Professional development is a central theme of the American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Expo being held this week in Salt Lake City. Here are just some of the components of personal professional development plans attendees are learning about -- how many are you using?

Hands on job experience

Job shadowing

Formal and informal mentors – in and out of the EHS field

Formal EHS training via books, lectures, workshops, conferences, webinars, podcasts, videos, classroom work

Education outside the EHS field via platforms such as TEDx talks and general business management and leadership books

Networking both internally within your company and outside your workplace

Volunteer work – such as a citizen scientist in community environmental issues

Building relationships and engaging with your non-EHS supervisors and senior management leaders

Being an “enabler” in your EHS job as opposed to being a “barrier” or an “afterthought” to your employer, or serving only as an emergency responder or “fire-fighter”

Focusing beyond the technical aspects of EHS work – communication skills, business skills, interpersonal relation competencies such as listening and interviewing

Taking ownership of your career as marketing “You, Inc.” whether you are an independent consultant or a corporate EHS professional