Business

5 In-Demand Skills You Can Learn Online During COVID19 Crisis

With the coronavirus crisis locking us inside our homes, we may easily find ourselves falling into an unhealthy or unproductive routine.

According to a study, 67% of people reveal to watch more news now than they did before the outbreak, while 47% spend more time on social media, overwhelmed with all the distressing and scary news.

Not knowing what to do with all the extra time that we now have available, we spend countless hours online, binge-watching our favorite series, listening to more music, watching videos, or playing games.

And while these coping strategies may last for a while, there’s a limit to our ability to enjoy them enough so that they can immerse us and keep us occupied. We need some structure, meaning, and purpose to be able to get through these rough times.

Fortunately, with all the resources we now have online, we can choose to create such purpose, and use our extra time more wisely, advancing or improving the skills that we find useful.

Here are five in-demand skills that you can learn online during the COVID 19 crisis.

1. Digital Marketing

The development of new technologies has completely changed the way we do business, and companies depend hard on experts who can grant them a leading position in the world of digital marketing.

When the crises pass, the competitive digital market will still be there, and the experts in SEO, content marketing, or social media marketing will be the ones leading the battle for brand recognition and reputation.

Even if you’re running your own business, understanding the basics of search engine optimization, content marketing, and social media marketing can put you ahead of your competition. You’ll know what to put your focus on and how to interact and form relationships with your target audience using online channels.

During the coronavirus outbreak, some excellent courses are free of charge. You can check out Ahrefs’ Blogging for business, or choose some of the SEO courses at MozAcademy since they are open up to May 31st.

If you want to shift to an online career, check out these digital marketing jobs you can apply:

  • Social Media Manager: You’ll be responsible for creating, supervising, and monitoring social media campaigns, such as Facebook Ads and other paid ads, using social media platforms.
  • SEO Specialist: You’ll handle SEO campaigns – monitor emerging keywords and topics to optimize a website’s SEO and rank high in search engines. SEO tools will be used and you’ll explain SEO metrics and possible impacts on website decisions for a company.
  • Content Marketing Writer: If you have a knack for writing, you can work with various clients, digital marketing, or advertising companies as a web content writer and get paid per article or per-project basis.

2. Information Technology

IT is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world, with a constant increase in job opportunities. You may already have some work or educational experience in this area, but without a degree, you can hardly kick start or advance your career and aim for a competitive job and a high salary.

The highest demand for IT experts is in the top technology hubs that are forming worldwide. For example, Melbourn and Sydney are profiling their reputation as global IT hubs, and earning a diploma in Information Technology in Australia will pay off in attractive career opportunities, such as ICT System Manager, ICT System Administrator, or ICT Project Manager.

If you want to become an information system manager, you can check your career options here.

Here are the important things you need to know about IT-related jobs:

  • Job Description: IT managers or information systems managers focused on securing and effective computer system operations and related applications, as well as software and hardware used within a broad range of private and public sector organizations. Because every business aims to strengthen its IT and online presence, IT-related jobs are in-demand.
  • Key Responsibilities: Some of the responsibilities of information systems managers include managing a team consisting of analysts, support specialists, and programmers. Also, it includes evaluating system functionality and consulting users to ensure that computer facilities meet project or user requirements.

IT managers also handle managing IT budgets and purchasing appropriate computer hardware and software, as well as compliance with software licensing laws.

  • Typical Employers: The common employers for information systems managers include financial organizations, management consultancy firms, IT companies, software companies, local authorities, central government, universities, hospitals, and online retailers.

3. Graphic Design

Graphic design is another excellent skill to learn if you’re interested in pursuing a more creative, digital career.

You can begin with mastering Adobe Creative Cloud to cover all the most widely used graphic design tools such as Photoshop or InDesign. Lynda.com also offers a great course to learn the basics in layout, color, typography.

Even if you’re running your own business, being able to create your logo and captivating images that will go with your social media posts will come quite handy for marketing purposes.

4. New language

There is an excellent Czech proverb “Learn a new language and get a new soul.” You’ll discover its true meaning if you choose to use your coronavirus isolation days for learning or improving your knowledge of a foreign language.

You might want to use this language on your travels, be able to understand the lyrics of your favorite song, or you just like the way the particular language sounds. Also, you can offer language tutorials as a freelancer to earn extra money in your free time.

You may also choose to be more pragmatic and learn a language that can maximize your options for business and work. In this case, consider languages such as Arabic, French, German, Hindi, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, or Spanish. You can even look for a Spanish tutor.

There are many free resources online that can help you out in achieving your goal, as well as free or paid portals designed for mastering this skill. You can also take advantage of mobile phone apps, such as Bussou, Duolingo, or Babbel.

5. Coding

It would be hard not to mention coding, as mastering programming language/s is a sure road to success in a world where people have become dependent on mobile phones and personal computers.

Everything we want to do can be put or done with an app, and the solutions are only becoming more sophisticated.

So you can’t go wrong if you choose to dedicate your COVID-19 extra time on mastering Python, Java, HTML, Ruby, or C++.

The process of learning a new skill will give you the structure and the purpose you need to keep your life balanced during these challenging times. Plus, all the benefits you’ll reap afterward.

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