This year – 2020, the pandemic year – was a rough one. If you’re one of the thousands who lost your job and you’re not having any luck finding another, what should you do with your time? Working on your job skills is one option, but what skills should you improve on?
Learning a whole new profession is probably not the best option unless you’re absolutely sure that your current career doesn’t hold a future for you. A new profession would mean learning a new set of skills and building a new network of professional connections.
Instead of a complete change, you can work on a new skill or skills that are similar to the skill set that you currently have. For example, if you were working in the marketing field, learn something new about social media or branch out into affiliate marketing if you weren’t working on that before.
Look into taking free courses such as those offered by HubSpot and LinkedIn, paid courses, or educational YouTube videos. I’ve learned new job skills, new ways to find work, and new platforms and software just by investing a few minutes each day into my professional development. Don’t forget about reading some juicy books that will teach you new skills or a new mindset as well.
Other options include joining Facebook groups for specific fields and industries to find work. These are a source for job leads as well as learning about job finding tips and trends in job hunting and in your industry.
Subscribing to online magazines are another source of information about trends in specific industries as well as the latest information on job hunting.
By learning about latest trends, you can stay on top of the skills that specific markets are looking for. These skills or this software should be the ones that are top of mind for what you’ll learn next.
Don’t forget to read job postings in your field that you aren’t interested in applying for. Maybe you aren’t interested in working for that company or the job isn’t an exact match for what you want, or you aren’t yet qualified for the job. However, it will give you ideas about what is available in the job market and what jargon to use in your job application.
Volunteer work is also another way to build your skills. Work on projects to develop new skills or keep current ones fresh. Add these projects to your resume.
Improving on your job skills will help you find work in the same or similar fields. It will also keep your resume current and may even open doors for jobs that you didn’t qualify for before your skills upgrading.
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