As career professionals juggle full workloads and pandemic-related challenges, a majority say cost and time are major factors driving their decisions about what type of professional development they engage in.  

This was among the results of CERIC’s 2022 Content & Learning Survey of Career Development Professionals*, which surveyed 644 people working in the career development field about their learning needs, preferences and behaviours in May 2022.  

The survey found 44% of career development professionals (CDPs) spend between 1 and 3 hours monthly on formal and informal professional development. Nearly one-third (28%) of respondents have less than $500 to spend on professional development annually (including money provided by their employer as well as personal spending), while 19% have no budget for learning.  

While the lifting of pandemic restrictions has enabled people to gather in person more easily, career professionals aren’t ready to walk away from the accessibility of online learning. The survey results show over half of CDPs plan to maintain their level of participation in virtual conferences, workshops and webinars. However, 46% plan to increase their attendance at in-person conferences over the next two years, suggesting that offering learning in a variety of formats will be key to meeting learner needs.  

Among the other findings: 

  • 51% of respondents say they would be most likely to use Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) as a source of learning, compared with micro-credentials (37%) and paid, formal courses (13%) 
  • 22% use online learning platforms such as LinkedIn Learning, Udemy and Coursera most frequently as a source of learning 
  • The top 3 issues, topics or themes CDPs want to learn about to support their work are: labour market information, counselling/coaching practices and mental health. Many also identified topics connected to equity, diversity and inclusion.  

Visit the Content & Learning Survey page for a PowerPoint with detailed results on professional development and respondent demographics, as well as an infographic highlighting key results.   

*The 2022 Content & Learning Survey of Career Development Professionals was open online from May 11-25, 2022.