How to decide which skills to learn next for career growth

Your education does not end when you get your first job. Employers expect you to stay on top of the latest knowledge and skills you need for professional success. Developing these abilities may require extra college courses, a certificate, or an advanced degree.

Discover how you can learn and future-proof your skills for a job.

How to decide which skills to build next

1. Clarify your career direction

Choosing the skills for a job you need starts with identifying your short- and long-term goals. These goals may include:

• A promotion with your current employer.
• Changing employers.
• Changing career fields.
• Starting over with your career.

Once you've chosen one or more goals, start researching:

• Potential job titles, industries, and employers.
• The latest economic trends impacting these industries and employers.

This research may reveal the most in-demand skills for a job in your field. You can also determine which skills may best help you weather economic downturns, such as a recession. You may need to adjust your goals based on what your research reveals. To stay competitive in a changing job market, learn how to future-proof your skills.

2. Assess your current skills and experience

Start assessing your current skills and experience by identifying your career stage. Early-career (i.e., 1–10 years of experience) professionals may need to build hard and soft skills for a job. More experienced workers may need to focus solely on hard skills related to the latest developments in their industry.

Before you identify high-impact skills for your goals, make sure you have a clear picture of your existing strengths and gaps. This will help you focus your learning where it matters most. No matter your career stage, you can assess how your skills stack up through feedback, self-assessments, and skill surveys.

Review the results to understand where you're strong and where there's room to grow. Then, compare those insights with the skills most commonly emphasized in job postings within your target field.

For help identifying your strengths and areas for growth, explore the employability skills checklist.

3. Identify high-impact skills for your goals

Whether you need to develop a few or many skills to reach your goals, focus on high-impact skills first. High-impact skills are those that can best improve your career trajectory.

Identify whether high-impact skills for your industry are soft or hard (or a combination of both). Soft skills (e.g., communication, time management) are transferable, while hard skills (e.g., domain-specific knowledge) relate to your chosen field. You may need to focus solely on the latter if you have many years of professional experience.

Beyond hard and soft skills, high-impact skills relate to other factors, including your long-term career goals. Explore the responsibilities sections in job postings to identify which skills employers consider high impact. This information can tell you whether you need to upskill or reskill.

4. Prioritize what to learn next

It's time to rank the skills you need to learn or improve, from most to least important. Prioritize skills that can help you in your current career or job hunt. To learn these skills as quickly as possible, consider an edX online course, such as:

• Communication skills
• Effective change management
• Manage team performance
• Public speaking

Starting with stand-alone courses can help you make measurable gains and short-term wins. Mastering more challenging skills may require earning a professional certificate. At the end of each course or certificate program, reflect on your progress and adjust your priorities, if necessary.

5. Build a flexible learning plan

edX's focus on asynchronous and self-paced learning makes it a great starting point for exploring courses and programs that emphasize hard and soft skills for a job. No matter which course or program you choose, make sure it allows you to balance work, family, and other responsibilities.

A flexible learning plan is also an affordable learning plan. edX courses cost $50–$300, and professional certificates cost $500–$1,500. These figures fall well below the cost of a typical bachelor's degree.

Mastering new skills can take time, so find ways to keep yourself motivated. Strategies include rewarding yourself for each goal you complete. You can also increase motivation by surrounding yourself with people who support you.

Develop your skills with edX

Now that you know how to develop your job-related skills, start with edX courses and programs.