Why You Should Obtain New Skills

Like so many other things you read while searching for a job, trying to get ahead in the workforce or trying something new, you focus on skills and how you can fit in a role. Your skills and knowledge are usually what help you get into a role—add in connections and good references to back you up, you’re on your way to You can never have too many skills. Don’t let anyone ever tell you that there is a maximum because there isn’t. You should always continue to learn as time goes on because things change, things are always advancing and you want to keep up.

You shouldn’t want to cease your learning once you get to where you are at. Things are forever changing. Things are accessible to learn compared to ten years ago. You can learn to code by creating your blog, you can learn graphic design from Youtube and the Internet. Do you want to conquer public speaking? You can pick up a book from Barnes and Noble. Skills are easy to go after at this point. Utilize Google, utilize books, there is so much you can do if you take that chance.

Why limit yourself?

There are many times when job applications ask you for a maximum of five to ten skills which is limiting, in my opinion. It’s like choosing your favorite sibling or friend—you have to analyze what you’re really good at versus what will look right for the job you’re applying for. That’s not fair. You should be able to capitalize on all of your skills. Not only should you capitalize on all of the skills you already have but you should attain even more skills and be able to flaunt those.

As cliche as it sounds, the sky is the limit. That means there is no limit. If you want a new skill, get your skill. If you want to do something else, do it. There is no limit on your skills unless you set that limit. That’s why those five or ten minimums kill me but they aren’t truly limiting me. You are more than the five or ten that you fill in.

Move on from the limit, you get to prove yourself when you step into the role and flaunt those 10+ skills.

Why do you need new skills?

Now, this isn’t going to be me telling you that you need new skills. You don’t need new skills if you don’t want new skills. That is your choice. It’s just a suggestion from my end. Things are changing and technology is allowing more things to be within your grasp. You can easily access many lessons for so many different things on the internet. There’s Coursera and Khan Academy then there are bloggers that are willing to share their own secrets and skills.

Things are always changing. Careers are changing their qualifications, certain jobs need more skills than others.

It’s not that you need new skills, it’s that the opportunity for new skills is right there for you. When an opportunity presents itself, why not take that chance? You don’t have to take that chance but you can. Hopefully, that opportunity will always be there with advance things are in life.

Some people want to improve at all times and new skills are what helps them improve. Take it as something where you are trying to be better than the person you already are.

New skills can be essential if you want to change your career path. Not all jobs are alike and you are going to learn something new along the way. How do you appeal to the hiring managers that are looking at your resume, though? Connections are great but there needs to be some type of knowledge about the job so you aren’t a disaster if you do get the job.

If you want to make the move from public relations to social or digital marketing, what do you need? You need knowledge of social media and understanding the data. Yes, both networks coincide but there are differences and you have to know how to handle them.

Never limit your skills. Don’t limit yourself to one objective when there are many objectives that you want to conquer.

How do you get these new skills?

Google, honey. To keep it real, Google will lead you in the right directions. Not only do you have Google but there are resources all around you. You can connect with a colleague or friend in this new network and see if they will let you pick their brain to a certain extent. You want to learn how to create ads on Facebook and use business manager? Facebook has FAQs. Of course, it’s not as easy as I am making it sound. There are going to be trials that you have to face and mountains that you have to climb.

If you really apply yourself and put in the work, you can get these skills. Don’t doubt yourself because you have almost everything that you need at the grasp of fingertips. You just have to figure out what you want to learn. Learning shouldn’t end once you receive your degree or credentials, you should always want to learn to some capacity.

Look there will always be pros and cons — it’s up to you on how you want to do things. You don’t need new skills, if you’re where you want to be and comfortable, don’t fix what isn’t broken. On the other end, you are going to have people that want to learn something new. If you have the accessibility, go out and try something new — get your new skill if it applies.

For me, I’m all about learning new skills. My goal is to learn and understand coding past the basics. There are many other things I want to improve on, too.

What’s a skill that you want to learn?