What is an “Upskiller”?
This is someone who improves on their current skillset through training and further qualifications. Not to be confused with
Side-steppers who seek to learn new skills to transition into a new career, upskillers simply seek to progress within their existing occupation. In a way, most of us are at some point, right?
Why Enhance Current Skills?
There are many reasons as to why one would look to develop their existing skillset; generally, as you’d probably suspect, it’s to further climb the career ladder. It’s fair to suggest that the earlier you decide to improve your skills, the better-positioned your career-ceiling will be for it. That being said, it truly is never too late to increase your future employment prospects.
Let’s take a delve into some reasons as to why you should upskill:
- Almost half (42%) of people in the UK believe that they do not earn enough money.
- Over a third (36%) of us are actually unhappy at work and want to change careers. But we say why change careers if you can improve your skillset into a brand new, exciting, rewarding role?
- According to the Mental Health Foundation, 14.7% of mental health issues are associated with job dissatisfaction.
- Job roles are consistently evolving.
- Take advantage of the current surplus in job vacancies due to workers stagnating and being to comfortable in their current roles. Now we’ve looked at some of the reasons as to why it’s a good idea to upskill, let’s have a think about how one can go about it.
How to “Upskill”?
You’ve thought about learning new role-relevant skills. You’ve even researched and located new, higher-level roles that you’re aspiring to achieve. You’re now wondering how to get promoted. But, how exactly do you get there?
- Take further qualifications. This is the best, fastest and most effective method to achieve career progression. By increasing your level of qualification and knowledge, you’ll most likely find yourself pushing for that promotion within your current company* or may begin to be considered for some higher-responsibility, higher-paygrade roles externally.
*Don’t be afraid to test the waters with your current employer to feel out what opportunities might crop up!
- Go to industry events. There’s no limit to what you can learn from experienced industry professionals. Attending industry-related events can give some real valuable insight into your field and, you never know, you may learn some tricks of the trade that even your superiors aren’t aware of!
- Get involved with new projects within your current workplace. Ask your manager for some more responsibility or ask to at least be involved in some capacity with upcoming projects. With any luck, they should be willing to at least allow you to listen in and ask for an opinion every now and then. Either way, this shows you are eager to learn more and ready for more responsibility.
- Ask a professional colleague to be your mentor. Grab someone you respect within the workplace and see if they’d be up for showing you how to perform or understand some more senior-level responsibilities. They may politely decline or you may not feel the learnings are too relevant, but at the very least you should pick up some leadership skills to aid your skill development or, if there’s a lack of, can see how you’d better tackle leadership.
Failing that, if you simply decide that this career is no longer for you, have a read of our blog on
how to best approach a new career in 2020.