Jun 6th 2022

How to power-up your potential

Want to make sure you are on the top of your game? Well, put down whatever you’re doing right now, grab a cuppa, and dive into this blog to help you on your way. We have a cheeky insight into the ever-changing working world, and tips on how to get your professional and personal development on track. Plus, a sneak peek into an exciting new feature on our platform that might just have all you need…  

Out with the old in with the new 

So to kick things off, what is a career? The idea of picking one career path and then riding that wave until retirement is pretty daunting. But whilst that used to be the norm, today the modern workforce is quickly evolving to the point that a career change is not only encouraged, but expected. 

In fact, the average person will change careers 5-7 times during their working life. The days of committing to one career are over. Welcome to the age of upskilling, where your career path is not one destination, but a journey of different adventures. 

Sounds great, doesn’t it? But if you want to catch a ride on this new way of working and have an exciting career then you need to focus on your professional and personal development. Whether it’s upskilling or reskilling, this is the best way to power up your potential. 

What is upskilling/reskilling and why is it so useful? 

Both upskilling and reskilling will teach you new skills and support your career progression. But upskilling focuses on supercharging your current career path. Reskilling is all about the skills you need if you’re looking to take on a new adventure. 

Whether you’re looking to make a career change, enhance your work life or improve yourself, there’s no doubt that taking on the challenge of building your skill set will help you achieve your goals and keep you ahead of the curve. Coupled with the fact that 80% of employees say upskilling or reskilling has boosted their confidence and productivity at work… It really is a no-brainer! 

5 tips to power up your potential 

You’re probably now wondering where to begin, flashbacks of those cherished (not) memories of sitting in a crowded lecture hall probably come to mind. But as the way of working has changed, so has the way of learning. Upskilling or reskilling doesn’t need to involve a “back to school” approach. The rise of technology has opened up a whole new world of digital tools that allow quick access to learning. This means you can build your skillset easily over the course of your career, with very little interruption to your day-to-day life. Pretty great right? 

So to kickstart your professional development into gear we have some tips to help you power up your potential. 

Know your own goals 

This new way of thinking does not mean you have to become an entrepreneur overnight with a thousand skills under your belt. It is an exciting journey and like most journeys, you pick a starting point that makes sense to you and then set off. They don’t call it a career path for anything. 

So for starters, you need to take a step back and identify your goals. Ask yourself some of the below questions: 

• Do you have a specific career path you want to take? 
• Are you looking for a step up in your current career or a side step into a different role? 
• Are there particular skills gaps that you are looking to fill? 

There is no right or wrong answer. Figure out what it is you want and then you can work out what it is you need for your own personal and professional development.  

Find your knowledge gaps 

Next stop – figure out your knowledge gaps. If you are upskilling you may find you either need to brush up on a few skills or fill in some gaps here and there. But if it’s reskilling for a full change-up then you will probably be looking at a whole revamp of a new set of skills. Either way, there are a couple of things you can do to work out what you need. 

• Browse job descriptions for your desired role, here you can spot the skills employers are looking for and work out the gaps you need to fill. If you are looking for a career change, this will tell you what skills you need to get under your belt before you can start applying. 
• Dig into your network. We live in a world where we have access to people all over the place. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people on Linkedin for help and advice on how to further your personal development to give you the leg up you’re after. 
• Stay on trend. Take a step back and see what’s happening in the wider industry. From there you can apply what is “on trend” skillswise to your own goals and work out how to get yourself ahead of the curve on the career path of your choice. Online surveys by some of the big dogs such as McKinsey can provide useful insights into upcoming trends in the working world.

Go digital to learn new hard skills 

Welcome to the world of tech where everything you need is simply a click away. There are a bunch of useful online platforms that can help you upskill/reskill right at home, in a cafe or while you travel. This makes it easy to get learning without too much disruption to your everyday life. You can even do it alongside your current job, hassle-free. 

So whether you are looking to become a social media master, a programming god, or a public speaker that would put Martin Luther King to shame, the below platforms can help you get there. 

• Udemy. This platform gives you access to thousands of online video courses to expand your career opportunities.  
• TikTok learn (or shall we say #LearnOnTikTok). This program started in COVID-19 and has a range of educational videos to help encourage learning and personal development. 
• Coursera. Here you can build job-ready skills, even if you’re new to the field but where you learn at your own pace. 

Look to step up your soft skills 

Soft skills are more important than you think. Did you know that a whopping 85% of job success comes from having well-developed soft skills? And employers are even calling them power skills. How come? Learning and Development (L&D) and HR leaders see these skills as what gives employees power at work. Power to collaborate, power to communicate effectively, power to lead. So before you get bogged down with making sure you are a walking talking technical machine, take a look at what soft skills you might be missing. 

Why are they so important? Well for starters they give you that well-rounded edge that helps you to interact with others and stay productive at your job. By having great attention to detail, or being a top notch communicator you’ll stand out from the crowd to employers. 

To point you in the right direction here are the 9 soft skills employers want in 2022. 

Never stop learning 

Gaining new skills isn’t a one-and-done kind of mentality. As the working world is ever-changing so should you be ever-learning. Staying adaptable and constantly looking to learn new things is the key to growing with constantly evolving technologies and industries. 

A recent study found that the average half-life of a skill is five years. 

That means the skills you have now will be half as valuable in five years’ time. This is the best way to stay on the top of your game and ahead of the curve. 

“Having only one skill or holding only to your academic qualifications in an era of exponential change makes you economically vulnerable.”― Nicky Verd, Disrupt Yourself Or Be Disrupted

So to sum it all up 

As the working world continues to change as well as your own professional and personal development, you will need to acquire new skills that enable you to think and work in different ways. The future isn’t a fixed destination, it’s a journey that will take you down different career paths. But as long as you are dynamic and constantly looking to gain those skills you need you will have no problem reaching your full potential. 

Career Path… Power Up Your Potential

Any career path you go down is going to need you to be on top of your game by looking to power up your potential in the right skill sets.

Want to find all of the above, all in one place to help you upskill for your dream role? Introducing our new feature “Career Path”. Get access to carefully curated resources to help you on your career journey. It has clear progression roadmaps, salary benchmarking, and skills-based insights into five different startup careers. As your one-stop-career-shop to figure out what is next and how to get there it will help you with everything in this blog.

Visit Career Path to #PowerUpYourPotential