Tuesday’s Tip: Are You Keeping Your Skills Up To Par?

During your job search, you do not have a lot of time to waste. Every hour invested should have a meaning and a purpose. To help facilitate this, everyone should have a job search plan to keep you "task oriented" and "on-track". One section of that plan should consist of training.

Training can be obtained from a variety of sources. Reading books, attending webinars, attending conferences/seminars, self development courses, public classes and even attending courses in college (for free)! Yes, I said free college courses. How would you like to obtain the actual teaching that the students at MIT receive? You can! Go to this website to browse all of the free classes from MIT. Yes, the very well respected Massachusetts Institute of Technology (a top ten school).

http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm

These courses are the actual videos of professors lecturing actual students. There are 2000 courses to choose from. So what's the catch? You receive all of the training (and knowledge), but none of the degrees. The degree is what you have to pay for (and earn by passing all of the required classes). However, the goal for you right now, is to obtain the knowledge and utilize it to get you an offer.

Employers are going to ask you in interviews, "What have you been doing during your year of unemployment"? One fantastic answer is to demonstrate that you have kept your skills up to par! And learning from MIT professors is not too shabby! Make sure you "bridge" the learning that you received with the problem that needs to be solved at the company you are interviewing with and you are well on your way to making the short list.