Fisheries professionals increasingly need skills related spanning content expertise (depth) to self-awareness skills (breadth) to be successful in science, management, and non-governmental related careers. The concept of T-shaped professionals first appeared in the early 1990s when business recognized managers who could combine skills from a variety of fields were more successful. T-shaped professionals generally have deep problem-solving capabilities as well as complex communication capabilities. They have deep knowledge in at least one system and one discipline, and can boundary span across many disciplines, many systems, and possess competencies in communication, teamwork, networks, critical thinking, global understanding, organizational culture, project management, etc. (Source: Jim Spohrer, IBM Labs, as cited on http://www.ceri.msu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/TshapedProfImage.pdf) We define the concept of T-shaped skills and posit it is necessary at any career stage, and present an overview of resources that people can access in order to continue to develop their T-shaped approach to expertise and relationships. In this session, we present an overview of the T-shaped professional and its major concepts, and have invited speakers who will present how these dimensions have helped them in their career, their advice to others seeking ongoing professional development regardless of career stage, and overview resources available. We envision this symposium will be valuable to AFS conference participants and members, especially students, who are seeking to understand how to improve their skillsets and career approaches to be effective in all they do. We will end with a discussion on needs for AFS member development, and if online or hybrid learning can be one way to enable fisheries professionals and their partners to be T-shaped professionals for successful fisheries conservation.