Professional development and ongoing training in any technical occupation can be beneficial, particularly if you’re a relative newcomer – and especially if that occupation is engineering. That’s one reason the biweekly training sessions at MKN are so valuable. With the company actively growing, there are going to be a lot of new employees and we believe in investing from within. We believe professional development and support are key to retaining the best and brightest employees.

Ongoing professional development has been shown to: 1 2

  1. Increase retention
  2. Build confidence and credibility
  3. Maintain knowledge and skill
  4. Reenergize the staff
  5. Improve efficiency
  6. Keep up with industry changes
  7. Enable staff to see weaknesses and skill gaps
  8. Provide an incentive to learn
  9. Attract new talent
  10. Advance employee skills

Every other week during the lunch hour, MKN staff members gather to watch and listen as various seasoned engineers tackle a specific subject matter – often remotely, through a conference call or Zoom meeting – of which the engineer has particular expertise. The finer points of subjects such as hydraulic modeling, treatment system design, pump station design, and regulatory compliance are explained in an educational manner.

In addition to the aforementioned benefits of professional development sessions, these regular training sessions really help our young engineers prepare for the Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE) exam. Widely regarded as engineering’s highest standard of competence, the PE exam is a symbol of achievement and assurance of quality within our industry. Given the time commitment for preparation, engineers certainly don’t want to have to take it more than once, so the extra support is much appreciated. Besides, it gives staff from the four different offices an opportunity to reconnect and say “hi”. If you know of any young engineers breaking into the industry, willing to work hard and eager to learn, let them know that MKN will provide a fostering and supportive environment that just may be perfect for them!

References

  1. http://www.saxonsgroup.com.au/blog/human-resources/top-10-benefits-of-ongoing-staff-training-development/
  2. https://www.kaplanfinancial.com/resources/pdc/5-benefits-of-professional-development/

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