When was the last time you invested in yourself? I mean, spent money on developing your skills? What made you do it or what is preventing you from doing it?
There is a lot of competition out there. There are people with fresher skills and/or more current experience competing for the same jobs you are.
One person recently declared "I am only taking this class because I am unemployed". When I asked him what the class was he told me that he wasn't even sure it would help him. He was getting a lot of heat from his spouse for taking the class, and that he said there were a couple of other unemployed people in the class with him. What was the course? I don't know, he never said. But his attitude said all I needed to hear.
This man would never have signed up for training on his dollar or his company's dollar. He does not understand the value of investing in himself. Nor does he understand his occupation or industry enough to know whether this training would be helpful to his development and growth. He sees it as a time waster and so does his spouse.
If you wanted to upgrade your kitchen, there are certain materials and appliances you would chose to use because they would increase the re-sale value of your house. Even if you didn't plan on moving, you would probably still consider this because it also increases the value of your home. They say that upgrades to kitchens and bathrooms have the greatest ROI (that's return on investment).
What training would offer you the greatest ROI? What would increase your re-sale value? If you are still loving your linoleum floors and metal kitchen cabinets, that's great. However, what do other people think when they see your kitchen?
What an employer sees when someone has taken classes is that they are more serious about their occupation, they see an effort being made towards improvement and they see a willingness to learn new things. Sure, the employer sees the acquired knowledge too.
Investing in yourself means taking a class, attending professional conferences or seminars, joining a professional association, receiving certification and/or anything else worthwhile. It is a matter of making time and creating a budget to continue to develop you, for now and for the future.
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