In an increasingly competitive job market, even if you're not planning on changing roles anytime soon, gone are the days when you could get away with being lacklustre about your continuing professional development.
With busy work and home schedules, training is often that last thing you have the space or time to think about. But it's important to consider where you need and want your professional development to go. Formal training is a key part of keeping up your employability, and it's a good idea to keep your development continuous, whether this means working on practical skills or softer skills like communication and people management.
This is particularly the case if you're re-entering the job market after a long time, or if you're considering a career change and need to boost your CV. If you're freelance, or are thinking about going freelance, you'll need constantly think about adding to your skillset to stay ahead of your competitors.
But even if you're in a permanent job, many employers lack structured development programmes and, if they do, digging out the right department or colleague who can keep you updated with what's available and sign you up is often trickly. Also, how much professional development is your employer duty bound to provide? Who has overall responsibility for your training – you or your manager?
If you're unsure about where to start with working out what your training needs are – and how to go about fulfilling them – put your questions to our panel of experts on Thursday 20 February from 1pm to 3pm. If you can't join us then, comments are open now so you can post early and catch up with the responses whenever you like by revisiting the page.
We'll be discussing:
• Setting professional development and training goals
• Talking to your employer
• How to get the training you need
• Common mistakes to avoid
The Q&A takes place in the comments section below this article. Taking part is easier than ever: you can create a free Guardian account, or log in using your Twitter or Facebook profiles to comment. Alternatively, you can tweet us @GuardianCareers or email your questions to Hannah Friend who can post them for you.
Our panel
Angela McShane is head of talent and resourcing at Asda. She has worked for the retailer for 17 years after first joining on the graduate scheme. She spent nine years out in stores as a regional people manager and has latterly covered a variety of people policy and business partner roles at Asda Head Office.
Steve Nicholls helps senior management/leadership executives (C-suite) prepare for and find their next senior role, through pragmatic and professional career coaching, advice, a personal branding curriculum and career guidance, and help with navigating the hidden jobs market, including a free report available via his website.
Helen Tupper is a full-time employee, part-time entrepreneur and a student. She combines a senior role at Virgin with a directorship for Amazing If, a business offering inspirational career training whilst studying for her master's. She has over 10 years' experience in marketing and is passionate about helping others fulfill their potential.
Ravi Soni is a careers adviser for the National Careers Service. His role includes helping people with interview techniques and interview preparation.
Dan Hawes is the co-founder and head of marketing at Graduate Recruitment Bureau, the UK's leading independent recruitment consultancy for students, recent graduates and experienced graduates. Established by two graduates in 1997, GRB's experts have helped and placed over 600,000 students and graduates with FTSE 250 and fast-growing recruiters in all sectors across the world.
Lisa LaRue is a career coach at London-based career consultancy CareerWorx with over 15 years' experience helping people plan and manage their careers.
Katherine Travell is managing director at Futureboard Consultancy. She established Futureboard in 2007 as a business to offer a holistic approach to 'early years' talent attraction, assessment and development. Over 17 years working in HR she has developed people strategies for some of the world's leading employers including Business Objectives, GSK, BT and Associated British Foods.
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