5 Key Steps To Making Sure Your Skills Stay Relevant

Employees are considered the most critical component of an organization’s success. However, in today’s world where business organizations are on a transformation spree to go digital, neither the qualified nor the skilled, only those who are adaptable to the relentless change can survive the evolution. As stated in a recent report on ‘The Future of Jobs’ by the World Economic Forum, by 2020, on an average, more than a third of the desired core skill sets of most occupations will be comprised of skills that are not yet considered crucial to the jobs of today.

So as an employee, how does one learn new skills and make sure that their current skillset stays relevant as well? Simply by recognising the threat of becoming obsolete, emphasising on learning, unlearning and relearning things to remain up-to-date by constantly upgrading one’s skills. But, unlearning old skills is far more difficult than learning new ones afresh, yet vital. Thus, to navigate this inevitable reskilling procedure, here are 5 steps that can help in keeping your skills relevant in this fast-changing world:

1. Polish your existing skills: Get more proficient with what you already know to ensure that you are the best at your existing role. You would also need to stay up-to-date with any new developments within your field apart from improving on your core strength areas. This will help you in staying prepared for situations when you get a chance to display your best performance in a dynamic work environment. It will also ensure your value and relevance in a competitive workplace.

2. Expand your skill sets: Staying in the same hierarchy of work with just the existing skills will not accomplish anything. It is necessary to learn adjacent skills and proficiencies at a domain level, and at an industry level, to extend your expertise. This will enable you to go beyond doing well in your existing field of work. Get in touch with the human resources staff at your current organisation to understand the most preferred skills for your profession and your current role and then work towards building these skills in tandem with your existing core competencies.

3. Make a plan: Once the skills have been identified, make sure you grab every opportunity of equipping yourself with them through certifications that can add value to your professional profile, seminars, talks and other kinds of exposure. Although companies roll out many on-job skilling opportunities for the employees, the latter can also invest in relevant online courses on their own and acquire certifications in emerging technologies to stay ahead of the curve.

4. Attend Workshops: There are many ed-tech platforms and software providers that offer technology workshops or online programming tutorials. This will enable you to get in touch with experts from different organisations who will provide you many useful professional suggestions in terms of the most in-demand skills in your profession and quick tips and tricks on getting better at these skills. Make use of every such chance!

5. Adapt to new technologies by volunteering: Learning to use a new technology can be an extremely daunting task. The best way to make the first move is to start using it. This practice will make you proficient in those new technologies and adapt to them better for any professional endeavours in the future. Volunteering to take on projects that employ those new technologies and skills at work is yet another way to develop the skills you’re keen on developing. The eventual goal should be to acquire a promotion or pay raise in the existing job or land a new job with the newly acquired skills so that you never have to feel worried about your professional future.

The future belongs to those who are willing to step out of their comfort zones to learn new things and technologies that can add value to all the concerned stakeholders, customers, employers and obviously, you! So what are you waiting for? Get cracking on your new skills already!