Four aspects professionals should look into before choosing the skilling course

Before locking in on an upskilling programme, one key aspect that learners need to assess is the ‘fit’.

The pandemic has undoubtedly disrupted the talent market. The silver lining is that 79 percent of professionals including new hires planned to upgrade their skills and 62 percent of them feel that going back to the office will not affect their plan to upskill.

However, the intent to do something is easier than actually doing it. There are various challenges professionals face while choosing the right skilling course.

Moneycontrol brings in edtech leaders to share their expert advice on the matter.

The ‘fit’ aspect

Before locking in on an upskilling programme, one key aspect that learners need to assess is the ‘fit’. “Ask yourself if the course is right for the role and your career,” says Krishna Kumar, founder and CEO of Simplilearn.

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Kumar often sees learners who upskill to either get a promotion, for a change in role within the same organisation, or find a new job with the new skills they acquired.

For instance, a software developer might learn new programming languages to maximise their current career potential. On the other hand, another software developer may want to learn a totally different skill to transition to a different career trajectory such as management.

Candidates need to assess their current position and foresee where they would like to be in the future.

Divyesh Sindhwaad, Area VP of Sales, Skillsoft India, shares an example: An employee who is an AI Apprentice currently but has a long-term goal of becoming an AI Architect in the future.

"This individual will be in a better position to become an AI Architect if they choose courses or learning paths on AI development and theory, HCI principles and methods, AI development with Python, computer vision for AI and cognitive modelling," he says.

These courses will allow the employee to build on their knowledge and give them the skills needed to move from their role as an AI Apprentice to an AI Architect, Sindhwaad adds.

Sharing his insights on the topic, Akshay Marwah, co-founder and co-CEO, AAFT Online, said more often than not the course professionals choose is upskilling to enhance their skills related to their current profession and seldom new skilling for a change of profession.

“For instance, a person in the tourism and travel industry might see potential in the events industry and may acquire the necessary skills from the event management course,” he says.

Convenience should be a key criterion

Balancing a career and the online course will be very important for working professionals, according to a spokesperson from Relevel, an upskilling platform. Hence, convenience should be a key criterion during the course selection phase.

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“They should check if the live classes are being held during lean hours, and if there is an option to access recorded content after the live class ends,” the spokesperson says. “They should also have an option to get their doubts solved.”

Besides, candidates should check if the course conducts periodic evaluations, which will help candidates assess their performance from time to time. This will give them an idea if they are giving the required concentration to the course.

Look for career opportunities the programme will facilitate

The kind of placement/career opportunities the course will facilitate becomes highly critical in the decision-making process, says Arjun Mohan, CEO, India upGrad.

Experts suggest candidates always gauge the total time it takes to pay off their investment made in the course. Further, when choosing the online course, it has to be an industry-oriented approach.

“Candidates should seek out modules with programmes that are future-focused and have lengthy training hours while also taking into account the shifting needs of the industry,” says Kumar Manish, regional career services head, Imarticus Learning.

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Finally, just covering the course material isn’t enough. “Robust career guidance even after the programme is over will enhance one’s professional journey immensely,” Mohan says.

So, see if there is a dedicated team of career coaches and student mentors who handhold each learner throughout the module and support them with resume-building services, mock interview sessions, job searches, etc.

Don’t shy from exploration

Experts suggest candidates hunt out online learning platforms that give learners the option to experiment by enrolling in several courses before committing to a particular course.

“The freedom to explore various interests is a valued benefit of online education, motivating learners to complete the course they finally choose,” says Raghav Gupta, MD, India and APAC, Coursera.

Further, personalisation of the learning journey is another feature to look up. Various edtech platforms employ natural language processing (NLP)-powered platforms which recommend courses based on learner searches.