Maintaining or improving your skills and knowledge can be challenging in today's workplace. In order to stay competitive, it is important to continue to expand your skills and knowledge. Unfortunately, given the current state of the economy and budgetary cutbacks in many industries, employers may not have funds available for providing formal educational opportunities. The question then becomes, "How can I improve my skills/knowledge without spending a whole bunch of money and where should I look". There are a variety of possibilities for accessing resources that are either free or minimal cost that can be used to help improve your skills/knowledge including but not limited to: online resources, employer provided training/resources, professional associations.
Online resources are probably the most frequently used because of the ease of access and availability. Simply searching on your favorite search engine with a few key words plus "training" will return a list of websites that provide information on the desired topic. Websites can provide a range of information from "teasers" to get you to join (fee-based) to full articles/training with no associated fees. Blogs can offer some content but may be oriented toward opinion rather than fact. A word of caution is to take information gathered from Blogs with a grain of salt
Some employers invest in resources and programs that an employee has the ability to access that focus on skills/knowledge development. These resources may include: tuition reimbursement, mentoring, self-study courses, knowledge sharing and employer provided training. These resources can be underutilized if the existence is not well publicized or that person is unable because of other commitments (i.e. family, community, etc).
Professional associations are an excellent resource for obtaining training/skills. Associations will coordinate with members/non-members to present topics that would be of interest to the group. The sessions can vary in length and content and can be a brief introduction to extremely advanced. Shippensburg University offers workshops periodically through the year for alumni ranging from Interview Skills and Resume Building to Teamwork and Ethics in a Multigenerational Company andEngaging Employees to Maximize Their Potential.
There are many ways to maintaining or improving your skills and knowledge. To find the resource that fits your need, it just involves some "digging" on your part.
