Career Upskilling Guide for 2022 – bridging the gap between education and employment
According to the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation, 74% of hiring managers are experiencing a skills gap in the workforce, which makes hiring top talent a challenge. This means that there is an abundance of opportunities for skilled job seekers right now. For those who find themselves with the right set of skills, 2022 is the right time to make a professional move.
Whether you’re an employee or an employer or perhaps neither, there’s one phrase that applies almost universally—Survival of the fittest. To avoid getting too philosophical, let’s stick to what this phrase means in the corporate world, particularly for hiring. Employees and organizations are constantly upskilling and upgrading what they have to offer—or at least, the best ones are.
The fittest candidates land the best jobs. And the fittest organizations land the best candidates.
Employee expectations have gone through a sea of changes, especially since The Great Resignation phenomenon in 2021—priorities have changed and they want a lot more than money and job security to consider taking up a job offer. They want jobs that offer personal and professional growth.
And here’s the thing: Hiring new employees is much more expensive and competitive than before. With 2021 being the record-breaking year for Unicorns, salary expectations have exponentially increased.
So how can an organization close skill gaps with the best candidates and retain them without burning through their budgets?
What is upskilling?
Upskilling can be defined as the process of teaching an employee additional skills or the acquisition of new talents that might be required for present or future projects. Upskilling can mean teaching employees more digital skills, managerial training, analytical skills, etc. This is not to be confused with reskilling.
What’s the difference between upskilling and reskilling?
Upskilling is the process of taking your skills and knowledge in a certain area to a new level, while the term reskilling involves learning new skills so you can do a different job. Upskilling primarily focuses on helping employees become more skilled and relevant at their current position within the organization.
Why is employee upskilling more important than ever today?
The American Upskilling Study conducted by Gallup gives us concrete evidence that employees are looking for a lot more than just a stable salary from their jobs:
- 65% of American workers believe employer-provided upskilling is very important when evaluating a potential new job
- 48% of American workers would switch to a new job if offered skills-training opportunities
Increased enrollment on e-learning platforms
The past two years have seen a substantial increase in online learning by adults. Much of the training that was originally planned for the classroom is now being delivered online. Furthermore, individuals are being encouraged to use the time freed up by short-time work schemes to train online from home and acquire new skills deemed useful in the aftermath of the Great Resignation.
Main pros and cons of online upskilling
Many consider online education as more accessible and comfortable, which would be one of the main cons of online learning. An article in the New York Times by an incoming high school freshman in New York City praised online learning due to it offering “more time on subjects that require greater effort and study.” However, it only is this accessible to those who have access to the internet and required technology. According to the National Center of Education Statistics (NCES), 14% of younger students do not have access to the Internet at home, roughly equating to 9 million students.
A huge advantage of online courses is not only their accessibility but also their affordability. While most traditional on-campus programs can range from $22,000 to $50,000 yearly, virtual opportunities can cut those costs in half. An added boon to virtual learning is the flexibility of studying remotely, a talent that poises many students to be uniquely prepared for a professional marketplace where remote options are commonplace. As the coronavirus pandemic pushes students to alternative education routes, online learning provides the benefit of easing the financial burden of traditional college.
PitchMe’s role in online upskilling
PitchMe is a skill-based job search platform. When creating a profile on the site, our clever AI technology extracts your skills from your current online presence. Given a list and chart of your hard and soft skills, we can match you with job adverts that require your exact qualifications!
It also allows our technology to match you with relevant upskilling courses to make you even more employable. At PitchMe, we wanted to contribute to making upskilling more accessible and affordable so all the courses can be accessed directly on our platform and completely free of charge. In fact, all our services are free of charge – registration, skill assessment, applying for jobs and upskilling.
The SmartMe profile shows you where you’re heading, not just where you’ve been (like employment history on your CV). We recommend education courses to fill up your skill gaps. Find opportunities to broaden your knowledge or to change your career! On our platform, we offer almost 100 different courses. Depending on your experience, we will match you with one of them. You can see the course suggestions on the right of your dashboard, right under your profile score graph.
What courses can you do on our platform?
Register on PitchMe and apply for jobs or upskill!
How to create an online course?
Let’s say you took our advice and learn something completely new with courses available on our platform and it allowed you to requalify or get a better job as you’re really good at it! You might wonder how to create your own online course and spread the knowledge you acquired. In this case, we would like to recommend to you The Ultimate Guide on How to Create an Online Course by Xperiencify!
Who knows, maybe your knowledge and course can change lives too?
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