Learning new skills can be key when trying to find a new job or changing industries. What habits or leaning methods can improve upon skills learned in the workforce?


1. Find out what the emerging skills in your industry are

Engineering and IT are flexible fields that are ever-evolving. As a result, there are always new emerging skills. They could be centered around new systems, applications or methods, but there will be emerging skills tomorrow, a decade from now and 20 years on.


Keep abreast of the emerging skills in your industry. Several ways of doing this exist. You can make it a habit to keep on top of job postings, even when you’re not looking for a job. New job listings are places where the skills employers want now are going to be posted. If you make it a habit to look at them, you can also spot trends.


You can also ask mentors for advice. Your supervisor and senior colleagues can be good sources of advice. You can attend meetings and conferences in your field and note what skill trends of the future are discussed.


2. Learn new things and implement them quickly.

One you find the emerging trends, stay on top of them. As online learning becomes more prevalent, it’s easier to find a convenient course to help you hone cutting-edge skills. Massive online open courses, or MOOCs, often teach engineering or computing courses.


According to the Harvard Business Review, 72 percent of students who took courses through Coursera, one of the MOOCs, gained specific job-related benefits. They obtained a new job, a raise or simply became more effective at their jobs.


It’s important to put your new learning and new skills into effective quickly as well. New knowledge learned is often knowledge lost if you don’t have chance to use it in the real world. Doing the things you’ve learned will make you remember them. Not doing them can lead to forgetting, or simply never having a forum to show them off.


If your job doesn’t accommodate your new skills, see if you can volunteer at an organization that needs them, or develop your own project.


3. Establish a benchmark

People need to stick to new learning and new skill development more if they’re trying to hit a goal with them. Before starting a new course or developing a new skill, set the benchmark you want to hit with it.


You goal can be a new job or a promotion. It can be a place in an emerging part of your sector.


As your career progresses, continue to benchmark what you want to achieve with new skills and evolving knowledge. It will motivate your acquisition of skills and knowledge more. Let Nesco Resource help take your career to the next level. Contact us today to learn more