Jack of all trades vs Master of one.
Who do you think makes for a better hire today?
Perhaps you’ve been focused and driven on a specific career path for most of your working life and that was the societal norm.
However, in today’s economy, we see a shift from pursuing linear career growth to practising career resilience.
“Long gone is the notion of the career ladder, where the ideal CV looks like a narrow, vertical progression. Today’s gold-standard CV looks like a career matrix, with horizontal and vertical moves signifying depth and breadth of experience, skills and exposure to different cultures”
(Source: CNA)
As such, picking up new skills has never been more important in furthering your career today.
Diversifying your skillset
Take time to observe where your industry is heading, and consider the complementary know-how that will enhance your effectiveness and productivity at work.
For starters, we foresee growing importance in having skills such as Programming, App and Web development, as well as risk and data analysis.
As said during the Singapore Budget 2020 Speech:
- “Between 2015 and 2019, annual investments in FinTech have risen six-fold to over $1 billion.”
- “…set aside $1 billion over the next three years to build up the Government’s cyber and data security capabilities…”
- “…we will improve support for deep-tech startups. Deep-tech startups are those in emerging technology areas such as pharmbio and medtech, advanced manufacturing, and agri-food tech.”
Understanding market trends and equipping yourself with the relevant skills will help you close the gap between what you know and what’s good for you to learn.
Identifying upcoming skills to upgrade yourself
Looking at these trends, digitalisation and data are on the rise. How would you incorporate it into your learning?
One great way for you to get started would be through the SkillsFuture Series, which is a curated list of short, industry-relevant training programmes that focus on such emerging skills.
Depending on your proficiency background, you also have the flexibility to choose from three proficiency levels, namely Basic, Intermediate and Advanced.
If you’re looking for roles in customer service, data analysis, project management, recruitment, supply chain and sales development, LinkedIn’s new Skills Path service allows you to upskill with free courses, and validate these skills with assessments, to help you become more noticeable to potential employers.
Make full use of your new SkillsFuture Credit
Good news, as part of Singapore Budget 2020’s Mid-career Support Package, if you’re aged between 40 and 60 years old, you’ll receive a top-up of $500 in addition to the $500 that will also be given to all Singaporeans above 25 years old.
This means that if you’ve yet to use any of your SkillsFuture Credit, you’ll have a total of $1500 SkillsFuture Credit from 1 Oct 2020.
What better time to start planning for the courses you can sign up for!
In case you’re still wondering what you can use your SkillsFuture Credit for, you’ll be delighted to know that it can be used for a wide range of courses.
These include courses subsidised or approved by SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) including online courses, selected courses offered by MOE-funded institutions, courses supported by public agencies, SkillsFuture@PA courses offered by the People’s Association, and many more.
If you want to stay relevant, never stop learning.
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Picking up a new skill goes a long way. Just think about all the new opportunities you will open up your career to.
At the end of the day, the upgraded Jack of all Trades might just be the true master of career resilience!
