How to develop your skills
Top skills in the digital era
September 24, 2020
In the digital era, that everything is moving fast, it is easy to lose track if you do not stay up to date with the new trends and tools that arise. In order to be competitive in the job market it is essential to develop your skills continuously.
If you are already in the job market, it is easier to do so following these simple steps:
- Find a mentor: Learning from a professional’s experience can save you a lot of time and keep you safe from mistakes that they have done in their career. Mentors usually provide guidance and emotional support, help you set up goals, explore career opportunities and network with other professionals in your industry.
- Dive into new challenges: Learning new things in order to complete a new task or project is a prerequisite most of the times. Instead of having someone else do it for you, or give it up, you should take that extra step, grab this new opportunity, and advance your skills. This is something that you will know after all and make you a better professional!
- Solve Problems: Nobody likes problems. But those who solve problems, usually stand out! It may take time and effort in order to find a way to deal with a specific situation, but once you do, the knowledge that you gain is yours forever. Problem solving is a special skills category itself as well!
- Learn on the Job: Working in a company (or on your own), helps you gain experience on specific tasks and thus usually become better. The experience that you have gained helps you level up your skills or develop new skills that you learn while working. This is your asset and you can take it with you wherever you go!
- Utilize company resources: Many companies have their own training sessions for internal learning. They have their own training experts, or they pay for online courses their employers take, or for helping their employees pursue certifications, diplomas, or even masters!
If you are searching for a job and you want to update your skills in order to become more competitive in your field and find a better job with a better remuneration package, you can do the following:
- Take Professional development courses: There is a number of options available when it comes to courses, from online to traditional courses in classes. You can take advantage of the free time that you have and learn something new at your own pace, even from your couch!
- Utilize Online Sources: There is not always the need to pay in order to learn something. The internet has unlimited resources where you can find literally anything you’re searching for. You can read blogs, watch YouTube tutorials, attend webinars and stay up to date with the latest trends in your industry!
- Invest in Education and Certification: Investing in Education usually increases your reliability as you are seen as a well informed and dedicated professional. Certifications also increase your reliability and help you maintain enhanced knowledge and skills in your field. Also, if you are at the start of your career, your educational background along with the certifications you have could help you stand out from the competition.
- Find Internships: In case you are at the beginning of your career and you do not have any previous work experience, maybe a degree alone is not enough. Many times, recruiters are not positive to hire someone who has never worked before because they cannot trust only what he/she has learnt in theory. An internship can help you fill this gap gaining some work experience and improving some of your skills (especially soft skills).
Start Small Projects: For some jobs, your portfolio is more important than your CV. If you are a web developer, a web designer, a digital marketer, or a copywriter it is more important to showoff your work than just say a few things in your CV. However, if you have not worked previously, you have nothing to show, right? Well, you can start a small project on your own or for a friend and work on it on your free time. You will come across actual issues and difficulties (that you may face later on your job), you will learn new things and improve your skills for sure!
https://www.workitdaily.com/develop-your-skills-at-work/1-get-a-mentor-be-a-mentor
https://medium.com/skilluped/8-proven-ways-to-improve-your-ability-to-learn-new-skills-9540899d67ca
