Career Skills that Will Help You Get Hired Now

The Story

Learning how to bake bread IS a skill. Unfortunately, it probably won’t get you hired right now. Good news: there are other ways to stand out even in today’s tough job market. 

I’m looking to make that bread, not just bake it...

Start by taking inventory of your skills. This includes everything from hard skills like software or program training, to softer ones like interpersonal and communication skills. Because everyone’s doing puzzles during quarantine, think of this list like your own personal puzzle. Now get ready to scramble the pieces.

What skills are companies looking for?

COVID-19 has fast-tracked digital transformation. So anything that can help a company better utilize technology and data is going to be appealing. Think: coding, web development, digital marketing, data literacy, robotics, and logistics management. No judgement if you need to Google any of these.

Feeling stuck...

Try thinking about which industries are growing and changing right now — like healthcare and delivery services —versus which ones are paused—like travel and restaurants. Try to apply your skills and experiences to the ones in the first category. Do you have software training that could help a hospital IT department? Could you help a company that’s seeing an increase in orders (for example, Blue Apron or Amazon)? Does your PR experience make you uniquely positioned to consult for a startup launching during a pandemic? 

How can I grow my skill set?

There are plenty of online courses available. Some of our favorite resources to look into are…

• Virtual courses at places like Coursera, Khan Academy, Udemy, MIT OpenCourseWare, Alison, and CreativeLive

• Learning hard skills like coding at SkillShare or Codecademy

• Certifications from places like Microsoft or LinkedIn Learning

theSkimm

Developing new skills during quarantine to make yourself stand out as a candidate is a good investment. But if that’s beyond your current bandwidth — that’s okay. Focus on packaging all the skills you do have instead to get noticed faster by companies and industries that are hiring.