3 Career-Building Skills You Can Develop at Home

Are you taking a sabbatical from work? Do you find yourself having extra time on your hands? Would you like to know how to turn your spare hours into a more productive period?

If you want to continue building your skill set even while you’re stuck at home, there are ways to do so. You can definitely hone your leadership skills and other abilities that you’ve got within the comforts of your own home.

Keep on Learning

You may be in between jobs, reassessing your career options, or dealing with some other personal concerns. It may also be because of the coronavirus pandemic. Whatever the reason may be, spending more time at home can still be an opportunity for you to learn.

Learning is something that you can do wherever you may be and whenever you choose to do so. Knowledge and skills can be gleaned from formal academic institutions, or in informal settings. 

When you have an innate thirst for learning, it doesn’t really matter where you are as long as you are willing to adapt to your situation.

In fact, some skills you use at work are those that you have initially learned at home. If you were raised with integrity, discipline, and trustworthiness as character foundations, then these values are most likely to exhibit themselves in how you handle yourself in professional situations. Now that you are homebound, it shouldn’t hamper your desire to master some skills.

Thankfully, modern technology has also made it possible for you to learn without the need to leave your house. At the Regional Educational Institute (REI), for example, we have virtual classroom training courses that will allow you to gain knowledge and skills online.

You can enroll in various professional courses and attend live, instructor-led online classes. There’s no need to go through traffic, spend on fuel and transportation, or lug heavy books or laptops around town. 

From short courses to boost your career to personal development, IT, and engineering programs, completing a course is easier and more convenient with online learning.

Here are some examples of career-building and leadership skills that you can learn while you’re at home:

1. Leadership and Management 

Aside from leading your household to do a full Marie Kondo style of organizing every nook and cranny of your house, your leadership and management skills can certainly go further than that.

You can read books about leadership and management or watch videos on talks about the topic. You can also look for online classes on the subjects. 

At REI, we offer courses on change management, coaching and mentoring, leadership and influence, meeting management, performance management, presentation skills, and time management.

For those who are keen on improving their leadership and management abilities, we also have Leadership and management certification programs to help you become a better leader and team player.

2. Communication and Creativity

Effective communication is crucial when you want to advance in your career. Sharpening your communication and creative thinking skills is a key ingredient in enlarging your career territory.

To sharpen your command of the written and spoken word, you could join online classes on topics such as business communication, communication strategies, and public speaking. These courses can help improve your assertiveness, self-confidence, and interpersonal skills.

You should also strive to sharpen your business and writing skills. These will help you in formulating compelling messages that you can use in your business dealings. Some courses available at REI are business correspondence, business ethics, business etiquette, business succession plan, and proposal writing.

You can also harness your creativity while at home. To avoid just staring at all four walls of your house, you can try your hand at drawing, sketching, or painting. You can also do arts and crafts, learn how to play a musical instrument, or start a journal. There are also creative writing classes that you can enroll in online. 

3. Digital and Tech Skills

The global pandemic has led people to use digital and tech platforms even more. This, in turn, has also driven the demand for people who are digital and tech-savvy.

So, if you do not want to get left behind, there are online digital and tech courses that you can take. 

For example, REI offers graphics and website design courses where you can learn about Dreamweaver, Flash, HTML, Illustrator CC, InDesign CC, and Photoshop CC.

You can also look into information technology (IT) and networking courses. Here, you can gain expertise as a Certified Ethical Hacker or earn certificates in CISCO and Microsoft courses.

To make your work more efficient once you get back to the office (or for use in your home office), you can also take advantage of Office Automation courses. Topics you should consider studying include Microsoft Office and Visio, Peachtree, Quickbooks, Step by Step, and Tally.

Step Up Your Skills Anytime, Anywhere

Learning at home is an easy and convenient way to sharpen your skills and elevate your chances of building a successful career. 

With REI as your learning partner, you can look forward to learning from subject matter experts at a time and place that is most convenient to you. 

Step up your game and see how REI online courses can help you boost your career.