How To Develop On-The-Job Skills
How To Develop On-The-Job Skills
In our competitive market today, it is highly essential that you continue learning and growing. However, the truth is that time is very scarce. It is hard enough to get a job, and it gets harder to get the job done daily alone before you begin planning for the next step to take in your career.
Nevertheless, if your career is your top priority, it is crucial to uncover ways to learn and grow to keep on advancing in your career and developing your skills. As a graduate who just got a nice paying job and seeking ways to get either a raise or a promotion, you will need to prove you can add more value to the company.
Since there is barely enough time to do this, you will need to develop some on-the-job skills.
Tips To Develop On-The-Job Skills
Some of the ways you can develop your skills while in the job to advance your career include:
- Have a mentor and be one
Getting a mentor in the workplace is critical to achieving new knowledge and skills. An ideal mentor will assist you in solving some of the difficulties and roadblocks that you may face.
Understand that the best mentors will help you figure out the next steps that will work best for you and help guide you over hurdles that sit in your blind spots.
The amazing mentors are the people who will tell you all you need to hear and not the exact things you want to hear. These mentors will give you the actual feedback that you need to cover up your blind spots.
If you never knew, mentors are vital in the journey of advancing in your career. They are capable of exposing you to newer experiences and differing points of view. Asides from finding the ideal mentor, you can consider seeking a good protege also.
In taking the next steps in your career, you will need to manage people. The way to practice this is to be a mentor to another person. When you are a mentor, you will end up paying your learnings forward to others to assist them in advancing too.
You will learn about encouraging people and teaching them new skis when you can act as a mentor in the workplace.
- Put up your hand for every new challenge
In developing your on-the-job skills, you will go for new opportunities to learn new skills whenever you spot them. If there are things in your company you want to learn how to carry out, the moment you see an opportunity to learn it through a new assignment or special project, seize the opportunity.
You will need to do a little extra when required if you want to develop your on-the-job skills. Understand that it is never aggressive to reach for newer opportunities. It is, however, useful, valuable, and of course, helpful.
The people who get to process in their careers discover ways to elegantly reach for new learning opportunities. Whenever a new project arises, and it is in line with the skills you want to obtain, raise those hands of yours
Let your HR team or the manager know that you want to learn new skills or gain new and advanced experience. You should be clear on all you can offer to the project so that you can get involved.
- Keep reading and seek problems to resolve
There are times where there are not so many opportunities for learning to grab in a company. However, you should switch to reading all you can about your field and the industry.
You can engage in studying everything there is to know about the company as well as their competitors. Have an idea of the company’s goals and their unique selling points. You can be an expert in these things and richly talk about them.
When you can think about solutions to the organization’s challenges, you will stand out. If there are no special projects for you to use in developing your on-the-job skills, you can create and pitch your special project by having an idea of the challenges you help to resolve in the company.
Through this, you will learn new skills and stand out.
- Make new friends in the other departments
Most times, developing skills on the job will have you looking outside your department or other areas. You can develop your on-the-job skills by internally networking. Try getting to know other colleagues in other offices, divisions, and those in other teams.
Have a curious mind towards their department and learn all you can about their skills and job. You can engage in talks about how they learned or got their skills. Interestingly, you can find out how to can be capable of chipping in over there when you are free to develop those skills you need in your career.
- Seek internal learning opportunities
It will surprise you to note that most high-profile companies have some kind of internal learning system. You can try talking to the benefits team or HR to find out about training opportunities that may be available.
Talk to HR about all you want to learn and how it will be beneficial to the company.
How To Develop On-The-Job Skills
- Try determining your weaknesses and strengths
You can do this by carrying out a self-assessment to determine the skills you already have that can make your performance on the job shine through. Through this self-assessment, you will be opportune to discover where you need improvements.
Note that you can enlist a trusted colleague or two to assist you in making this honest self-assessment. When you determine your strengths and weaknesses, you may discover that you are amazing at innovating ways to round up tasks but not great at negotiating with clients.
You are to keep a record of these strengths and successes by evaluating your job performance regularly.
Read Also: Certification and Sills you need as a Nigerian Graduate
- Create a healthy work-life balance
It is vital to have a healthy work-life balance if you want to develop your skills while on the job. It will enable you to be at your best while at your work. When you have hobbies outside your work life, and you are getting enough rest, you will not get burned out
You can concentrate on self-improvement activities such as sports, meditation, and even social events as they will keep your stress levels in check. There are some hobbies and interests that can help one progress in the office.
There are skills you can gain via team activities. These skills include time management, negotiations, and even leadership.
- Develop schedules and take breaks
A way to develop your skills on the job is to create a schedule that will work best for you. Those who have the flexibility to decide when they want to finish up tasks and schedule meeting have talked about how productive they turned out to be
You can organize your day by setting up a daily schedule and creating a to-do list at the end of each day. As you plan out these schedules, ensure that there is time out for breaks
Conclusion
On a general note, developing new skills on the job does not mean having to go back to school. Most times, the skills we need are just in front of us, and it is now on us to know what we want to learn and discover ways to develop these skills while working.
If you want to attain success in your career, you will need to keep developing your skills. This article will help you find ways to do this successfully.
