Forget The Binders, Open a Laptop and Learn Online

When was the last time you saw a binder?  Maybe one was sitting on your desk between one of those pink “While You Were Out” message slips and a wildly blinking phone indicating that you had multiple voice mail messages.

There was a time when most training and education programs were built around binders, those three-ringed, firm book frames that all-too-often filled a shelf and gathered dust.  We took them home like souvenirs from seminars.  Even college courses featured corresponding binders in which you tucked every last sheet of paper related to your course.  And there they stayed.  Now that I think of it, I did get a binder from a graduate course I took ten years ago and the only time I opened it was to get my online username and password.

Binders were a staple of outplacement services as well, containing seemingly everything you could possibly need to land your next job… except maybe network contacts, access to the Internet, a little motivation and links that today can broaden both your search and your network with just a few clicks.

And so just as online education has become a norm, outplacement and training programs in general have to be able to capture the mind of the user.  Our population has come to expect a multi-media approach that includes basic career development guidelines as well as the opportunity to connect, to network, and maybe to feel a kick of motivation when needed.

Fifteen years into the 21^st century, we have a huge part of the work force experienced with online learning, many having experienced it as college students.  Their experiences of opening their laptops at any location and pursuing information is deeply ingrained by now, its how so many of us are wired.

This is why the majority of Careerminds’ approach to outplacement is online.  We have gone where the audience is and developed Internet-based programming and solutions that are engaging, can be used independently, accessed anywhere and cater to a variety of learning styles.   We have out-grown those binders because they simply can’t hold all the resources and information we provide to generate positive outcomes to job searches and career development.

And these are surely factors in our success and more importantly in our clients finding new positions within three months whereas the national average is as high as ten months, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Maybe binders and our learning processes have just evolved.  Instead of opening an old one to reams of paper, today we open a newer one in the form of a laptop to unlimited information and therefore career potential.

Raymond Lee

Raymond Lee is the President of Careerminds, a global outplacement company based in Wilmington, Delaware. He has over 20 years of human resource, outplacement, and career consulting experience. He has his bachelor’s in psychology and holds a Master’s Degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Louisiana Tech University. He is active in SHRM and ATD. Raymond’s been featured on SiriusXM Business Radio, CareerTalk, and the Wall Street Journal and he’s published a book titled, Clocking Out: A Stress-Free Guide to Career Transitions.