How to Upskill and Find a Better Job after Career Break

When you started your professional journey, it probably wasn’t the same today. As the market situation changes, technologies and organisations evolve. This pushes new market forces, creating a need for skilled people to meet the demands. Some jobs may no longer be relevant in the coming years, while new avenues will open. These are roles that nobody might have thought would become a necessity. These are why you cannot sit back, relying on your current skillset and knowledge. Even the companies cannot afford to stay complacent.

As businesses adapt to rapid changes, the importance of upskilling becomes even more pronounced. This is particularly true if you have been on a career break, as reentering the job market can be challenging. However, with the right mindset and approach, you can revitalise your career.  So, where does upskilling fit into this equation?

Upskilling focuses on honing your existing skills by learning new tools or tricks in the field. For instance, an IT professional who regularly takes up certifications on the new and advanced tools in the market. Let’s see why it is important to upskill and find a better job after a career break.

Why Do You Need to Upskill?

With fast-evolving technology, integration of AI in almost everything and rapidly shifting industry trends, 2024 is all about staying relevant. You need to gear up to become a shining highlight in this competitive job market. You must be seeing how some employees are getting anxious at the thought of AI and automation taking their jobs. To ensure career progression and success, you will have to be more proactive in upskilling.

Here are the reasons why upskilling is important:

• Enhances Employee Performance:

  Upskilling helps employees learn new and advanced skills, which increases their competency. It is a huge confidence booster and leads to job satisfaction. This will ultimately reflect better results for the company itself, as the employee will become more capable of handling bigger responsibilities.

• Staying Competitive In the Market:

  As technology keeps evolving, businesses have to make strategic efforts to adopt the new change and plan for the future. This changes the hiring trend every now and then. If you don’t upskill, you will risk becoming outdated in the job market.

• Get a Significant Salary Hike:

  Professionals often face stagnant career growth at a certain point in their professional journey. This may cause a delay in increment or make it hard to find better opportunities. Such times call for upskilling. When you upgrade your knowledge and skills, you stand tall in the crowd, eventually leading to career benefits. This is one of the primary reasons why so many working professionals go for an online MBA in the middle of their careers.

• Secure Your Job

  : By upskilling, you are continuously meeting the industry’s demands. It will make you more efficient, and thus, you will be adept at fulfilling your responsibilities. If you can enhance your skills, you can easily outperform others and secure your job in the long run.

Upskilling will have different benefits for each one of us. It depends on the reason you wish to enhance your skill set. For candidates who are on a career break or are returning from a career break, upskilling is an efficient way to land a better job opportunity.

How to Upskil? 

Here’s a quick view of the things you or your upskilling journey:

• Analyse your skills and discover your interest

• Determine skills gaps in your profile

• Assess the skills required by your company or industry

• Invest in a short online course in your field of interest

• Go for an online MBA

• Update your resume and improve your online presence

• See whether the short job-oriented online courses will suffice and plan for the future

• Increase your frequency of connecting within your network and build new connections

• Learn what other professionals in your field are working on and see where you lag.

• Practice your skills

How to Find A Better Job After a Career Break? 

When on a career break it is very important to learn new skills and stay updated with the industry trends. Pursuing short-term online courses or an online degree can fill the skill gap in your profile which will ease your job search easy after the break.

Here we have combined a few effective steps to get a job after returning from a career break:

• Evaluate your situation:

  Try to understand where you stand in your career and how the gap has affected your skills. Once you get an idea, you will know where to start and how to begin.

• Research and Plan:

  Weigh all the available options, study market trends and expand your network with other industry professionals.

• Upskill:

  You can either pursue online certificate courses, online MBA or pitch freelance work to hone your skills.

• Update Your CV and Customise Your Cover Letter:

  It is very important to create a cover letter and CV in accordance with the job role you are applying for. This increases the chance of getting hired.

• Prepare for the Interview:

  Make sure you are well prepared for the HR interview which is the common step. Moreover, prepare a suitable answer to justify your career break.

• Confidence is the Key:

  Having a career break can be daunting. The stress of restarting your career can be more taxing. In such a situation, candidates generally lose confidence and make mistakes. Also, don’t shy away from starting from the beginning, especially in terms of salary.

Long Story Short

Whether you have to switch career paths or return to the professional world after a career break, upskilling is the way to do it. With the online education in the picture today, it has become much easier. From the moment your career break starts, you can upskill by pursuing skill-based online courses or online.