Professional development seems the obvious solution for an ambitious careerists trying to climb the ladder of success. What isn’t so obvious, is what effective professional development really looks like.It is one thing to talk about being a student of your field, it’s another to know exactly what to study and how to put that new knowledge to use. When you’re at the wheel, steering your own on-going career development, it can be a lot to take on.

There are many great resources online for women looking for community, support, education, events and other resources to advance their careers. The following 50 organizations have a lot of career advice to offer women in the workplace. Some are focused on women working in a particular industry, while others are focused on education, students or span across all industries.

In sharing their thoughts, experiences, and wisdom I will pull back the vail on professional development that really works. I’ll do this by exploring the fundamental aspects of professional development real-life career girls are already using to achieve success in their lives and in their work.

With so many directions to take when it comes to a career it can be overwhelming to know where to start, if you don’t know where you want to go.

According to Adriane Wilson, who owns the executive coaching and training firm Strengths Zone, self-inventory and career planning are the foundation for professional development and career success.
Adriane says, “Step-one is to take inventory of where you are in your career and where you want to be… so that other people can help you, so that you can identify the proper resources to help you. So really, step-one is to map your future.”

This idea of mapping your future is one that Adriane puts to use herself through goal setting. For Adriane it is a regular practice to write out goals on a quarterly basis, making plans for the next year and beyond.

When it comes to defining goals in writing like she does, Adriane adds, “When you write things down you are more committed to what is happening.” Which is something she believes has allowed her to succeed in the many directions her career has taken.

To date, Adriane has seen her fair share of success as a journalist, a sales professional, and marketing director. Adriane is now building a business to help individuals and the organizations they work for, to best use the human resources they already have available. Her company, Strengths Zones, does this through helping people to understand the particular strengths they already possess and then leveraging those strengths to achieve a particular personal or organizational goal.

Coronel Ann Peru Knabe is another proponent of having your priorities point you in the right direction. As a U.S. Airforce reservist, Ann has had her civilian career, teaching commutations at the university level, detoured by a number of military deployments.

Ann considers herself a, “Big goal setter.” She also admits, “Sometimes I am also action-on-target … taking opportunity on things that pop-up out of nowhere.”

Because of four deployments, receiving her interdisciplinary Ph.D. in public relations, distance learning, and psychology took more than 10 years. Reflecting on how her military services impacted her academic aspirations Ann says, “Your first priority coming back [from deployment] is family – to get your family reunified. The second is your job – to get reintegrated at work… The third for me – and it always came last – was the dissertation.”