Hundreds of Sailors in the San Diego area heard straight from top Navy leadership and subject matter experts about how to navigate their careers and about upcoming improvements to policies and programs by participating in the Career Development Symposium (CDS) 2017, Sept. 20-21.

Initiatives and programs that Sailors may have heard of but never investigated, such as Sailor 2025, Ready Relevant Learning, Blended Retirement System and Billet Based Distribution were explained; questions were asked and answered in person and online, as the symposium was live streamed on social media platforms.

Also, Sailors used their smart phones during the dynamic presentations to ask questions and to respond to live-polling queries, which made for much more interactive sessions.

The two-day symposium was comprised of three separate sessions, targeting three distinct audiences, E6-O6, E4-E-5 and first term E1-E4. The focus of the symposium was enlisted career leadership. The senior session, E6-O6, was designed to ensure those who lead Sailors are up to date on enlisted programs, policies and tools.

Even with all the new tools and programs, Vice Chief of Naval Operations (VCNO) Adm. Bill Moran, reminded Sailors that the new hardware is not the Navy's most valuable resource.

"The F-35 is coming into the fleet, the most modern airplane ever built and submarines are rolling off the production line brand new, but none of that matters," VCNO said adding, "None of that matters unless we get good men and women, well-trained with experience and proficiency. This is the most important thing we do, right here. To figure out how we are going to develop and care for our team."

One key topic of interest included the revamping of the current performance evaluations, which Chief of Naval Personnel (CNP), Vice Adm. Robert Burke, discussed.

"The eval system is long overdue for an overhaul," Burke said. "We started the Meritorious Advancement Program because Sailors were stuck in traffic and the 'EP' became an entitlement based on time. We're not going to measure people against each other; we're going to measure people against standards."

Electronics Technician 1st Class Eric Vollrath, assigned to Center For Surface Combat Systems Detachment San Diego, joined the symposium to meet his detailer and sat in as CNP spoke about the upcoming changes to the performance evaluation system.

"I like the idea of getting a full year on board and being able to establish yourself before getting an eval," Vollrath said.

Also at CDS this year were subject matter experts from programs such as the My Navy Portal (MNP) career management system, Navy Credentialing Opportunities On-Line and detailers on-site to meet with Sailors.

"I find with junior Sailors that the Navy is so big and mysterious to them that they don't understand their options," said Vollrath. "So being able to fully understand the process will give them a sense of security in their own future."

Hosted by Navy Personnel Command (NPC), this second annual Career Development Symposium attracted more than 1,000 Sailors from the southwest region to the Anchors Conference Center near Naval Station San Diego.

The successes of the symposium will be incorporated into future career symposiums, which will be conducted at least annually in fleet-concentration areas, said Capt. Chris Buziak, NPC lead for coordinating CDS 17.

"CDS is going to be iterative events, where our goal is to make the next one better than the last by staying Sailor focused and giving Sailors information they need to make educated career decisions," Buziak said.

For more information on CDS 2017, including links to live-streamed videos and presentations to be posted soon, visit http://go.usa.gov/xRAeY, www.facebook.com/usnavy or www.twitter.com/usnavy.

For more news from Navy Personnel Command, visit www.navy.mil/.