5 Resources to Boost Your Career

4-Minute Read

There’s never a wrong time to Google career tips and put them to work. Even if you find yourself in an established position, it’s easy to plateau or become stagnant — and in today’s job market, that’s something you can’t afford.

Luckily, we live in a world where career training, online education, and simple tools for everything from reskilling to interview prep are all at our fingertips.

Here are five resources you can take advantage of — today — from the comfort of your own home, and give your career a serious boost.

TL;DR

Don’t have time to read the whole piece? No problem. Check out our key thoughts below:

• Online training is perfect for anyone looking to upskill, reskill, or shift careers. CareerStep can help you choose a career path, get trained, and find a job.
• Crafting a resume usually works better when you have a template to work from. Fortunately, we have some great tips that’ll best support your vision and move you forward in your career.
• Learning languages, developing coding expertise, and even crafting your own website can give you a massive boost in today’s job market, so take advantage!

1. Online Training and Certification Courses

Online training is all the rage — it’s built for distance, portable, and career-focused. That means most eLearning providers (the reputable ones) won’t waste your time training you on info that you can’t apply directly to your work.

This is particularly helpful when it comes to certain industries, like technology, administration, and healthcare. Because in these fields, it’s all about applicable, real-world knowledge.

Suppose you’re serious about taking your career to new heights or even switching careers. In that case, CareerStep offers hyper-focused, skills-based healthcare training to help you find jobs that are in high demand.

Our courses prepare you for national certifications that show potential employers you’re both serious about your profession and seriously qualified to work for them. They are totally affordable and allow you the freedom to study online whenever and wherever you want.

2. Resume Templates and Tools

Soft skills, hard skills, nunchuck skills — you’ve got a lot to offer. But it doesn’t matter how awesome your skills are. If your resume stinks, no one is going to read it. Even if you feel like your resume is in decent shape, it could benefit from a fresh design or layout.

Take advantage of resume templates and generators that bring the quality of a professional designer to your resume and make it say, “Hire me. I’m worth it.”

Now that you’ve found a layout that’s sleek, modern, and professional. It’s time to think about the content of your resume. Here’s a few tips that’ll help you convince any hiring manager that you’re the best fit for the role:

• Keep it simple. Don’t undercut your accomplishments with fancy illustrations, graphs, and pie charts. Keep it clean. Keep it simple.
• Make it relevant. While those nunchuck skills might impress your friends, if they don’t match the job requirements, it’s best to leave them off your resume. Read the job description to find out which skills are most relevant.
• Cut the fluff. Most hiring managers don’t need to know about your first job in high school. If you didn’t hold the position in the past 10–15 years, cut it. And always list your most recent job first.
• Proofread — always. A resume riddled with errors and misspellings is sure to get tossed in the trash. Always review your resume with fresh eyes to make sure it’s clean. Maybe even have a trusted friend or colleague give it a quick read before you send it off.

3. Language Learning

Learning a second language is a great way to set yourself apart from other candidates and qualify yourself for new positions. While some have grown up speaking a second language, those of us who haven’t would be remiss to enjoy the professional edge it offers. International Business Seminars (IBS) has highlighted that everything from improved decision-making skills to attracting new business opportunities and greater chances of employment accompany those who invest in language upskilling.

Other sources even claim that learning a second language can offer higher salaried positions.

Obviously, no one learns a new language overnight. Adding this skill to your toolbox will take time and dedication.

Once you decide to commit to the challenge, there are so many programs and tools to help you. Here are a few to consider:

• Rosetta Stone
• Babbel
• Duolingo
• Udemy
• Memrise
• Busuu

With an improved sense of culture and communication — and in positions such as healthcare, where knowing a second language could mean life or death — it’s no wonder that bilingual candidates are such hot commodities.

4. Coding

Computing makes up 2/3 of projected new jobs in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). That’s why coding is such a valuable skill. But don’t be fooled. Coding skills also come in handy in arts and design, e-commerce, finance, healthcare, marketing, and even just troubleshooting a formatting error on the backend of your personal website (more on that later).

It’s also something you can learn on your own during your free time. There is no shortage of coding courses online. Here are a few free coding classes to get you started.

5. Personal Website

When a potential employer or professional connection Googles your name, what comes up in the search results? If it isn’t a beautiful personal website, it should be. Creating a live, personal website that shows off your personality and leaves a lasting impression offers incredible opportunities to take on work, get recognized by potential employers, and maintain an active portfolio.

You don’t have to spend a ton of money or hire a web designer to create a simple, accessible online portfolio. There are tools that make it so easy to do it yourself that you’ll wonder why you ever went without this digital career booster.

For those with expertise in editing, coding, IT, administration, and personal training: this is for you. Check out our top favorite hosting sites that can walk you through the process step-by-step and help you achieve your vision:

• Squarespace
• Weebly
• Wix
• Format
• Carrd

No matter where you are in life or what your skills include, CareerStep is here to help. We know what employers are looking for, and we know what it takes to find reliable employment.

Check out our online training and certification programs today!