Education Trends: 6 Tips to Boost Your Career with New Job Skills in 2022

Edition: February 16th, 2022
Curated by the Knowledge Team of ICS Career GPS

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• Excerpts from article by Stuart Gentle, published on onrec.com

The start of the year is the perfect time to put plans into place for boosting your career. Whether you want a complete change of direction or are looking to progress from your current role, the way to give yourself the best chance of achieving your career goals is to add more skills to your CV. 

With most industries experiencing competitive job markets, you need to be able to get an advantage over the competition for the job you want to land.

If you have experience and qualifications similar to other candidates, you may struggle to get that coveted interview opportunity.

Acquiring new in-demand skills is a sure shot way to give your career a much needed boost.

Here are some tips to help you can gain new job skills in 2022:

1. Take up an online course

• There are many different types of skills you can learn and gain recognised certifications for.
• Doing this will help you build a stronger CV and career.
• You can gain work related qualifications through online courses, too. There are a wide range of training providers.
• From developing your administration skills, to polishing your managerial skills, to working on your creative and marketing abilities — there’s a lot you can do.

2. Do some volunteer work

• A barrier for many job applicants is that they do not have enough working experience.
• If you lack experience in the industry you want to work in, you could try doing some work as a volunteer.
• That could help you to build up experience and develop the knowledge and skills that an employer will be looking for.

3. Educate yourself

• You can also develop your skills and knowledge through self-education, by reading relevant blogs, books, listening to podcasts and watching online tutorials.
• Even though this knowledge might not carry as much weight as formal qualifications, it will definitely give you an edge over the competition.
• At the very least, it will give you the foundation to make a strong impression on your interviewers and stand out from the crowd.

4. Practise job shadowing

• If you are hoping to progress from your current role into a more senior role, you may want to practise some job shadowing.
• If your company does not already run a mentoring scheme, you could ask your manager if you could shadow a more senior employee to learn skills from them.

5. Become a mentor

• If you are fairly experienced in your current role and you are hoping to progress into a management role, you could volunteer to mentor less experienced staff.
• This will give you a chance to develop your leadership and communication skills.
• If the mentoring is successful, you should have an improved chance of moving into a managerial role.

6. Attend networking events

• You can also build up your connections and develop new skills by attending networking events.
• There may be some groups that you can join or conferences where you can meet other people working in your chosen industry.
• By learning more about the work that people outside of your immediate team or company do, you build up a stronger industry-wide knowledge. 
• Networking events also give you the opportunity to improve your communication skills by talking to new people.
• The people you meet may have job opportunities that you were not aware of.
• Also, it will look good if you are already connected on LinkedIn with the employees of the organisation that you wish to work for.
• The recruiter may even ask your connections for some feedback about you, based on your interactions.

Start planning for the next stage of your career and get 2022 off to a great start. Developing a detailed career plan will help to ensure you stay on track for reaching your goals.

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Have you checked out yesterday’s blog yet?

Career Trends: 7 Ways to Increase Your Motivation at Work

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(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the article mentioned above are those of the author(s). They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of ICS Career GPS or its staff.)

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