The job market is getting more competitive every day so keeping up to date with the latest trends in your field or getting a little more educated is essential.
There are tons of courses available online, both paid for and free, that will help you have an edge when applying for a job. Getting your resume noticed is the first step and a few added courses could be your ticket to success.
Here are the best online courses that can help you to get hired but also significantly improve your skills and fundamental knowledge.
Communication
Employers are constantly commenting on young job seekers’ lack of communication skills and how it negatively affects an office environment. It is also not necessarily a skill that is taught at college so diving into communication on your own time can make you stand out from other candidates.
Online communication courses can teach you successful negotiation strategies, presentation skills, and basics of interpersonal communication including body language and verbal communication. Not only will this look good on a resume but it is also a skill that carries through into the interview. The way you present yourself to a future employer is critical. As they say, there is no second chance on first impressions!
Design
Not everyone can be a designer, nor do many jobs require experience or skills in design. But getting some background in the fundamentals of design could be a big bonus when applying to certain jobs.
Having some basic design skills and understanding these principles can make you an indispensable employee and you will stand out head and shoulders above the other candidates. Courses offer basics in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator or platforms like Hack design dive into the fundamentals of design.
Teaching
Not everyone is born to teach, but adding a teaching credential to your resume is always beneficial. Having a degree, along with a TEFL certification will allow you to teach English as a foreign language abroad and a TEFL certificate is often a non-negotiable if you are looking to pursue this career.
TEFL courses are usually 150-180 hours long, depending on the requirements for the job. They will teach everything from classroom management to basic English concepts and pedagogical theory. Here is the exact one I had.
Language
This skill should be something you do for yourself, above for the potential benefits it has on a resume. Learning a new language is now more accessible than ever and you no longer need to pay for expensive language classes. There are even free apps that teach you the basics of the world’s most widely spoken languages.
Taking a course in German, French, Mandarin, Spanish, or Russian will help you fit in in an ever-globalizing job market where companies are expanding their worldwide reach faster than ever.
Digital Marketing
The importance of social media marketing and SEO strategies should not be underestimated. Understanding these fields and being able to successfully integrate them to any background should be non-negotiable.
A reputable SEO course will be the shining star on your resume and could make or break your job application. This goes hand in hand with information generated by Google Analytics. Being able to make sense of this data will help you understand consumer habits and increase engagement on search engines and social media. Who wouldn’t want to employ someone that can help make a company more money?
Data Analytics
Companies have been gathering data on all fronts for many years, but analyzing and interpreting that data is still a skill many workers lack. Data Scientists are some of the most sought-after professionals in the current economy and taking courses on mining and interpreting data can set you up for life.
You could look into Structured Query Language (SQL) and how to write SQL queries to help with data analytics. Learn to extract data, perform aggregation, and join tables together or explore machine learning to grasp statistical pattern recognition and data mining. Excel is still one of the most popular data analysis tools today and having a fundamental understanding of this common office tool is a huge bonus for any job seeker.
Web Development
Modern life is basically built on HTML and learning the basics of coding can make you the top candidate in any job interview. The essentials of HTML syntax can easily be learned through an online course along with the basics of a web page’s structure.
Front-end developers style websites through CSS, the cornerstone for most content on the web. Anyone can learn the basics of this through a myriad of respectable online courses helping you learn how to create and style content for the web. You can also look into Javascript and mobile web design, two skills that are becoming more and more essential.
Programming
While web developers work on the front end of things, programmers and computer scientists get into the nitty-gritty of the backend. Coders and IT experts are some of the most in-demand jobs and there is a massive gap in the market. Having basic skills in coding programs like Java or Python is invaluable and will shoot you straight to the top of the candidate list.
Coding languages are becoming more fundamental than spoken languages and these bonus skills can be exceptionally useful as the job market explodes into the technological age. There are courses on iOS development to learn how to create apps as well as Android courses that get you familiar with the Android platform. Many courses only require only moderate computer knowledge, making them accessible to all.
Writing
The fundamentals of writing seem to have gone out the window as we move towards a more automated work environment. But taking a course on writing for various situations is still one of the easiest ways to make you stand out in the job market.
Everything from CV writing to writing proposals, pitches, emails, and blog posts is covered in these courses. This skill might seem out of date but it is still a valuable asset to have, making it easy for you to be ahead of other candidates.
They might say that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but when it comes to an old dog in search of a new job, this is totally false. There is a course out there for everybody and adding some new credentials to your resume is the best way to get hired in today’s competitive market.
