and wondered how it related to me and my current role. I was able to use LinkedIn Learning to search for that, find multiple courses and select a shorter one to give me a comprehensive overview of what a Product Manager is and does. From that short course I could see that I am already doing elements of Product Management in my current role, and it would benefit the projects I am working on to learn more, develop new skills and understand how I can apply Product Management skills and a greater understanding of the product lifecycle.

I feel like a natural step for my role is to look at developing into a Product Manager and I’m currently working through a 10 hour course, certified by the International Institute of Business Analysis to support that.”

How will the platform enable you to reach your future career goals?

“By completing the Product Management course on LinkedIn Learning I hope to improve the delivery and approach to current projects I am working on, but also enable me to develop into a new and recognised profession and job role, providing job satisfaction as well as job and income security for me and my family.

Ultimately, I think it’s amazing to have as a free resource for our people in the company – it’s free, easy to use, you can use it professionally or you can learn for your personal enjoyment. There are so many courses and it’s so easy to use, the only thing you really need to do is allocate the time in a day and use it as an opportunity to work out what is valuable for you to learn.”

Thank you to Tom for talking to us about his future career ambitions and the various ways he is looking to expand upon his role here at QinetiQ. You can find out more about life at QinetiQ through taking a look at our employee offering here.