Getting Your Money's Worth from Training and Development

Effective Training & Development is essential if you are to continuously get the best from your people and extend the knowledge shelf-life of your company. This module explores the vast array of options available to the HR function including on-the-job learning, formal management education, coaching and mentoring. Cost-effectiveness and measurable payback are also dealt with as cornerstones of any training and development activity.

Develop and deliver a robust employee training and development program Training and Development For Dummies gives you the tools you need to develop a strong and effective training and development program. Covering the latest in talent development, this informative guide addresses classroom, virtual, and blended learning to open up your options and help you design the program that's right for your company. You'll explore the different modes of formal learning, including social learning, m-learning, and MOOCs, and delve into the benefits and implementation of self-directed and informal learning. The discussion covers mentoring and coaching, rotational and stretch assignments, and how to align talent development with the company's needs. You'll learn how to assess employee skills, design and deliver training, and evaluate each step of the process to achieve the goals of both the employee and the organization. Most employees have some weaknesses in their skill sets. A robust training program allows you to strengthen those skills, and a development program brings all employees up to the highest possible level of productivity and success. This book helps you create consistency in your company by developing and delivering the exact training and development program your people need. Develop a strong training and development program Foster a supportive and innovative work environment Learn about social learning, m-learning, and MOOCs Assess and evaluate your staff more effectively A great training and development program boosts performance, productivity, job satisfaction, and quality of services, while reducing costs and supervision. Investing in your employees gives an excellent ROI, as talent development is a primary driver behind both motivation and loyalty. Training and Development For Dummies shows you how to reap these benefits, with step by step guidance and essential expert insight.

Podcasting 101 for Training and Development Podcasting can help you revolutionize the way you deliver training. This groundbreaking book provides an innovative approach to designing and developing podcasts that can improve employees' productivity by providing them with easy-to-access up-to-date information. The book is designed to help you to decide if podcasting is the right solution for the business challenge that your organization is facing, and then guide you to make the right decisions in selecting the software and hardware that you will use to create your podcasts. Podcasting 101 for Training and Development includes critical information about the legal issues surrounding podcast development, contains an approach to developing podcasts that will ensure that your podcasts make a positive business impact, and teaches you how to plan, record, edit, and publish a training podcast. «Timely and relevant, Podcasting 101 for Training and Development is required reading for anyone interested in realistic cost-effective strategies for delivering rapidly changing content to an increasingly mobile-enabled workforce. Kaliym strikes a perfect balance between visionary thinking and practical application.» –Tai Goodwin, principal lead, Learning Media «This book introduces not only a great media, but a great approach for developing and deploying podcasts in a training environment. Podcasting 101 for Training and Development is a must read for any training manager who must deploy frequently changing training programs to a distributed workforce.» –Herman C. Thomas, deputy director for technical training, New York City Housing Authority

Craving a career in web dev? Chart your path with this helpful guide Getting a Web Development Job For Dummies provides a roadmap to one of the «hot jobs» in the booming world of tech. The web development field is large, and it encompasses many actual functions. This book helps you understand the web development career opportunities and determine the path you should take, based on your own personal needs and preferences, to launch your career. You'll learn about various career options, the skills you'll need to become an attractive candidate, how to go about learning the ropes, and proving your abilities to a potential employer or client. With so many possible goals and no one right way to get there, this book cuts through the confusion to put you on the path to a career you want. The web development industry is expected to grow for the foreseeable future, and there is already a shortage of trained workers to fill the jobs. Whether you lean technical or aesthetic, you can find your place in the industry with right skills—both hard and soft—and with the right plan. Getting a Web Development Job For Dummies is your guide to formulating that plan and getting started right. Find formal or informal ways to build the tech skills you'll need Discover where you fit, whether as a freelancer or within an organization Learn how to build a resume, develop a portfolio, and impress interviewers Get expert tips on finding resources, building a reputation, and more If your pet peeves include malfunctioning forms, flashing banners, and sites that take way too long to load, the web development world needs you. But before you begin your journey, you need a destination and a route in mind. Getting a Web Development Job For Dummies is your roadmap, so you can set out today.

Rewire your brain and overcome the 20 key time drains that diminish productivity For anyone who's felt valuable time frittered away in checking emails or answering wrong phone numbers, or listening to a coworker giving you a minute-by-minute account of their previous night's date, help is finally here. Your time is, indeed, your own. And this handy guide, written by a leading executive coach, shows you how to retool your brain, reclaim your schedule, become a master of each minute, and make yourself more productive. Using a method that is intuitive, easy to remember, and simple to use, this book will help you transform how you think, what you focus on, and what you do so that you can begin to create tangible results. Includes exercises that help you learn important thinking skills—essential to tackling important projects and attaining all those once elusive goals Features highly visual exercises that are quick to complete, allowing you to change your habits and see improvements right away Identifies the 20 key time drains that interfere with productivity and happiness Full of creative, fun, and proven solutions to the common bugaboos of procrastination, feeling overwhelmed, and a general dissatisfaction with results, Get Productive! offers concrete steps toward rethinking how you work and reworking how you think.

Completely expanded and updated, Live it Up Without Outliving Your Money! Second Edition is the financial roadmap that people are looking for. Based on the author's experience in the financial services sector since the mid-1960s, including more than 30 years as an investment advisor and money manager, this plain-talking book gives readers simple strategies to add between $1,000 and $10,000 to their monthly income in retirement, and without taking any of the dumb risks of the past. This reliable resource motivates readers to take the first steps to change their financial situation; presents multiple strategies for withdrawing money during retirement; and exposes the marketing tricks perpetrated by financial institutions. This book also includes added focus on newer issues such as ETFs, REITs, estate planning, IRA withdrawals, and updated allocation strategies. Live it Up Without Outliving Your Money! : • Allows readers to tailor a financial plan for retirement that takes into account the amount of risk they’re willing to tolerate • Provides multiple strategies for withdrawing money once in retirement while also building an estate for children and other survivors • Exposes the marketing tricks and emotional ploys perpetrated by financial institutions and the personal finance media that keep investors from making the best decisions – and provide real-world examples of these deceptions • Motivates readers to take the first steps to change their financial situation, which is the most difficult part of the strategy • Includes a dozen worksheets to help readers grapple with retirement planning

Find—and land—your first job! Finding a job can seem daunting, especially when it's a brand new experience. There's a lot to know, and often a lot of pressure. Written by the founder of AfterCollege.com, Getting Your First Job For Dummies is designed to take the stress out of the job search process and help you get an offer. In this book, you'll discover how to identify your talents and strengths, use your network to your advantage, interview with confidence, and evaluate an offer. Written in plain English and packed with step-by-step instructions, it'll have you writing customized resumes, conducting company research, and utilizing online job search sites, faster than you can say 'I got the job!' Determine what kind of job suits your interests and skills Write a compelling cover letter Know what to expect in an interview Effectively negotiate an offer Whether you're still in school or navigating the world as a recent graduate, Getting Your First Job For Dummies arms you with the skills and confidence to make getting your first job an exciting and enjoyable process.

Profit from Property is the must-have guide for anyone who wants to make money out of property development. Expert author Philip Thomas will show you step by step how to develop property the smart way—from purchasing the best development opportunity, to financing the development, through to completion and disposal of the property. His fool-proof system will have you buying, managing, developing and selling property like an expert, whether you're a first-time developer or an experienced investor wanting to make more out of your portfolio. Inside you’ll discover: money-making strategies for residential, commercial and industrial properties handy tips and case studies that will save you time, cash and stress a proven development model that you can start using immediately with results how to become a successful property developer without a huge amount of cash behind you. The best time to get into property is now. Read this book today and start profiting from property tomorrow!

Don't squander your most valuable resource! Collectively, your workers are your company's most important and most valuable asset. To make the most of this asset, nothing beats quantitative performance and investment measurement. Learning and Development is an 80 billion-dollar industry, and every valuable employee represents a sizable investment on the part of your company. To keep your business moving forward, effective management of human capital is crucial. It generates plenty of data, and deep analysis of this data helps you provide feedback and make adjustments to capitalize on the combined knowledge, skills, and creativity of your workers. Developing Human Capital: Using Analytics to Plan and Optimize Your Learning and Development Investments provides a guidebook for collecting, organizing, and analyzing the data surrounding human capital so you can make the most of your employees' potential. Use predictive analysis to optimize human capital investments Learn effective study design and alignment Get the tools you need for measurement, surveys, and analysis Decide what to measure and how to measure it Outline your company's current and future analytics technology needs Map data sources, and overcome barriers to data collection Authors Gene Pease, Bonnie Beresford, and Lew Walker provide case studies in which major companies applied human capital analytics to guide people decisions, and expand upon the role of analytics in Learning and Development. Developing Human Capital: Using Analytics to Plan and Optimize Your Learning and Development Investments is an essential guide to 21st century human resources and management practices, and can keep you from squandering your company's most valuable resource.

Getting the Most from Online Learning is a must-have resource that helps people, become better e-learners by showing them how to prepare for, participate in, and apply e-learning in all its variations. Written by the leaders in e-learning, this book is filled with practical ideas, suggestions, and information about a wide variety of topics including how to: Participate effectively in on-line learning experiences Contribute to and learn from discussion groups and chat rooms Handle e-learning peer evaluations Participate in online group projects In addition, the expert authors share their personal e-learning experiences and show how they have mastered the discipline of e-learning for themselves.