How to Learn In Demand Skills in the Current Workforce and Build Confidence for a New Career

Learning new skills can be just the right opportunity to get your foot in the door of a desired company, especially during a career shift. Not only is learning new skills a perfect way to show employers that you are dedicated and committed to your future, but it is also a way to keep yourself motivated and encouraged on your journey. By learning new skills, you are showing future employers that you are a good fit for the position you apply for, even if you lack experience.

Now more than ever, hard and soft skills are in high demand. But what skills should you be learning to be a competitive applicant? Let’s go over basic skills you can learn to help you enter any industry and learn what industry-specific skills are in-demand for 2022.

Skills Everyone Should Be Learning and Perfecting Right Now

To be a competitive applicant, it’s important to have a combination of hard and soft skills. For instance, soft skills are a combination of people skills, communication skills, personality traits, and social and emotional intelligence that complement hard, technical, or job-related skills. Soft skills are becoming increasingly important in the workforce as companies and organizations are prioritizing workplace culture. Some soft skills that are important to learn right now are:

Communication and collaboration - Successful collaboration is closely linked to strong communication skills, and employers want to make sure that you can work well within a team, as well as be a self-starter. Make sure to pull examples from past work experiences when you were successful communicating with a team and what the end result was.

Project management - Skills involving project management span between many different job descriptions. Being efficient, organized, and staying on top of your tasks are project management skills future employers are looking for, even if you are not a project manager. 

Leadership - Setting goals, building strong relationships, motivating teams, focusing on successful outcomes, setting expectations, and taking initiative are all examples of soft leadership skills that can help you stand out, even if you haven’t had direct leadership or people-management experience. Try to fine-tune these skills and use them to present yourself as a leader on your resume. 

Customer service - Not only is strong communication critical in customer service, but so is creative problem solving, time management, empathy and understanding, and active listening. These are all soft skills that will be important throughout the multiple industries that you may be applying for.

Industry Specific Skills to Dig Deeper Into and Build On

Knowing the most in-demand skills for your industry is crucial to narrow down which ones you already know and where you still have room to grow. Resources like “22 In-Demand Skills for 2022” will help you discover what skills you can start to learn on your career path. Here is a highlight of some of the hard, technical, and more industry-specific skills for this coming year:

Tech Skills - Technical skills are practical skills, abilities, and knowledge that are needed to perform a specific job. When those specific jobs require you to work with technology or equipment, it will be necessary for you to have prior knowledge of the technical skills for that role. Some technical skills that will be in demand in 2022 include AI + machine learning, data science, Salesforce, and web programming – JavaScript, CSS, HTML, and PHP.

Marketing and Creative Skills - These skills will make you stand out in the roles you are applying for within the marketing and creative industries. Digital marketing skills such as social media and email marketing are a must for those applying for in-demand jobs in 2022. Graphic design skills, even if you are not a designer or are not applying for design jobs, will help you stand out as a candidate and show that you are committed to learning. Other marketing skills can include web design (user interface/user experience,, creative writing, lead generation, search engine optimization (SEO), and search engine marketing (SEM).

Additional skills to learn and perfect include product management, administrative or organizational training, and sales and negotiation. These skills can help you become a standout candidate in a diverse number of industries, and keeping up to date on digital skills is a must in the ever-evolving workforce. 
To get started on your skills training, make sure to check out our free resources, including  our skills training resources, where you can learn how to use these skills on your job search!