5 Most Productive Skills To Learn On The Side

The job market is always changing, and with it, the skills required are altered as well. Due to the ever-changing environment, there are a few productive skills to learn that many employers are encouraging students to adapt. Some of these skills you can learn through school, while others you can easily learn through online platforms for free. The idea is to adopt one or all of these productive skills in order to increase your hiring chance once you graduate. 

1. Coding

One skill almost every employer wants in a new recruit is the ability to code or understand code. To be specific, they want new recruits who understand javascript, and python. Today there are a thousand college and university programs or courses that offer students the ability to learn them. Even some high schools offer their students coding classes. However, if you cannot attend classes at school, there are a few online platforms that make it easy for you to learn. The most famous online platform to learning any type of code is CodeAcademy. Not only is a membership free, but so are thousands of coding classes. 

2. Graphic Design

Graphic design is one of the biggest productive skills to learn for new grads. A lot of industries are wanted employees to have some sort of background with graphic design. To be specific, they want to hire professionals who know how to use Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, Adobe After Effects and Adobe Illustrator. Some companies might want you to use Canva as well but, mostly companies are associated with Adobe products. To show you have graphic design skills, they will also ask to see a portfolio of your work, specifically an online portfolio. This can be easy for students who are studying graphic design, as you can easily use your school work. If not, you can create work on the side or through volunteer work. 

3. Social Media

Social media is one of the productive skills to learn because companies want employees who know how to optimize viewership, CPC, and audience analytics through multiple platforms. They want to see if you can optimize the amount of views per product campaign. We are living in the digital world now and everything is online. Social media is no longer a tool to keep in touch with friends and family, but a tool for companies to increase their media presence and sell products to their target audience. In some cases, social media can also be a tool for you to become famous by becoming an influencer. You can partner with companies from around the world to promote their products and gain money. All of these are skills companies want in a new recruit. 

4. Time Management

Although it is not a skill you can be taught in class, time management is one of the productive skills to learn for new hires. To save money, some companies are letting go of employees and combining many jobs into one. What does this mean? It means that one job will have twice the amount of duties and projects to complete on a weekly, if not daily, basis. To ensure these projects are completed efficiently and effectively they want to hire someone who has exceptional time management skills. 

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5. Bilingual

Specifically in Canada, learning the French language is an exceptionally productive skill to learn on the side. With so man immigrants coming into North America, not many of them speak English. For this reason, a lot of companies are looking for bilingual recruits. Similar to coding, you can learn a second language through school or online platforms. A famous platform for learning a second language is Rosetta Stone. There is also an abundance of apps and games you can download for children. 

There are so many productive skills to learn that we had to narrow down the top 5 for our best viewers. Which one do you want to learn first? Comment down below if we have missed some skills?

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