Have you wondered whether or not you have enough marketable skills to grow in your career?

Maintaining a strong list of career-related skills is a must for professionals in any industry. When looking at your resume, you might have thought about how to expand your career skills section. Potential employers on websites like LinkedIn are constantly searching for individuals with desirable career skills. You don’t want to miss out on those extra opportunities.

However, what do you do if you already have a job? Is it still a good idea to look for ways to add skills to your resume? Yes! Putting time into growing your skills and strengthening others will help you seek out new jobs if and when you need them. If your job is not providing you with a way to learn new things, there are several things you can do outside of work that can help.

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Before You Start

One thing you must do before you start learning new skills is research. You must research exactly what skills are popular in your desired line of work.

A benefit of websites like LinkedIn is that you can see what skills and experience other professionals have in your industry. For example, if you are an entry-level HR professional, you can search LinkedIn for those with more experience in HR, take a look at their list of skills, and compare them to your own. Perhaps you might also be inclined to follow and connect with them, as well.

Make a list of a handful of skills that you don’t have yet that other professionals in your industry do have. This list will help you out with the learning step of the process.

Internet Courses

In recent years, there has been an explosion of skill-related educational websites dedicated to providing people a means to learn new things. Websites such as Skill Share and Udemy offer a wide variety of professional-grade courses taught by real people in the comfort of your own home. In these courses, you can find valuable information and insight into the skill you are attempting to learn. Another benefit of these websites is that courses are both relatively inexpensive and non-committal; you can spend as much or as little time with them as you like.

Community College Courses

If you want a more traditional way of learning new career skills, try seeking out your local community college. Visit their website and browse courses that will help you learn the skills you are looking for. Talk to career professionals or faculty to get a better idea of what you need to look for in a course.

Find a Mentor

You might often find that the skills you need to learn are a little more in-depth than others. In this case, a mentor, or someone you can bounce ideas off of, might be in order. A mentor can give you insight into their experience as a professional in their industry, and they might even be able to offer other ways of obtaining skills than you might have thought of. Read more about getting good career advice here on Tempstar Staffing’s blog.

Shadowing

Perhaps the career skills you’re looking for are hands-on and technical. In that case, it may be a good idea to shadow someone who has more experience. This way, you will be able to watch them work and pick up some tips along the way. If you are short on time due to your own work, it may be a good idea to see if you can schedule something in your off-hours or on the weekends.

Whether or not you choose to go with some of these options, at Tempstar, we can help you find a meaningful, growth-oriented career that keeps your skills updated and fresh. Contact us today to learn more.