Key Points:
- Training and certifications can help advance your career and make you a standout candidate.
- Online learning has grown to provide hard and soft skill courses that can benefit your career.
There are limitless opportunities to grow your career with online learning. Taking courses is essential to stay on top of your industry and remain a top candidate in the job market. Every profession requires hard and soft skills, and you can find classes to harness both types. Courses for hard skills are acquired through professional training while your personality, reactions, etc., determine soft skills, but experts can share their experiences to broaden your mindset for soft skills.
Companies like FutureLearn, Coursera, Alison, Codecademy, LinkedIn, Google, IBM, and EdX all offer courses that you can dive deeper into the topics you’d like to learn more about. Below are some of our favorites in both hard skills and soft skills.
Hard Skill Courses
Coding: Want to learn how to code? Join millions that are learning to code on Codecademy. All basic coding classes are free, and you get peer support. If you want to dive deeper into your coding learning, you can upgrade to Pro-Lite or Pro for a fee.
Data Analytics: Data should inform most decisions as it helps you understand trends and patterns. Google partnered with Coursera to create a Google Data Analytics Certificate; no relevant experience is required to start! This course is free for a trial period of 7 days, but there is a fee afterward.
Digital Marketing: No matter the digital platform, you are probably being marketed at some point in the day, if not thousands of times per day. Suppose you’re interested in marketing or a marketing manager looking to upskill and broaden your skillset. In that case, HubSpot offers a digital marketing course that’s not only free, but you receive a certification afterward.
Project Management: IBM offers courses based on the job role you’re interested in. Through their courses, you can start earning badges that you can share with potential employers and place on your resume. One of their courses is the project management fundamentals class. Even if you don’t want to be a project manager, this course can be helpful to understand best the processes involved in projects.
Cyber Security: In the digital world, cyber security is a lucrative role as it protects digital information from security threats. If you’re interested in one of the more popular roles in today’s job market, try this course on FutureLearn, that’s an introduction to cyber security.
Soft Skill Courses
Languages: If you want to learn a new language, Alison provides various courses, including Sign Language, Spanish, Swedish, Chinese, Japanese, and more.
Stress Management: If you feel overwhelmed at work, try taking a course on stress management for new coping techniques. There are plenty to choose from on Alison, including meditation and coping skills.
Creative Thinking: One of the most coveted soft skills employers seek is creative thinking or problem-solving skills. Coursera offers a Creative Thinking course, including techniques and tools for success. This course is free for a trial period of 7 days, but there is a fee afterward.
Communication Skills: Communication skills are crucial in the workforce as written and oral communication is always needed to succeed. On FutureLearn, you can take the Effective Communication Skills For Professionals course to improve your professional development.
Presentation Skills: Do you feel your presentations aren’t impacting you? In this FutureLearn class, you can learn to present your work with impact during this Presentation Skills Training. You’ll be able to hone in on your storytelling techniques and calm presentation nerves.
If you want to learn more about certifications, we recommend reading our article about the importance of professional certifications and some places you can earn them.
