A colleague was working with a client who had training opportunities for over 20 years, all paid for, but the client never used them. The client was downsized and with it went those paid for professional development opportunties. The client lamented about it. But they weren't willing to spend personal money for training while unemployed. They had learned their lesson, but would wait until they had a new job and hopefully have paid for training, and promised themselves that they would use the opportunties next time.

Have a look at the two charts below. The left one shows reasons (or excuses) why not to spend your own money on training. The chart on the "right" shows reasons why to engage in training, from the perspective of someone who has it paid for, and obviously who buys into the benefits of training. I would argue that the reasons on the right exist EVEN MORE for a job seeker (either employed or unemployed) who doesn't have training paid for.

Just like a good suit in an interview, training is a worthy investment. There's definitely some work involved in finding and getting the most out of training sessions or courses...stay tuned for more.