We’re all wondering if this year is going to be kinder. Many have become casualties of the massive lay-offs the previous year. Now that businesses are slowly resuming their pace, there might be hope for employment soon.
While scouring ad pages and the internet for jobs, take this time to improve your marketability. There are several online skills training and courses that help you secure work or even a new career path.
Free courses often don’t provide diplomas or certificates, but some skills and proficiencies don’t need these documents. Rather, you can build on your knowledge by taking up part-time jobs. They don’t pay much, but the experience you get will help you establish your proficiencies.
We have come up with a few of these courses that can be complemented by paid work.
Social Media and online marketing
Several online education hubs offer courses on social media, be it for personal use or marketing purposes. EdX, for example, hosts courses from prestigious institutions such as Wharton and Boston University offering topics on digital marketing.
It would be profitable for you to learn about social media platforms beyond your entertainment. You will understand how you can manage smoothly Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and a blog or website that would ultimately contain your range of products and will be your online base. Learn what search engine optimization is so that even if you wouldn’t do it and would rather hire a company to do so, you know its benefits for online digital marketing.
Social media managers are expensive. So if you get the appropriate expertise, you can follow this career path. To gain experience, you can offer free or low rates to friends who have start-up businesses. Maybe you know someone who has started a cake business or someone who’s providing party decorations. You can even open and manage social media accounts for friends who are doing cleaning services.
Clarify to them that you are also just beginning and you would like to apply the principles and strategies you have learned. The real payout you’ll get for this is your practice platform.
If you don’t have friends willing to take on your experiments, you can open a personal account marketing yourself. The accounts will already promote your skill as a content developer and social media manager.
Language proficiency
Language takes time to learn. However, unless you’re planning to become a professional translator, basic proficiency levels are already good enough to improve your Curriculum Vitae.
Companies that have dealings with South American countries, for example, would be glad if their staff can at least understand common Spanish phrases used in business transactions. The same goes for other multinational companies with operations in China or maybe Japan. They don’t require their staff to know these languages, but it will give you leverage if you do.
To practice, you can sign up to be an online English tutor. It’s not going to pay that well, but it’s a good practice platform, especially if you’re tutoring children. Although online tutorials have session templates, what these children and adults are looking for is someone to practice conversing with. When you explain your language, you can try to explain it in their language. They don’t expect you to be proficient in their language, so it’s a plus.
Writing or graphic design
These courses are best for those who already have a proclivity for this field. It takes a lot of time to hone these skills, especially if you’re a complete beginner. But if you have already been writing or sketching, doing graphic illustrations as a hobby would be profitable for you to learn professional techniques.
Changing your career in sales to that of a writer might be difficult since companies would prefer individuals who have a long experience in specific writing work and had been trained for these. For example, they would want someone who has ten years of experience writing policy briefs, or someone who has five years in proposal writing, so forth. But if you start with some freelance jobs, not minding the pay, you can build your clients’ network.
It might be easier for graphic designers since you can have an online portfolio of your work. If potential clients like your style, they would try you out.
The effect of the pandemic had hit the economy hard. But don’t allow it to burden you with worries further and affect other parts of your life. Finances can be tough, but if you’re willing to go beyond your comforts, you might discover more skills and strengths. Think of it as a road detour. And who knows, that detour might take to better places.
