Lauren RileyDuring your career, you might come to a point where you feel that your skills aren’t keeping up with the fast, ever-changing pace of the industry – and this is especially true in digital.
Whether it’s a new tool that you’re not familiar with, a search algorithm you’re struggling to grasp or a social platform you can’t get your head around, it’s quite a scary situation when you feel that you’re not as competent at your job as you used to be.
So, how do you get yourself back up to speed? Well, there are a few things you can do to upgrade your job skills – and we’ve listed some here for you.
1) Take An Online Course
If it’s more technical skills like coding or analytics that you’re struggling to keep up-to-date with, then there are plenty of online courses you can take to brush up on your skills.
Also, if it’s more the digital marketing side of things that’s the issue, then the Chartered Institute of Marketing do some really good digital marketing courses that can be taken online or at a training centre and you come out with a recognised qualification at the end of it.
2) Read More Blogs
In an industry such as digital, even the most advanced courses lag behind the evolution of the sector, and some can become instantly out of date.
Studying industry blogs are a great way of staying in the loop with any changes or advances in your particular niche, so it’s a good idea to have them all bookmarked and sign up for their newsletters.
In digital, good blogs to keep an eye on are TechCrunch, Moz and Social Media Examiner, but there are many more discover.
3) Start An Out-Of-Work Project
Another way of updating your skills is to address the issue head-on and start developing your skills in your own time.
Whether it’s building a website using a new platform, setting up a page on a new social platform, or using a new coding language, using these on your own personal project is a great way of developing your skills.
Also, personal projects are great things to put on your CV as they show that you’re passionate about your career outside of the workplace.
4) Attend Some Conferences
The great things about the digital industry is that there are loads of really useful conferences you can attend.
Not only are they full of great people you can network with, but they’re also a fantastic place to take part in workshops to develop your skills.
For example, a social media conference might give you the opportunity to break off from the main conference and join a workshop all about how to increase your reach on LinkedIn, or you could even build a relationship with a Twitter influencer that you admire and glean some insight from them.
A quick Google search will bring up all the conferences in your area, but also check out TedX conferences which take place all around the world.
So there we go, some tips on how to update your job skills when you’re feeling a little rusty. Do you agree with these tips or have any of your own?
Let me know in the comments below.
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