Learning New Marketable Skills

by Lucille Adams, guest author*

Re-entering the workforce and looking for a job can be exciting, but it can also be downright scary. What if there’s nothing out there for you? What if you don’t have the skills to do a job? Rather think about it this way: This is a chance to learn new skills that you’ll be able to use to get a job. This’ll mean you are more likely to find employment.

You could always enroll in night school or go to college to complete a certificate or even a degree. That’s not the only way to learn new skills, though. There are other opportunities that can make you marketable as a worker. You could aim to go to school in the future, but right now, there are plenty of other skills you can learn that are immediately marketable.

If you do a search looking for certain courses or specific skills, the hits that come up first have been with search engine optimization, meaning they feature the correct keywords to make them first in the queue.

Literacy

A lot of the new skills that are marketable presuppose or require some form of literacy. The first level of literacy is to be able to communicate. Go out and find a conversational course in a new language or refine your ability in another language. These skills could be very useful to help you to get your foot in the door with an entry-level job.

The Service Industry

Everywhere you visit, you’ll find some kind of food-related businesses. They offer a range of possible employment opportunities. Begin working in a restaurant kitchen as a kitchen helper. From there, you can learn the basics of the kitchen and aim to become at least a kitchen assistant.

There is also an opportunity to get yourself onto the floor as a server. You can learn the skills of relating to people and organizing the front-of-house, which will be useful if you aim to be a maître d of a restaurant, or even work in a hotel.

Bookkeeping

Finances and record keeping are often the bane of anyone’s life. Even in small businesses, or where there is a one-person operation, it’s vital to keep the books correctly. If your basic math is good, you could possibly look for basic bookkeeping courses, which will make you marketable because everybody has to check their finances.

Childcare and Tutoring

The pandemic caused a lot of children to stay home from school. Most schools either offered work the children could do at home or an online teaching alternative. Families engage tutors to look after their children and to help guide them in their studies.

There are opportunities to begin as a childminder, caregiver or tutor. From there, you can work to upskill yourself as a teacher or tutor. This’ll open you up to a number of jobs, either at schools, in tutoring companies or working as a private tutor.

Content Writing

Writing content sounds pretty simple and something that you don’t need any skills to do. You do need some kind of ability to do research. To write content means to produce pieces of writing that discuss, explain or just present information relevant to a company. You can do courses in content writing.

Handcraft

Learning handcraft can be a great way to work at making your own money or finding a way into a company that uses that craft. Ask a relative or a friend to teach you to do handcraft like knitting or sewing. You could also take a class to learn handcraft.

Once you’ve learned those skills, you will be able to begin making garments or toys for people. If you work at it, you can turn your handcraft into a business.

Building and Repairs

Any building can be tricky and constantly need things to be fixed. If you can offer to work on the small, irritating, but mostly necessary issues, you could find work as a handy worker.

You can look for a position as an assistant to a contractor. The work can be quite mundane and tiring at first, but it’ll give you the opportunity to learn on the job and master the skills of building, repair, or maintenance. These will help you possibly establish yourself as a contractor one day.

Trade Internships

Another alternative to learning new skills is to learn on the job as an intern. Look out for an opportunity to work with a tradesman, like a plumber or an electrician. You may not get paid, but the skills you’ll learn will be invaluable.

*Lucille Adams is a researcher and writer in the area of personal and business financial management. Her core focus is covering sound, conservative cash flow and investing strategies that unlock long-term value for small business owners, entrepreneurs, families, and retirees.