As a recent college graduate, I have been exposed to many new and exciting aspects of the robotics and material handling industries. I will argue that in the past month alone I have gained more valuable work experience than in the last four years of college. Why do I say this? The main reason is due to strong and impactful training.

Over the course of the past month, I have attended three different training courses. In addition to that, I will be attending three more in the near future, and I plan on attending many supplementary sessions throughout my career. Training is very important for an employee. The value of hands-on experience when you are first starting out cannot be understated. When companies are trying to make budget cuts, many times the first thing to go is training. Fortunately, I am lucky enough to work for a company that strongly emphasizes the value of it.

Attending outside training courses and technical sessions are a great way to get hands-on experience with the products and services that your company produces and utilizes on a daily basis, and it is important to always stay current on the latest technologies. There are three simple reasons everyone should continue training throughout their career.

1. Increases job satisfaction: Training helps develop a positive organizational culture, where confident, knowledgeable, and creative employees are poised to provide superior products and services to customers.
2. Strengthens your professional development: A trained workforce helps employees to expand into new markets and seize opportunities in a highly competitive and fluid global economy.
3. Promotes personal growth: As employees develop new skills, they increase networking, represent the company out in the larger world, and develop leadership opportunities, which causes the business work environment to become infused with energy and creativity.

Conducting internal training sessions within your own organization is equally important as attending outside training sessions. This is especially important with large, multi-dimensional companies. You want to make sure that all divisions of the company are aware of each others’ capabilities so as to effectively leverage them in different sales and applications efforts.

For instance, the robotics division at Bastian recently held their annual sales training—a week full of insights into their robotic competencies as well as site visits and team-building activities. This is a great way for employees from other divisions to interact and get to know each other, all while arming themselves with important knowledge about the business. All of this helps to make the company run smoother as a whole. There is only so much that you can learn from reading a manual or watching a video. Products and technologies are constantly evolving, and it is imperative to stay educated and informed. Whether it is internal or external, the true value and experience comes from getting hands-on experience through training.

What training opportunities have helped you the most in your career?

Author: Mark Colzani