Increase Your Chances of Getting A Job

How personal development courses can help you to get the job you always wanted:

Dream jobs are desired by everyone within the working world. Who would not want to have the most idealistic position with the best pay? The problem is that the best jobs require quite a bit of skills and are highly competitive to get into. Employers do not want to find an employee that fits into a notch, but rather a potential employee that is diversified in their online computer skills, professional development skills, language skills, and experience. If you are one of the many people who are having trouble breaking into your particular field of expertise, it may not be that you are under skilled in your profession, but that you lack the professional skillset that the employer is seeking.

What are professional development skills?

Professional development skills are those skills which are required in the professional world but are outside of the technical skillset for the job. These are the assets which make you valuable to an employer. Such skills include:

  • Business Planning
  • Communications
  • Conflict Resolution
  • Customer Service
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Marketing
  • Negotiation
  • Problem Solving
  • Public Speaking
  • Team Building
  • Writing

Each job that you apply for will want to test your ability in one or more of the above categories. Where it may be true that you are the best skilled person, if you cannot communicate why you should be the person for the job (public speaking) or if you cannot come up with various solutions to a given hypothetical situation where your specific skills would be needed (problem solving) then you will not be the top choice as a candidate for the position. Simply put, the professional development skills are the professional to personal engagement skills needed to succeed in today’s world.

Test your professional development skills

One of the best ways in which you can come up with a list of professional skills that you need is to do a mock interview for the desired position. Do this with a non-biased person (mom, dad, and friends are not a good selection as they tend to cater to making you want to feel good). Upon finishing the mock interview, ask the person who was acting as the interviewer what your strengths and weaknesses were.

Another way in which you can test your professional development skills is to look at your current job and see what is required for advancement. If you have been at the same job for years and have not had any advancement opportunities, it may be due to a weak set of professional development skills. Taking an online learning course in the professional development skill of your choosing may give you the advantage over another potential hire.

Standing above the competition

It is one thing to say that you have professional skills in a particular area and quite another to show that you have been trained in a specific professional management skill. Resumes are important, but if the experience in the field is lacking, there must be something else that draws the employer into seeing you as an asset to the business. You have to have something worth hiring. Employers who see that you have received and passed training courses in talent management, internet marketing, human resources, and in leadership are more apt to put you into the position that requires those skills. And where such skills are a necessity for the upper management jobs, they are equally important for entry level positions. For example: If you are a welder and applying for a job in construction the employer will want to ensure that you are a problem solver, that you have project management skills, and that you understand the finances involved in larger construction projects.

Updating your skillset

Managers and those who oversee other employees may want to consider upgrading their professional development skills to better oversee their employees. As technologies and management methodologies are constantly changing, and as employer engagement continues to be a major issue within both small and large businesses, it is critical that managers and team leaders have the latest information and skills in team management, entrepreneurship and small business, as well as in team building. Apart from the professional responsibility of the management and team leader, upgrading your skillset makes it far more difficult for another person to take the position or receive that promotion over you.


Getting Started with your professional development

Cudoo is an online learning website that has a great amount of courses and content to help you develop yourself professionally. The site is divided into three main sections. These are languages, computer skills, and professional development skills. Creating an account is free and easy. Should you have any questions about the courses available please let us know.

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