5 QUESTIONS TO HELP YOU FIND AREAS FOR SKILL DEVELOPMENT

PEXELS

Working from home may provide an excellent chance to not just re-evaluate your present professional path, but also to take tangible steps to upskill yourself. This will not only ensure that you emerge from the crisis with the required abilities to capitalize on any opportunity, but it will also help you to advance in your entire career trajectory. Here are five questions to help you discover appropriate topics for upskilling during this era of uncertainty, while keeping your long-term professional aspirations in mind.

WHAT TOPICS DO I WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT?

Getting started may be the most difficult aspect of any trip, so it's best to start with something you've always been interested in. Perhaps you're an HR professional who has a great interest in coding but has never had the opportunity to study it; or you're interested in public speaking but your work doesn't need it. 

Make a list of all of your interests and conduct an online search to discover information. Begin with anything that piques your interest, such as a course, workshop, webinar, or podcast. Again, this does not have to be immediately relevant to your business; you never know when these other professional abilities will come in handy.

WHAT WILL ALLOW ME TO EXCEL AT WORK?

Maintain your momentum now that you've begun. For many people, the greatest approach to do so is to study something directly related to your job, so that you can see the immediate benefits of your learning efforts. Identify areas of your job where you currently excel, investigate what can help you stand out even more, and concentrate your efforts on better yourself in these areas. 

For a content marketer, this may include brushing up on and staying current with the newest SEO and SEM trends to ensure that your material is not only interesting but also reaches the correct audiences. While you may not become an expert overnight, these abilities will widen your viewpoint and help you to explore more areas of your work.

WHAT WILL MAKE ME HAPPIER AT WORK?

Upskilling does not have to be limited to gaining new skills; it may also include relearning the fundamentals. Take some time each day to think about what irritates you the most at work and then address those elements of your work that you struggle with. Is it your bursting inbox or your ever-expanding to-do list? Is it wasting time on dull administrative work, or is it interacting successfully with others? 

Find solutions to fix the 'weak links' in your everyday job after you've discovered them. This may involve contacting a coworker to see how they perform administrative duties efficiently (they may have secret shortcuts!) or reading recommended publications on time management.

WHAT WILL ASSIST ME IN GAINING A COMPETITIVE EDGE OUTSIDE OF MY JOB?

Even if you want to continue in your present position in the long run, your professional aspirations should not be bound to your work and organization. What do you see yourself doing in the long run, and what skills do you need to achieve your goals? If you're a developer who wants to be a manager, you'll need more than just technical talents to get the job. For example, you will require leadership abilities, the capacity to communicate across teams and stakeholders, and the ability to manage numerous project timeframes.

You'll ultimately find yourself with an advantage over your competition if you acquire these soft skills that many organizations think are lacking in technical specialists, whether it's for a promotion for an internal function or for a role in a separate firm.

AM I THINKING IN A HOLISTIC MANNER?

While it's important to focus on specific areas for upskilling, make sure you're also thinking about the larger picture and not overlooking any other prospects for growth. Examine whether you are focusing too much on soft skills and not enough on hard skills, or vice versa.

Are you utilizing all of the options available to you, or are you primarily depending on a particular strategy, such as webinars? Are you challenging yourself enough—or possibly too much, to the point that it's unsustainable in the long run? Upskilling oneself is a long and ongoing process, so make sure it's sustainable, personally fascinating, and gives advancement in all facets of your professional life.