3 Websites to Learn New Job Skills

By Bill Wagner

Share on: 

Image via ixivixi.com

 

Jobs are back like it’s 1999. Openings are being created at a higher rate now than in the last few years according to this report from Fortune.com. When the real data is more closely examined, the answer is no, not really.

Still there you are hanging in there doing something you hate to get by day to day. You know you are good for something more than this. You have skills and you have drive and you have. . . . . . that something you think sets you apart from the rest of the sheep on job boards. You do have it. Maybe you just don’t know how to define it.

Or maybe you just need to update some skills and get current on terminology and techniques. Here are three places you can pick up a new skill or brush up some old ones so you can get in the door and kill the interview:

  1. GCFLearnfree.org- This site helps you brush on some basic skills like grammar and math, but a great feature is the free Microsoft Office training. Office is the standard software used by a majority of business. Being able to prepare and populate an Excel spreadsheet is more valuable than you think. Solid Word skills will get you a look and will help you better format your resume. Additionally, if you are like me, you can learn the real difference between Vine and YouTube if that happens to be something you need to know.
  2. Lynda.com- This is a membership site where for a monthly basic fee of $25 you have access to over 5,000 online courses with more being added all the time.  Upgrade to the premium package at $37.50 per month and get  access to downloadable material.The breadth of course offerings is wider here because you are paying for it. Instructor quality is also a feature here. Like everything else in life, you get what you pay for.
  3. Udemy.com- Of the three listed here this is the one with the biggest library of courses at over 22,000. Fees are on a per course basis that begin at $10 and go up from there. Some more complex and in demand courses can cost $200 or more. Getting what you pay for is also true here. Choosing from 22,000 or more courses could result in paralysis by analysis.

The one commonality for all three of these sites is portability. You can watch all the courses on a tablet or laptop with a decent WiFi connection.

If you have a larger budget and more time on your hands, there are many other certificate programs online. Beware of diploma mills and super slick marketing that promises to double your salary with one course completed in less than three days. Nothing is ever that easy and they are most likely phishing.

Do your research. Find what fits for you. Finish the work. Then go be awesome.

  Back to Candidate blogs