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Having marketable skills is important if you want to have a successful career. But gaining the skills that you need is not something that you can do once and then never have to do again. You need to continuously build on your skills to make sure you keep up with the demands of the market and to allow you to advance in your career. Knowing what skills you should be building and how to do it can be tough. There are plenty of options but you don’t want to waste time learning something that ultimately isn’t going to help you with your career.
When you’re looking for ways to learn new, marketable skills, you’ll need to think about how they’ll serve you in the future.
Look for Skills to Complement Your Existing Ones
If you’re thinking about how to grow your skills, start by considering the skills that you already have. Building on these skills with complementary skills is a smart idea that will allow you to do more at work. If you already know how to design a website, you might want to look at courses for web designers that teach you other useful skills, like how to use SEO when you’re creating a website. Consider the skills that help you to build on the ones you already have and do more in your industry. These skills can make you more marketable by widening the parameters of what you’re able to do.
Learn Online and Offline
Finding the time to learn new skills can be tricky when you’re busy with so many other things. But you can discover opportunities to learn new skills both online and offline, which you can fit around your existing schedule. If you want to learn at your own pace, an online course or other online resources are often the best options. You can learn through various formats, with videos, blog posts, quizzes, and other useful materials. If you want to learn a new skill offline, you might seek a workshop or a course that’s taught in person so that you can have a more hands-on experience.
Listen to Others
learning environment to build new skills by listening to others. You can simply pay attention to other people and learn from watching them, whether they’re people you work with or even people who you observe online. You might even find someone to mentor you who can teach you valuable skills while you’re at work or elsewhere. You can learn a lot from observing others and working alongside them too.
Knowing what skills you should be building and how to do it can be tough. There are plenty of options but you don't want to waste time learning something that ultimately isn't going to help you with your career.Click To TweetKeep Up with Industry Demands
It’s always smart to keep up with the latest demands for skills in your industry. You might have the necessary skills for your job when you first begin your career but, as things progress, you can find that what your industry demands starts to change. Technology advances and best practices change too, so the skills that are in demand can shift. It’s important to keep an eye on what’s happening in your industry and the skills that employers are looking for in their employees. It’s also important to keep up with industry trends if you want to start a business or work as a freelancer or contractor.
Pick Up Transferable Skills
Transferable skills can really help you out when you want to build your career and remain marketable. When your skills are transferable, you can work more easily with people in different roles and you can expand your own role to do more. It’s also useful for any time you might want to switch departments or find a different job. You’ll have a range of skills that you can use in different roles, rather than being confined to a more narrow set of responsibilities.
Branch Out to Something New
Sometimes it can be useful to learn a completely new skill. Picking up skills that aren’t closely related to those you already have can be handy if you want to ensure you have a backup plan or if you’re ready to branch out into something new. Perhaps you’re thinking about changing careers or you want to be prepared for a future when your current job might not be so secure. You could find out which industries and roles are on the rise and will be in demand in the future.
Keep building your marketable skills and you can ensure you always have job opportunities available to you.
