Level Up Your Career: 5 In-Demand Skills Every Working Adult Needs
Streams of emails, urgent deadlines, and complex projects — the modern workplace can feel like a constant juggling act. New technologies emerge at lightning speed, and staying relevant in this ever-evolving landscape can be daunting.
One way to navigate this landscape is to embark on courses and equip yourself with critical skills that will help you stay relevant and progress in your career. With NLB’s subscription to LinkedIn Learning, you can login to LinkedIn Learning with your myLibrary username and access over 21,000 quality courses taught by industry experts with real-world experience.
Here’s how to begin your learning journey:
Now that you’re all set, check out five of the most in-demand skills and the courses you can take to level yourself up.
1. Communication: The Art of Communicating for Impact
Clear and concise communication is the cornerstone of effective collaboration, a vital skill in today’s teamwork-driven work environments. Good communication at the workplace goes beyond verbal skills. Crafting a persuasive email to a client requires clarity and professionalism while actively listening to a colleague’s concerns demonstrates empathy and fosters a positive work environment.
In the course Communication Skills for Modern Management, award-winning leadership speaker, trainer, and executive coach Jean Marie DiGiovanna covers critical communication strategies in the modern workplace.
Besides providing practical tips such as being clear on your expectations, asking questions, listening, as well as the power of the pause, the course nudges you to consider three barriers to effective communication — mind, emotions, environment — and how you can manage them.
LinkedIn Learning: Communication Skills for Modern Management | Start here
2. Data Science: Turning Numbers into Action
Data is king in the 21st century. Businesses are swimming in a sea of information, and they need people who can make sense of it all. Even if you’re not a data analyst, having a basic understanding of analytics allows you to interpret data, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions.
Through courses on data science, you’ll be able to learn foundational concepts, such as how to think about data, how to work with people from different fields to get the data you need, and the tools you need to work with data.
LinkedIn Learning: Introduction to Data Science | Start here
LinkedIn Learning: Data Science Foundations: Fundamentals | Start here
3. Project Management: Orchestrating Success
Juggling multiple tasks, keeping projects on track, and hitting deadlines — these are the challenges of project management. This skill is valuable in any role, from administrative assistants keeping the office running smoothly to marketing teams launching new campaigns.
In the course Project Management Skills for Leaders, instructor Dana Brownlee shares project management skills that can help you to become a better, more effective leader and make a measurable impact in the new world of work.
You’ll learn specific tactics and techniques based on project management principles and strategies such as developing a schedule with realistic estimates, analysing risks, designing a kickoff meeting, and delegating tasks. This course helps you understand how to harness these skills in an increasingly challenging virtual or hybrid workplace.
LinkedIn Learning: Project Management Skills for Leaders | Start here
4. Sales: Leveraging AI
Sales can be tricky with the extensive research required, complexities of deals, and ranging variables of the sales process. One way to supercharge your sales strategy is by leveraging AI.
With Increase Sales with ChatGPT, you’ll learn how to use generative AI to generate more pipelines, close more deals, build and grow customer relationships, and upskill yourself and your teams.
The course focuses on ChatGPT as a tool, and explains how you can use prompt strategies such as research-based prompting and role-playing to increase the quality of your results, and ultimately sales.
LinkedIn Learning: Increase Sales with ChatGPT | Start here
5. Problem Solving: Thinking on Your Feet
The ability to solve problems creatively and efficiently is a timeless skill. Employers value employees who can think critically, analyse situations, and develop workable solutions, no matter the unexpected challenge that arises.
In Strategic Thinking Tips to Solve Problems and Innovate, you’ll be introduced to a three-step strategy to solve problems — identifying the root cause, organising your thinking to solve the problem, and communicating solutions.
You’ll also learn useful strategies such as the 80/20 rule which suggests that it’s more effective to focus on the 20% of tasks or projects that will produce 80% of the desired results rather than trying to tackle everything at once.
LinkedIn Learning: Strategic Thinking Tips to Solve Problems and Innovate | Start here
