Acquiring New Skills Without Going Back to School

In today's competitive job market, it's so important that you keep learning and growing. But you know what? Time is scarce. It is hard enough to get the job done each day let alone plan for the next step in your career. But, if your career is a priority, it is critical to find ways to learn and grow so that you can continue to advance your career and develop your skills.

If you are looking for a promotion or raise, you're going to have to prove you can add more value. The best way to do this is to continually feed your career with skills and knowledge that show you are worth the raise and promotion.

There are plenty of ways to educate yourself and upskill without going back for a traditional undergraduate or graduate degree. Here are five ways to upskill without going back to school:

Certifications

Many careers offer certifications to prove you have both a baseline understanding of what’s required in a job or a mastery of best practices in a certain field. 

Certifications show you have knowledge and capabilities in a certain field, which makes them especially important if you’re transitioning careers and don’t have a lot of work experience in the new field. For example, if you are transitioning from sales to human resources job, you must have some transferrable skills that could be considered HR experience, this is because you have never worked in a traditional HR function. To prove you have the knowledge and understood the language of HR, you must study and pass the SPHR and GPRH certification exams. Having those certifications as part of your credentials will help you to break through any hiring manager and recruiter assumptions that you have no HR skills and capabilities.

Online Learning Courses

There’s a wealth of learning platforms out there. Adansonia (https://elearning.adansonia.org/) Learning is one of the most recognized.

While taking individual classes may not seem comparable to a four-year degree, showing you’re continuously learning and growing your skills is an attractive quality in an employee. The best way to showcase your relevant coursework is to add a “Continuous Learning” or “Continuous Education” section to your resume after your formal education.

Internships, Rotations, and Volunteering

Most internships, even paid ones, require that you be attending school. To qualify for many internships, you can register for a class at a local community college that would provide valuable knowledge in your field or the one you want to move into.

If you already have a full-time job, consider whether your boss would allow for a rotation in another area of the organization. You can find a small business or family friend who can provide you an opportunity to help with one of their work projects, which will allow you to gain practical skills in areas such as analytics, customer acquisition, social media, or marketing. Being paid is not a barometer for gaining new or higher-level skills when those skills allow you to contribute more toward advancing a company’s goals.

Stretch Assignments

If you have the bandwidth, ask for work from another department at your organization. You’ll not only bring value to the company, but you’ll also enhance your visibility. Stretch assignments teach you new or higher-level skills while also challenging you to demonstrate those skills to the people who gave you the opportunity. So even if the project itself isn’t highly visible, at least one person will know what you can achieve.

Importantly, this type of stretch assignment cannot interfere with your day job. And while you may be raising your eyebrow at doing extra work on the side, remember that the goal is to continue to uplevel your skills so you can be considered for the next opportunity — or be so valuable that the company can’t imagine functioning without you.

Mentorship

Mentors can provide so much more than a listening ear. The right mentor outside of your direct leadership or function will provide new perspectives on your work and how to uplevel your skills and challenge you to think differently.

When we’re heads down in our work, we don’t always realize the larger objective of assignments. If you find a mentor who is a senior leader in your organization, they’ll have a deeper knowledge of the company’s growth trajectory and what capabilities will be needed as the company grows or shifts strategy. Even if your mentor isn’t sure of what hard skills are needed, mastering “soft” skills like cross-functional communication, complex problem-solving, stakeholder alignment, and inclusive leadership is what advances employees to higher levels. Having different perspectives on issues improves your thought leadership, which is critical in all jobs and will make you a viable candidate for future opportunities.

Whether you want to change jobs or prepare for the next-level role, the most important thing to know about upskilling is that every employee needs to be doing it all the time. Jobs are changing as business demands change, and employees are expected to prove their value with increasingly higher expectations. Don’t be caught behind when you can uplevel your skills to move ahead.