If you are a student wondering how to make yourself more marketable — and yes, we know it goes well beyond test scores — then you may be interested in learning some in-demand skills take only six months or so to learn. Recently on reddit, someone asked the question of employers — what resume skills could really impress a boss (or potential boss) without spending any longer than six months for mastery? As the holidays approach, consider starting your education on some of these. While you will still need a solid, well-rounded education, these cannot hurt, and they can even help you become a better learner. Let’s get started with the responses.
1. “First Aid and Work Health Safety or Occupational health and safety [are] both really good.”
2. “I dont know, but I’m the designer of the marketing side of my company. All of our stuff is in Adobe Indesign.”
3. “Learn basic coding! It’s a skill set becoming more prevalent in all industries, you might as well start now! Here’s a nice little book to address exactly what you’re after in the short term: https://gumroad.com/l/CodeYourResume”
4. “Ok, I know this is kind of an old post, but you should volunteer for 6 months anywhere. You’ll easily discover inner skills.”
5. “For anyone at all interested in the music field: Ableton Live 9. You gotta bust your a**, but virtually any studio will take you if you’re competent with it and bring a ‘portfolio’ of beats with you.”
6. “This is a really good question. One skill that you could not only learn but become d*** near expert in and something that almost ALL employers value is Excel. This is something you could take on with a few books, online courses and some discussions with pros and really begin to kick a** at. Excel is a super strong program and most people haven’t even scratched the surface of what it can do.”
7. “CDL passenger endorsement. Both my parents have it. My dad has or had Hazmat on there, too. You can get a job as a city bus driver and make good money and you have hertz courtesy buses etc. Me on the other hand can’t drive so I’m stuck trying to find another retail job.”
8. “Technical writing is always helpful. Being able to write concise summaries, memos, emails, etc. is always useful since everyone’s so used to filling up essays and correspondence with BS.”
9. “I interned for exactly six months at the National MS Society this past year, and during that time I learned the ins and outs of a non-profit organization, how to organize and collect sponsors/volunteers for an event, and lead the volunteers at said event. It was something I am really glad I ended up doing and taught me how to interact with people in a more professional manner which I hadn’t experienced beforehand.”
10. “I started out as a 1st year C[omputer] S[cience] student who applied for jobs and managed to land 2 part time (equaling full time) jobs (one as a dev the other as systems in reality both of them are basically devops!). I now have enough experience and more than enough notoriety (I’ve worked on some big public projects) to leave my degree course (I am going to finish). The way that this happened is: don’t wait until you graduate! I know graduates who aren’t having any luck at all with getting a job. They think they are entitled to one (‘oh … I’ve done four years of java and I have a first/second class degree — so of course people should hire me!’) But everyone has to work hard to get a job. Doesn’t matter how many years of school you do. You aren’t the only candidate.”
11. “From what I read this has only even been mentioned once and not emphasized: get a Federal security clearance! This opens the door to literally thousands if not tens of thousands of government jobs. I once worked at a nuclear plant and had a security clearance … so I could go into the control room and empty the trash or wax the floor. When I eventually quit that job I had recruiters calling me for all kinds of jobs that required the security clearance. Most were outside the country though and my ex-wife wasn’t willing to leave the country. Should have left her and taken the money, but hindsight. Anyway that’s my advice to you, because you know, Snowden.”
12. “Knowing HTML coding has been surprisingly helpful to me working in my pr agency. I think knowing the basics of video, photo/graphics and sound recording and editing can be helpful as well- since pr is moving more towards content generation, agencies love having people on staff in house that can do the work rather than outsourcing.”
13. “Take an EMT course. It takes a lot of dedication but it only takes a few months and it’s worth it and will look good no matter what you’re applying for.”
14. “Becoming Microsoft Office certified will help you in almost every field.”
15. “Project Management: NERC CIP is a good skill. Very high paying and is needed all over the country. 6 months training is ok but it normally takes a year or two to master one version of the standards.
16. “… you can never go wrong with another language.”
17. “Basic blueprint reading. You don’t have to know how to draw everything, just be able to be given a full package, and know where up look for what. Specifically being able to go from Orthographic to isometric views and back and being able to look at a site plan, and know where to look for specific things. Its not hard, I legitimately learned it in roughly a month, and given 6 months you should be able to almost master reading them.”
18. “I put on my resume how since I was 16 I was buying and selling items on eBay for profit, showing initiative and showing how I know how to work revenues and expenses on a basic level. I also commented on my 100% customer rating which showed good public relations. It was just different from what anyone else had on their resume, I don’t know if it necessarily got me the job, but it was usually a great talking point in the beginning of each interview and the interviewer always seemed interested. Not saying you should do that exact thing, but anything that you’ve done on the past that can help you stand out will help.”
Are there any quick-to-learn skills that you find would be useful to a resume that we haven’t mentioned? If so, share in our comments section.
Aric Mitchell's work appears regularly here at 4tests.com and across the web for sites, such as The Inquisitr and Life'd. A former high school teacher, his passion for education has only intensified since leaving the classroom. At 4tests, he hopes to continue passing along words of encouragement and study tips to ensure you leave school ready to face an ever-changing world.
If you are a student wondering how to make yourself more marketable — and yes, we know it goes well beyond test scores — then you may be interested in learning some in-demand skills take only six months or so to learn. Recently on reddit, someone asked the question of employers — what resume skills could really impress a boss (or potential boss) without spending any longer than six months for mastery? As the holidays approach, consider starting your education on some of these. While you will still need a solid, well-rounded education, these cannot hurt, and they can even help you become a better learner. Let’s get started with the responses.
Great Article!