Should I Quit or Upskill?
Publié le 26 May 2023
With many recent changes in the workplace, many people are reevaluating their career path and asking themselves: “should I quit or upskill?”
The past few years have been a tumultuous time for working professionals and the job market as a whole. The pandemic spawned a period of massive change and reorganization. Once the first period of the pandemic ended, a new trend dubbed “The Great Resignation” saw people leave their jobs in record numbers. There have also been large-scale layoffs over the past three years, even from industries recently considered booming.
For whatever reason, many working professionals across all industries are seriously reevaluating the future of their career. For those considering leaving to explore the job market, there is an important question they should ask themselves. “Should I Quit Or Upskill?”
According to a Pew Research study, 63% of employees who quit reported that the main factor that influenced their decision was the inability to grow professionally at their company. You probably also once wanted to change jobs and use your talents in another company. Life changes all the time and work is no exception, but it is important to understand that not only companies must be able to adapt, their employees must be open to new approaches as well.
Upskilling can make you a stronger candidate for promotion in your current workplace. If you feel your skills are already up to par, you can consider resigning from your job, updating your resume with key traits and try your luck in the job market.
What is Upskilling?
Upskilling is additional education or training to improve and develop existing skills. This is something that employees of any company can do for themselves on their own or with the help of the company. Professional development can be addressed by attending various courses, seminars or virtual conferences to learn more about new trends in a particular industry. But it is important to understand that upskilling is different from reskilling, where employees learn new skills to work in a different position within the company.
Is Upskilling Important?
Today, the rapid development of technology is advancing industries at a very fast pace. It is important to consider if there is a gap between your existing skills and the new abilities that may now be needed to do your job effectively.
Ryan Hammill, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Ancient Language Institute, believes that one of the solutions to this problem is upskilling. “By improving your skills, you can avoid this skill gap. In addition, both you and your employers will benefit from reduced company layoffs, increased productivity and career opportunities and job satisfaction that comes from upskilling.”
According to research, 62% of employees say they would be more motivated at work if they had more learning opportunities. Upskilling gives you the opportunity to take charge of your career.
How Does Upskilling Help Avoid Dismissal?
For many employees, leaving their current position is not the best option. The reason for this may be a lot of competition in their field, or their financial situation may not allow them to remain unemployed for some period.
Research shows that 41% of employees cited limited career growth as the number one reason they leave a job. If at the moment you feel that you are not satisfied with your job and want more, it’s time to think about upskilling.
Talking to your manager can help resolve this issue. Knowing that you would like to expand and diversify your existing skill set will help break the monotony of your workflow, as well as give you the opportunity to move up the career ladder at the company where you already work. Strong leaders should always find ways to encourage learning in the workplace.
Employers can help you with this difficult task by providing the opportunity to improve your skills by attending courses or conferences at the expense of the company. In this way, they also show your value to the company, increasing the chances you will have the opportunity for internal promotion. Given the benefits of upskilling for employers in the face of global labour shortages, they will likely be willing to help employees gain new skills.
What Are The Benefits Of Upskilling?
Still asking yourself “should I quit or upskill?” Upskilling is very important in all areas of work, and also gives many benefits to employees. If done correctly and at the right time, upskilling helps to build a winning resume and can have a positive impact on your career in more ways than you think.
Below we have listed some of the key benefits of upskilling that can make a difference to you, your earnings and your career in general.
Promotion
By upskilling, you have the opportunity to ask for a promotion at work. You will have a good reason for increased responsibility and compensation when you can offer and demonstrate your new skills to management and convince them that these skills will benefit your company. In addition, it would be fair if your salary reflects the increase in responsibilities if you take on additional work as a result of your upskilling.
Career change
With the help of upskilling, you also have the opportunity to join a new profession. New skills can help you both get promoted in your current job or get a similar position in a new company. When changing careers, you should always keep in mind what makes the most financial sense for you.
According to research, 32% of employees who changed jobs in the past year did so to learn new skills. But before you quit your old job, it is important to thoroughly familiarize yourself with the current state of the job market, and even consider pursuing specific opportunities before officially resigning.
Improving working life
Very often, employees feel bored and tired from overworking and performing the same duties at work every day. Upgrading your skills and learning new ones provides an opportunity to change those feelings and re-engage with your workplace.
New skills can help you feel job-satisfied and more productive if you use them in your work life. They also have a positive effect on your motivation and improve your morale. In addition, you will have new responsibilities that break the monotony of working life.
Self development
By upskilling, you improve yourself. It is very important and beneficial to keep the mind active. Learning and development can, for example, help you find purpose in life and achieve personal professional growth and satisfaction. There is even some evidence that a commitment to learning new things can help prevent age-related issues with memory. The process of learning and growing never stops, and upskilling is an important part of it.
Communication with new people
By learning something new, you can meet like-minded people. Building a professional network of peers can also help you with new ways to improve your skills and knowledge. Attending professional development classes provide an opportunity not only to meet new people, but help to look at many things from a completely different perspective.
If you want to grow not only professionally but also personally, advanced training may be just what you need. Access to new knowledge and opportunities also opens the door to personal gain.
Work safety
No job gives you a lifetime job guarantee. You should constantly learn and improve yourself in order to provide yourself with better job prospects or increased job security. Continuing education and training has a big impact on your experience, and this will have a positive impact on your resume when looking for a new job.
Tips for upskilling
Perhaps you want to change jobs, find a side hustle, or just improve your knowledge and skills. Continuing education is a great option to achieve these goals. It will help you increase your chances of employment and career development. The tips below will help you get the most out of your upskilling.
- Define your goal. When choosing training for upskilling, do not rush to study the first thing that comes your way. State your learning goal and why you want to learn something. Understanding your goal will make it easier for you to choose the right career path and give you additional motivation.
- Identify your weaknesses. It is very important to know our strengths, but even more important is to understand what we lack and where we are weak. Upskilling helps to compensate for missing skills and further develop strengths. For example, rushing to find a freelance translator job may not be successful if communication or critical thinking is not your strength. To determine your weaknesses and choose the right training, various tests can help.
- Get started with free courses. Do not rush to buy courses right away. To get started, you should try free study options. There are many free courses on the Internet that, upon completion, provide certificates from leading institutions. For example, the Coursera portal provides more than 1000 free courses that cover numerous different areas.
- Develop soft skills. Modern employers also evaluate employees on communication skills, stress resistance and teamwork. By cultivating these transferable soft skills, you will be able to learn the basic communication skills necessary for negotiating, as well as how to succeed in an interview. Such soft skills are essential to survive and thrive in today’s competitive environment.
Conclusion
According to research, about 77% of modern employees are ready to learn new skills or retrain entirely. To build a successful career, you can never stop at one place and constantly develop. Learning additional skills will help you advance your career. Most of today’s employees have a natural inclination to learn, and by feeding this desire, they can achieve more. Investing in skill development or retraining is your key to understanding where you are now and gaining the skills you need in the future. If you are still asking “should I quit or upskill?”, consider the benefits the upskilling can have on your current job and your prospects in the job market.
