10 Ways to Develop Skills for Career Development and Advancement
Whether you’re in product management or technology, the job market only rewards those who can keep growing and developing new skills, but that’s easier said than done.
Depending on your field, there can be way too many skills to pick from, and who’s to say those skills will be helpful in the long run? That’s why in this article, we’ll look at ten effective ways to develop skills for career development and what skills to develop.
What is a skill set?
A skill set is a unique collection of skills and abilities for different individuals according to their interests, qualifications, natural qualities, and education. The skills you have under your belt can affect how well you do at your job and also set you apart from others.
While your natural abilities can affect your skill set, you can learn new skills and improve old ones by educating yourself and gaining more experience because the more you do a particular thing, the better you get at it and the better you get at applying your skills, the closer you are to achieving your career goals.
Types of skills
There are generally two types of skills you can have in your skill set: hard and soft skills.
Hard skills are technical or hands-on skills you need to effectively carry out your professional responsibilities, while soft skills are interpersonal skills that make it easy for you to communicate and relate with others at work. Unlike some hard skills, soft skills are transferrable and useful for all jobs in any industry.
Examples of soft skills are:
- Communication
- Adaptability
- Creative
- Leadership skill
- Negotiation
- Conflict resolution
- Teamwork
- Time management
While you can learn soft skills through your interaction with others, hard skills can be learned through tutorials and training. Examples of hard skills are:
- Copywriting
- Knowledge of industry tools like Jira, Figma, and ClickUp
- Foreign language fluency
- Copywriting
- Graphic design
- Event planning
- Information technology
- Financial analysis
One important difference between soft and hard skills is that you don’t need actual evidence to show that you have something like communication skills, whereas you need evidence or a certificate to show that you have a hard skill, like knowledge of Python or Django.
How can you develop a new skill for career development?
Professional development is necessary to land a better role in any field, and you can’t achieve that without expanding your skill set and showing your current employer or potential employers that you’re capable of more than the other people vying for the same position.
The following are ten ways you can develop your skills for career development and advancement.
Set goals for yourself
Consider setting goals that are related to learning new skills for you to achieve. Make sure those goals are specific, measurable, actionable, relatable, and time-bound. If you don’t create a career development plan and set a timeline for the skills, you may find yourself procrastinating, and if they are not specific and relatable, you may find yourself learning skills that aren’t relatable to your career goals.
Therefore, consider setting beginning and end dates for your goals and aligning them with your career goals.
Find a mentor
If you’re finding it difficult to learn new skills, consider finding a mentor who can give you advice on what specific skills you should develop, which ones you should highlight on your resume, and the best ways to learn them.
Mentors are senior colleagues you respect who have successfully achieved career growth and can give you practicable insights into how you can achieve your goals. You can reach out to potential mentors by sending out informal messages on LinkedIn or other social platforms, and these messages can eventually evolve into professional relationships.
Get feedback
You can’t improve your skills and knowledge if you don’t know there’s something to improve to begin with. So, try to learn about your strengths and weaknesses. Ask your friends, family, superiors, or colleagues about the things they believe you can improve, and ask for feedback from people who can give you honest critiques rather than empty praises. Once you know where you’re lacking, you can easily focus on developing skills to make up for them.
Volunteer
Take on challenges that push you out of your comfort zone and motivate you to learn new skills or develop the ones you already have. Also, you need to learn to showcase your abilities and make yourself visible within your organization so your skills won’t go unnoticed.
Go for online degrees
One of the fastest ways to develop hard skills or learn new technical skills is to enroll in an advanced degree than you already have. Most companies encourage their employees to further their education, while many of these companies will even go as far as to provide tuition assistance for these programs.
The additional benefit of an online degree is that you can develop hard skills and position yourself for promotion without physically attending a school and in your own free time.
Explore continuing professional education in your field
These are courses that are often taught by experienced professionals in a field or provided by professional bodies. These courses are necessary to stay current with industry trends and can set you apart from other professionals.
Continuing professional courses can be in the form of conferences, bootcamps, or workshops.
Try out company training
Many companies collaborate with independent training bodies to help their employees develop industry-relevant skills and improve productivity. If your company is one of these companies, you can check in with your supervisor to learn what specific courses you can take and how those courses can help you advance your career.
Participate in job shadowing
This is a great way to learn hands-on skills and get real-time feedback from another professional. To make this effective, you need to make sure you’re shadowing people who have a lot of personal and professional experience in the field. They should also be willing to explain things you don’t understand, or you may find yourself more confused at the end of the day.
Join a professional association
Professional associations make it easy for you to mingle with other people in your field and learn about the skills that are necessary to succeed in your job. These professional bodies can exist on local or international levels. They can also organize conferences and bootcamps to make learning new industry must-have skills easier.
Check out relevant certifications
You can explore industry-recognized certifications to show evidence that you’ve learned technical skills. For example, getting a certificate from Scrum Alliance as a scrum master can help you show that you have the relevant skills for the job.
Final thoughts on ways to develop skills for career development
Developing skills for career development is not easy. You have to actively plan, set realistic goals, and work towards achieving those goals in a reasonable manner, but it eventually pays off in the end. If you do it right, you can easily get that salary increase or promotion you’ve been looking for.
FAQs
What skill should I learn first?
One of the first skills you should learn as a professional is communication. This skill can make working with other people easier and also help you achieve your goals faster.
How can I build my career successfully?
You can build your career successfully by setting specific, measurable, actionable, relatable, and time-bound goals while staying positive and networking with others in the field.
How do I pick a skill to learn?
You can pick a skill to learn by analyzing what you do in your current job, job requirements, and industry trends.
