Online learning: how to acquire new skills during the lockdown

Vishal Anand — Sat, 25 Apr 2020 23:44:14 GMT

The key to pursuing excellence is to embrace an organic, long-term learning process, and not to live in a shell of static, safe mediocrity. Usually, growth comes at the expense of previous comfort or safety.

— Josh Waitzki

With COVID-19 sending us indoors for more hours than we’re used to, many of us are trying to figure out what exactly to do with our time at home. Instead of getting lost in the sea of scary news and social media posts, why not turn out attention to learning something new to sharpen our skills, expand our horizons, or simply to fulfill an interest we’ve never had time to pursue?

With many live events going digital, and so many more resources already available online, now is the time to get to learning a new hobby or enrolling in an online course that will help propel your career forward.

Why not use this extra time to bolster your résumé and learn new skills that will help you become better at what you do? When you’re able to head back into work, you can leverage those new skills for a new dream job, make a career move, or learn more about a secret interest. With a little creativity, there are so many ways to make the most of this weird new normal.
The world will start spinning again soon. And when that happens, might as well come out the other side with a new hobby or skill set that you’ve always wanted to have in your back pocket.

The World Economic Forum’s recently published “The Future of Jobs” elaborated the top 10 skills demanded in 2020 :

Complex problem-solving
Critical thinking.
Creativity.
People management.
Co-ordinating with others.
Emotional intelligence.
Judgment and decision making.
Service orientation.
Negotiation.
Cognitive flexibility

Demand for soft skills is likely to increase as automation becomes more widespread. Skills like communication, creativity, and collaboration are all virtually impossible to automate, which means if you have these skills you’ll be even more valuable to organizations in the future. If you have these skills, make sure they’re on your LinkedIn profile so hiring professionals can find you for relevant opportunities.
For many of us in self-isolation, it can feel like the coronavirus has put the world on hold as we wait for release from our temporary imprisonment. But increasing numbers of people are using the time to build their skill set, with an upsurge in enrollment on online learning platforms such as edX, FutureLearn, and Coursera, which offer “massive open online courses” – or MOOCs.

Top 10 Sites for Free Online Education:

What do the courses involve?

The specifics vary from platform to platform, though many follow the same basic model. With the larger platforms such as edX, Coursera, and FutureLearn, you can choose university-affiliated courses – so you know you are being taught by experts in the field. The courses are of varying lengths – from a few hours to a regular, weekly commitment over several months – and typically involve video lectures, reading texts and regular tests to check your memory and understanding of the syllabus.
In many cases, enrollment is free but may have to pay to get a certificate verifying that you have completed the course.

Top 10 Free Online Courses With Certificates 2020 :

Microsoft Excel spreadsheet software has become an integral part of most business organizations across the world. MS Excel is used for various purposes by business establishments. Some organizations use this spreadsheet software for generating memos, track sales trends, and other business data. Microsoft Excel spreadsheets software comes with million rows of data and automates number crunching, but this popular spreadsheet software is capable of doing more than just figures. MS Excel has a simple interface, that allows users to easily understand this software and also perform basic activities.

Here, we have a collection of links to various sites from where you can learn about everything about Excel from the basic concepts to the advanced shortcuts.

What are you searching for? When it comes to your career, it’s one of the biggest questions you might ask yourself.
It could be that you’re searching for your dream job, fulfilling ambitions that you’ve held since you were a child. Or, it could simply be that you want to cut down the hours spent commuting every day, spending more time with your family or creating a better work-life balance.
Why Career sites are Important?
Portals are well organized and more. Most of Them have a basic sign up a procedure where the candidate can upload the resume and fill out all the important details about their Educational backgrounds, skills, and work experience. Their Candidate can customize the profiles and Site to Meet Their Needs. One of the biggest advantages of a job portal Is it helps you to create your brand and also helps to look for better opportunities.

Top 5 career web portals:

Why do you need a resume?

In today's competitive market of professional jobs, a resume is usually a base requirement for moving forward in the interview process. A good resume will immediately display to employers why the candidate is a good fit. Here are some reasons why you need a resume to get your next job :

A resume outlines your relevant skills and experience.
Displays the benefits you offer employers.
Grabs the attention of employers
Matches you to the position.
Can lead to an interview

Top 10 Sites to review your resume for free:

If you set a career-related new year's resolution, interviewing for jobs may be a top priority on your to-do list. But the question is, how do you stand out from the crowd and convince the people interviewing you that you’re an irreplaceable asset to the team? Fear not! Here are some ways you can ace your next interview.

How to Prepare for Your Next Job Interview?

It can be a top priority on your to-do list if you set up a career-related interviewing for work. But the question is, how can you stand out from the crowd and persuade the interviewees that you are the team's irreplaceable asset? Do not be afraid! Here are a few ways to win the next interview.
Practice, practice, practice
Not surprisingly, 54 percent of job seekers say the interview phase is challenging due to a lack of confidence and uncertainty.
You can prepare for the interviews from Interview preparation tools on LinkedIn, where you can access videos and tips from experts and hiring managers to answer the most common interview questions.
These interview preparation websites can come handy to help you achieve your dream:

"Doing" depends on the abilities that you build up here. If you're learning to program it means writing code, creating, and testing simple software. It means practicing in front of the mirror, tapping yourself and reviewing your performance, and speaking in front of real people, events, if you are learning public speaking.

While the phase of action is probably the most appalling phase of all, it is the most rewarding phase, because that is when you learn the most. That's when you're not hiding in a bubble, getting out of your comfort zone and start learning. The more hours that you put in, the better you get. Allocate time every day for rehearsal.

Stories by Vishal Anand on Medium

Online learning: how to acquire new skills during the lockdown

Top 10 Sites for Free Online Education: