The current situation has caused a slew of changes in how so many parents cope with their finances and their everyday lives.
Many have lost their jobs, while many are trying their best to cope with the sheer amount of work they have to do (think: first responders!), so it’s only natural to worry about your own employability. Certain occupations do allow working from home and they actually make for wonderful opportunities for stay-at-home mums, but there are mums with various types of education and skills, and we all need to get creative to stay financially stable.
Knowing that, we can start investing in different skills to expand our knowledge and to make ourselves more viable in the current job market.
We can, luckily, do so from the comfort of our homes, as evolving many of our finest skills can be done online today. Here are a few ideas to help you boost your resume and your abilities as we wait for the pandemic to settle.
Social media management
When you have a knack for words and interacting with people, businesses will flock to hire you!
Simply put, social media management and other digital marketing skills will become of even more relevance in the upcoming months, because of the lack of in-person interactions. Brands will do their best to hire people who are capable of getting their message across and connecting with people on that everyday level, so if you’d like to, you can take a free digital marketing course to boost your skills before you apply.
These learning programs will give you a better idea of how you can monetise your skills and what you need to work on in the future to apply your knowledge and abilities better. With the ability to manage social media profiles for businesses, you can work for one or more businesses from home and keep educating yourself further!
Emergency care for entering healthcare
If you are already a nurse, an emergency worker, or you work as a first responder we salute you. Your hard work and dedication keep us going and prevent the current situation from escalating. Then again, many people have been inspired by the invaluable role of healthcare workers to join their ranks and in order to do so, you first need to obtain some essential, often life-saving skills, such as advanced cardiac life support for patients whose lives are severely jeopardized.
Fortunately, it’s possible to obtain ACLS certification online in these circumstances, to make it easier for people to become accredited, certified healthcare workers and help with the current situation and the pandemic. If you have nursing or other medical knowledge already, all the better, but learning the latest methods and procedures in life support will make you even more vital during the pandemic, and well after it ends.
Creativity for mum-friendly entrepreneurship
The pandemic has certainly been tough on us all, but it has also inspired many mums to come up with their own business ideas and then build their professional presence one day at a time. Depending on your current income and stability at home, you can start your own business in different niches and contribute to the world with your own ideas.
Those same skills will then be transferable in case you discover a like-minded professional out there, and you apply for a job with their company instead. Skills such as graphic design, creative writing, animation, but also giving lessons in a different subject such as the English language, cooking, or fashion design. You can join existing companies that work in these fields, or you can start your own side-gig from home.
A range of IT-related skills
The entire IT sector has blossomed in the past year, since more companies have sent their workers home, and many more have had to obtain transferable skills that can contribute to the overwhelming digitization of various processes. With that in mind, you can consider developing skills that can land you a job in the IT world, be it development, cybersecurity, or quality assurance (QA) engineering. Business analysts and support specialists will also be needed more than ever, to help organizations run and improve their IT infrastructures across the board.
More companies will develop their own apps and software solutions, which means that you can focus on coding and software development, and even come up with your own innovative solution for a business.
Opportunities will abound in IT, and even if you start with something more general such as project management, you can slowly evolve your skillset to incorporate more technical knowledge over time.
Although it’s still early to determine how things will change in the months and years to come, these skills will certainly be in high demand considering the impact of the pandemic.
Getting the right certifications from the comfort of your home and expanding your knowledge will help you find more suitable work, allow you to increase your earning potential, and of course, focus on meaningful, purposeful work that brings you joy as well as stability.
AUTHOR BIO:
Sophia Smith is a lifestyle and social media blogger, and graphic and UX designer. She is an aesthete and photography lover by heart who absolutely loves everything that includes visual communication. Sophia is also very passionate about yoga and mindful living. Lately, she writes about digital marketing topics, from content to social. She has contributed to a number of publications including Women Love Tech, Leader Maker, Legal Reader, Businessing Mag, Ruby Connection, Monterey Premier, and many others.
You can find out more about her writing by following her on Twitter (@sophia_bri)