Young adults and post-secondary students have an understandable anxiety about the hurdle of experience necessary to enter the workforce after graduation. In the current economic climate, many entry-level positions require years of experience just to get a foot in the door – and while that hasn’t made entering a new field genuinely impossible, it has undoubtedly made it much more difficult, stressful, and intimidating. This can be anxiety-inducing for anyone looking to switch career paths, new graduates, and students looking towards their post-graduation years with understandable hesitancy.
Learn In-Demand Skills
So, how can students, graduates, and those interested in change build the skills and experience they need to gain entry into a new career? Building both hard and soft skills is critical, and this is true throughout your entire career. In preparing for a future career, consider which in-demand skills you can learn now and put into practice. Consider also that there is an ever-growing demand for digital skills in all fields, and having these skills can put you ahead.
Leverage Skills Gaps
As the digital universe continues to expand at an exponential rate – leverage the growing skills gap that accompanies it. Even the most minor techy position can be more easily done with a firm grasp on the modern, digital world. So, look at the technical skills that will best serve you in your future career – which programs, applications, and concepts will be necessary? You can learn almost all of these now. Be sure to get creative with your learning; make projects, build a portfolio that demonstrates this new skill set.
Don’t Forget Soft Skills
Beyond learning hands-on digital skills, continue to build your ‘soft skills.’ Things like communication, time management, and organization are critical skills to have in any profession and should not be overlooked.
It can be very stressful, if not terrifying, to think about stepping into today’s workforce for the first time. It can feel overwhelming – like trying to step into a pool without a ladder. So, by taking time to try and learn the basics of swimming, getting into that pool will be a little easier. In addition, there are a host of online resources for building skills. By using your creativity to put these skills into practice on your own projects, you can prepare yourself and your resume for the brilliant career ahead of you.
Read more about choosing a digital career in our article Choosing a Career in Today’s Digital Marketplace