Upskilling - the act of attending courses, training or workshops to advance your skills and knowledge in an area. A career step that arguably becomes even more advantageous if you upskill in an area that currently suffers from a lack of talent or knowledge gap. Upskilling is sure to be your competitive advantage when it comes to future proofing your career.
The need to future proof your career is becoming increasingly important, since we find ourselves in the age of a digital transformation, enabled by rapid advances in technology. By 2025, the European economy will be missing 1.67 million professionals in digital jobs. While that poses a big challenge for companies in attracting digitally versed talent, it also presents an immense opportunity for everyone of us.
The options for online training courses are limitless, from a Google UX Design course to a Global Leadership or various HR Management courses - these are just some examples that can boost your skills, available on platforms such as Coursera.org.
the time to upskill is now
It’s never too early or too late in your career to start upskilling. What is more important is that you start thinking about it now. In an early stage in her career, Veronica took the Google Data Analytics course because she was curious about working with data. She later found that the course enabled her to apply for a greater variety of internships than she would have been able to before. She applied to these roles feeling more confident in her skills so that she would be fit for the roles and able to present her knowledge of data analytics more clearly in interviews. She later landed the role she wanted most and likes to “think that the Google certificate helped me with that.”
road to promotion, real quick
Upskilling could be your competitive advantage to getting promoted quicker and over other candidates. Completing courses for skills that you anticipate you will need in your desired role will give you the knowledge to talk about it confidently in interviews and ensure a smooth transition upwards into your new role. Mardis completed the Google Project Management Professional certificate to give herself the relevant knowledge required for the next progression. She knew that in her new and upcoming project she would need the proper documentation and planning set up as soon as possible to ensure its success and growth. She regarded the certificate as the perfect opportunity to ensure she could do that successfully. While Mardis’ prior hard work and dedication shouldn’t be downplayed, she does believe it “played a role in my promotion to Operation Officer, with the training objective from Executive Director towards becoming Chief Operating Officer.”
developing skills for now and the future
Since Covid has had a big impact on most people’s ability to travel to attend training, workshops and conferences, multiple online alternatives have emerged. New options have also given people the ability to start when and wherever they want, allowing them to begin implementing the benefits immediately rather than waiting until next quarter for the following round to begin. In Petya’s current role as part of the portfolio organisation driving the development of their services, she has found it very rewarding as “I can implement the learnings from the certification in my day to day job straight away.” Petya took the Google Certification in UX Design in order to improve the services that the company she works for offers, and admits it gave her a “different perspective about what matters and can now align our commercial proposals with the customers’ needs.”
3 top tips from those who have been there, done that
1. “Really utilise the opportunity to learn from the hands-on exercises and apply what you learn from each module. Approach it with the mindset: how can I apply what I am learning to my work?”
- Mardis Sara Karlsdottir, who took the Google Project Management Professional certification course
2. “Don’t skip the initial courses - don’t underestimate what they can give. Even if you have previous experience with them, there are still lots of useful tricks to be learnt. To put your course into practice, I’d advise doing a case study to showcase your new skills and also to understand what else can still be improved.”
- Veronica Sclauzero, who took the Google Data Analytics certification course.
3. “If you’re thinking about doing it, then just go for it! You won’t regret it - it will only enrich your skillset.”
- Petya Ibanova-Suarez, who took the UX Design Google Certification.
Ready to start upskilling? Elevate your career to new heights and get your Google certification sponsored as part of the inner circle membership. Find out more about digital upskilling and sponsored courses here.