Get a Career Boost with Online Courses

The educational landscape of the 21^st century is undergoing a massive change, with e-learning revolutionising the industry inside out. According to experts, online learning shows no efforts of slowing down. In fact, they predict the sector to grow to $38 billion from 2020 to 2024.

E-Learning Is For Everyone

Despite online education being around for a while, it took a global pandemic for people to realise its importance. However, e-learning is not restricted to school and university students. According to Business Wire, the corporate e-learning market is also set to progress at a CAGR of 11% between 2020 and 2024, proving that the demand is pretty high amongst professionals.

E-learning in workplaces has become a common scenario. With technological advancements, the workplace keeps evolving, bringing in the need to train existing employees about how to handle the digitisation of everyday responsibilities. Furthermore, a skilful workforce directly translates to better results. As a result, companies worldwide are shifting to e-learning alternatives to train their employees and improve their skills.

In such a situation where everyone focuses on upskilling, there is no time to become complacent. After all, you never know when someone with a better skill set than you can come and take over your job.

The Importance Of Taking An Online Course

No one will ever tell you, “You’re too old to learn this.” This is you don’t stop learning just because you’ve graduated from university. Instead, it is an ongoing process and can help you improve your chances to step up in your company.

Many reasons might compel you to take up an online course. However, some of the most significant ones that you could consider are:

1. Improves your skills and knowledge

You won’t need an assignment expert to tell you that no person is born with outstanding skills and knowledge regarding a particular job. Even if you have a talent for something, you’d need to hone your skills and work on them to increase your productivity. With the ever-evolving industry, there’s no saying when you might have to improve your skills and knowledge in certain areas. So, e-learning courses are your best bet.

2. Looks good on your performance appraisal

During the appraisal cycle, your employers will be impressed if you mention you’ve been taking online courses to improve your capabilities. It shows a proactive stance and can land you a better opportunity or a higher position than your peers.

3. Prepares you for higher responsibilities

Over time, you will climb higher on the corporate ladder. However, with greater success comes bigger responsibilities. Training programs can help you prepare yourself beforehand for this situation. For example, many online courses provide leadership training and crash courses on effective management. Such courses can be an eye-opener, especially if you feel that you’re not up to the level to handle responsibilities.

4. Proves your value to the organisation

Any employee who has taken online courses to improve their skills is a valuable asset to the company. Your worth as an employee increases when you have a rich CV to present where you can highlight all the online courses you have undergone to improve your skillset. So, you won’t have to worry about being kicked out of the company or replaced by someone else.

Should You Be Worried About Not Doing An Online Course?

Nowadays, there are three reasons why most employees undertake online courses to improve their skills.

• To secure their current position in the company
• To look for better opportunities
• To improve your soft skills

Now, there’s no doubt that studying is on the top 10 list of things you’d like to do every day. However, there’s no denying that the current job market is highly precarious. If your employers find your skills lacking, they won’t hesitate to hire someone else for your position. If that happens, you’re back to square one, having to brush up your resume yet again.

Secondly, most first jobs aren’t the most lucrative ones that you’ll find. Usually, students join whichever company offers them a position straight out of university to ensure financial stability. However, once you become somewhat settled, everyone looks for better opportunities. In case you’d like to dip your toes into an entirely different industry, completing an online course can help you land good positions in the field.

Finally, improving soft skills like leadership abilities, public speaking, communication, teamwork, time management, and decision-making skills can help boost your career.

Learn more: udemy free courses

4 Tips To Make The Most Out Of Your Online Courses

Now that you understand the importance of taking online courses, you need to realise that the task isn’t as simple as it seems. You can’t choose any course that you want and hope that it’ll work in your favour. So instead, let’s go over 4 crucial tips that you can keep in mind to help you make the most out of online courses.

1. Identifying your goal beforehand

Before you become too excited and sign up for every online course you can find, it is best to pause and ask yourself – “What do I hope to achieve?” Setting a goal beforehand is the best way to ensure you don’t get side-tracked or water your time and money into learning a course that won’t be useful in the long run.

Are you planning to change your career? Then it’s best to take introductory courses in the field that interests you. Want to start a new business? You’ll find plenty of online classes to give you a hand.

So, think twice before you sign up for online courses. When you have a legitimate goal to work towards, it makes the entire journey more fruitful.

2. Taking plenty of notes in class

There’s nothing worse than thinking you’re too old to take notes in your online course. Then, when you try to recall what you learnt in class, later on, you’d realise you’ve retained only a small percentage of the information. So, avoid this simple mistake and ensure that you prepare for your online courses beforehand.

3. Completing the course without fail

Most people who sign up for professional online courses give up midway. Statistics show that lack of motivation and hands-on guidance is why most people give up completing their studies. According to the e-learning company Edureka, although upskilling has gained popularity among employees, the growing drop-out rates continue to plague the professional e-learning courses.

In addition to the lack of motivation, the work pressure can make it challenging for a person to take on the additional burden of an online course. However, this is a hurdle that you have to cross if you wish to see success. The best way to do this is to develop a schedule that can help you manage both your professional responsibilities and online courses properly.

4. Choosing a dependable service

Due to the global popularity of professional online courses, many companies have cropped up offering these services. However, choosing the correct one is crucial if you want to get value for your money. So, try to choose ones that have legitimate results to boast of, such as Coursera, Udemy, and Skillshare.

As long as you follow these simple tips, it will be easier to ensure that you won’t waste your time on the online course.

Summing it up,

Online education has become the best friend for employees wishing to improve their skills and knowledge for better work opportunities. While companies nowadays ensure that their employees participate in online training courses, you can volunteer to sign up for classes yourself to improve your skillset. Going through the 4 tips in this blog, you’ll be able to make the most of this opportunity.