The world is constantly changing and with the rise of industry 4.0, or the 4th industrial revolution, the changes are happening far more rapidly and dramatically. You need to be prepared to stay up to date and even more so, you need to find a way to be ahead of the game. This is especially important if you want to ensure that you have value to offer in the working world. Never grow complacent and assume that you know your industry. If you take your foot off the pedal of learning, you will quickly find yourself on a 4 by 2 boat drifting away as the ship sails past you on its way to meet the money train. You need to find ways to ensure that you, your knowledge and your skills are current.
Consider online courses
Once you’ve entered the working world, you won’t likely have time to stop and go back to university. So, if you want to continue your education, look for some online courses or courses offered in modular blocks that can be managed while continuing to work full time. If you’re in the property sector, you could look for building and construction courses online. There are also cheap online learning programmes which are cheap but good enough for you to learn new skills, it just won’t be as credible on your resume as a well-recognised academic institution.
Is it jobs or is it skills of the future?
The latest world economic forum listed the skills that will be required in order to be employable in jobs of the future and these aren’t the traditional skills such as accountant, architects, and doctors but more skills such as critical thinking, complex problem solving, decision making, negotiation, cognitive flexibility, emotional intelligence. Learning hard skills are less and less of a must but being able to problem solve and being agile is far more valuable in the fast pace changing work environments.
Read the news
Never underestimate the value of reading the news. Sometimes a lot of what you learn about the future of your industry is through following what is happening either in other businesses or in new developments to the industry, like that of artificial intelligence. It can also be knowledgeable about things that are less direct, like trade conversations between the United States of America and China. You could learn really valuable information about macroeconomics and other large forces that shape the world you live in and the industry you work in.
Attend conferences
Find the right conferences to go to where you can engage in the latest conversations and debates in your sector. Look for those that are happening in your own city and find a way for you to be able to attend. There is lots of money in conferencing and the ticket to attend can be super-pricey. Try to get early bird deals or offer to help in some way or another so they may gift you a free entry. You could also ask to be a speaker and that way you are guaranteed a spot.
