In the current dynamic and constantly evolving workplace, it’s critical to learn and upgrade yourself with new skills and ensure professional growth for a successful career. Upgrading your skills not only increases your chances of achieving your career goals but also helps you to move to more senior roles.
Today, in every profession, an extra skill is highly valued and given preference during recruitment or internal evaluation processes. Hence, it’s imperative to keep yourself updated with the latest trends and developments in your respective fields. It also helps you to adapt and get acquainted with the constantly changing job requirements.
Below, in brief, strategies to upgrade skills, ways to do it, and its benefits are discussed.
Strategies for Upgrading Your Skills:
Research And Determine the Required Skills:
It’s the very first step, where you need to find a skill set that is relevant to your job and is currently in demand from the employer. While determining a new skill to learn, you need to keep in mind how it is going to add value to your career and at the same time, how it will be an asset for the employer. Visit all the job posting websites and notifications to get a broader idea about the sought-after qualifications and job tasks. This research will help you understand current trends, challenges, and gaps, and how your new skill is going to fill that void or make a difference in your field.
Self-Assessment:
Once you have determined the skills that are in demand, the next step is to evaluate your current skill and come up with a plan of action to upgrade that. You can make a checklist of the skills that are in demand and the skills that you have, and further, based on it you can decide your next move to upgrade your skills as per the current job market requirements.
How To Upgrade Your Skills?
Once you are done with a strategy, you will have an understanding of the skills that you need to upgrade. So now you need to find a way to inculcate that skill and be the right fit for the job market. The following are the ways you can implement to upgrade your skill:
- Apply For a Course
- Professional Training
- Volunteering
- Get A Mentor
- Find A Way to Showcase Your New Skills to Employers
Apply for a Course:
You can either enroll in a full-time university or college or get enrolled in an online course to develop the theoretical and practical knowledge required to upgrade your skill. It’s recommended to give more emphasis to the practical as that will help you enhance your skill more rapidly and make your industry ready with hands-on practice. Nowadays, there are numerous online platforms available that can help you learn new skills. Some top platforms to look out for are – Coursera, Edx, Udemy, Unacademy, etc. It’s worth mentioning that you can also get several educational coupon codes online to save some extra on these courses.
Professional Training:
You can opt for training like this for a short or long duration depending upon your requirements. Professional training can be industry specific as well for learning some soft skills like – communication or leadership. Depending upon the training you have opted for, you can ask for an acknowledgment of participation to showcase your accomplishments to your current or future employer.
Volunteering:
You need to find a way to showcase your upgraded skill and nothing can be better than volunteering activities. You can apply this at your current organization or can do it virtually online in your comfort. Opting at the current organization for such activities can earn you appreciation and will also make the management enlightened about your skill-set, which they might consider while evaluating your internal performance.
Get A Mentor:
It’s advisable to have a mentor or career coach that can guide you for the right professional approach and can also help you with choosing the best skills, taking into account your career growth. You need to select a mentor from your field who comes with vast experience and is not shy to give input without any hesitation. You can find such a person either at your workplace or also on professional networks like LinkedIn.
Find A Way to Showcase Your New Skills to Employers:
Once your skills are upgraded, you need the right methods to ring in the ears of employers. You must update your résumé and rewrite your cover letter to pitch your potential accurately in front of them. You must give more emphasis to the hands-on experience of your upgraded skills and should also include your ideas to enhance the productivity of the organization, based on your skills.
Benefits Of Upgrading Skills:
Boost Up Your Self-Confidence:
Learning new skills will boost your overall morale at your workplace. You will feel more competent and will excel in your work by being ahead of other employees. You will be motivated to accept new tasks and challenges to showcase your new skill set. Employers may acknowledge this and might see you as a valuable asset to the organization.
Marketability & Competitiveness Edge:
Adding and upgrading your skill will make you a more competitive job applicant in the eyes of employers. Your résumé will speak volumes and will make you more marketable, giving you an edge over the other candidates. You will have more chances of getting hired than others for the newly gained knowledge, because employers also prefer candidates with the latest and upgraded skill set.
Pragmatic & Resourceful:
Your newly gained skill can empower you with the right aptitude to deal with problems in a pragmatic way at your workplace. Employers always value employees who are willing to take an extra step to anticipate and come up with some solution to resolve issues, as and when they occur. You can showcase this quality during behavioral-based interviews by providing some references to future problems and solutions that you can provide.
Better Career Prospects:
Last but far from least! It’s not rocket science to guess that the addition of knowledge to your skills will always enhance your chance of selection during job interviews. Improved skills will always advance your career and may help you reach your career goals sooner than you might have anticipated!
Final Words:
It’s a common saying that knowledge can never go to waste. The same applies to any professional skill set as well. Upgrading it further opens new dimensions and helps you achieve your career goals and also improves your career prospects. Equipping yourself with new skills or upgrading requires zeal to adapt to changing business requirements and some time and the right strategy with true focus and determination. Imply this, upgrade your skill, boost your confidence, and empower yourself to thrive and succeed in a cut-throat competitive professional world.
