Short training courses to improve employability and portable skills

bhz-2

I'd like to have a career change but I don't know for sure what I want yet.

I'd like to take a few short term (10 - 12 weeks) training courses at college in order to improve my skills. One option I thought of was introduction to management.

In this recession, what kind of portable skills (which can be learned reasonably quickly) are the most sought after by employers?

CHARDONNAY_3

I've been looking in to short courses too - Literacy, numeracy & IT are a good starting point.

In terms of transferable skills, communication & team-work are very important & you should have e.g's of when you have used those skills in prev jobs or in your private life.

Are you currently working or unemployed?

Have you started researching poss new careers?

paulwf

It really depends on your current qualifications and your profession.

For example a 1 day food hygiene course is essential if you want to get temp work in catering, that 1 day of study can make a huge difference. If you want to work in an office it's worthless

A full first aid certificate could give you an edge in any job and will take around 4 days, but it won't be cheap so most people would rather their employer paid.

bhz-2

Thanks for the replies so far.

The industry I work in is in trouble and I would like to have a career change anyway.

I don't really know what I want to do yet, which is a real pain. I know what I don't want to do, but that doesn't help much.

I've had a look at some websites like prospects.ac.uk, etc to see if I could find some inspiration, but no luck just as yet.

In the past I thought about training as a life coach or counsellor. Although the subjects seem to be interesting, I realised I wouldn't be happy working with people in distress. Also, it would have been really difficult to get a full time job in these professions.

I also thought of dietician/nutritionist, but I'm not very good at biology and chemistry.

Any more suggestions welcome.

DCFC79

Well what interests you, what kind of work do you currently do ?

cazziebo

To be honest, if you are looking for a course that will give you a good sellable job skill then I wouldn't recommend a management course - these skills are much better obtained from experience than a classroom.

It very much depends on what skills you have now, and what field you want to work in. Something like project management is useful in most fields, as is enhanced IT skills (eg advanced Excel). As PaulWF says, a First Aid qualification can give a candidate an edge.

Tell us more about you and we can be more help.