The Verve’s Jenny Smyth looks at ways paraplanner can continue training without it taking huge chunks out of their day.
At the beginning of the year, you’ll have been inundated with images of glamorous people persuading you that it’s time to get your training gear on and tone up for 2023 – luckily this is not that type of article (and I am eating snacks as I type).
Rather, it’s time to tone up your training regime at work. What better time to look back at what you’ve been doing over the past few months and deciding what worked for you and what hasn’t and possibly identify any gaps that might need action in 2023.
As a paraplanner, it can be very easy to get stuck in the day-to-day work and not have time to think about further development, outside of exams. You are already so busy, when is there the possibility to fit in extra training? Depending on how you like to learn, there are a variety of things you can do to keep your knowledge up to date:
- Listen to financial podcasts – even if it’s only for 5 minutes while you are making a cup of tea or for 30 minutes while you are out running, you can pick up tips, new ideas and learn about different products all while you are doing something else. This works best for auditory learners.
- Try bite-sized online content – if it’s online, you can dip in and out whenever you have a spare five minutes. Ranging from R0 exam revision, the nitty gritty of taxes and trusts, or an in-depth look into regulation, you can choose what you need and when, even fitting it in in the middle of the night if you are a night owl! This works best for visual learners.
- Learning on the job – this may be an obvious one, but if you have the opportunity to listen to others in your team, even to those in different roles, you will hear a range of opinions, knowledge and styles. Listening to others can inform your own practice – you may hear some great ways to improve (or ways that you shouldn’t touch with a bargepole…). This works best for tactile learners.
Finding out what your preferred learning style is will help you when it comes to career development, especially when you may wish to specialise in a specific topic. Each person doesn’t necessarily fit entirely into one type, you could prefer visual but still have tactile leanings, or you could like auditory when you are out and about but prefer visual learning in the office. As long as you find what works for you and can have time to fit it into your day, there are many options out there to help you develop.
The Art of Finance has a variety of different training options that can be used at any time. You can browse all the different modules available here.
