Introduction

The top 5 skills to learn in 2020 are the highest-paid skills as well. The younger generation is more confident than other generation about their career prospects and the possibilities that lie ahead, despite the growing threat of job disruption.

According to a study from LinkedIn, the majority (52 %) of people aged 18 to 29 are hopeful that the employment landscape will improve over the coming years.

The conclusion is based on a survey of over 11,000 people in nine countries across the Asia Pacific. It points toward greater concern among old generation workers, who believe that they will be adversely affected by the shifting jobs landscape. Just two-thirds (41 %) of those aged 50 to 60 say they think their career prospects would improve this year. China was the only exception to that, with optimism at its greatest among older generations. India, on the other hand, will create more jobs in the upcoming future.

The traditional jobs find themselves up against the growing threat of automation. “Learning a new skill — or upskilling — is a great way to enhance the value you bring to an employer or your own business. Learning the right skills are highly recommended for the younger generation looking to take the next step in their careers.

However, whatever the scenario there is always room for the right skills. Employees of all ages can better prepare themselves by focusing on learning the cutting edge skills.

Start simply, by learning from free online courses. Furthermore, use your online profile to reflect your most recent skills and experiences. You can then start actively posting and sharing on your LinkedIn profile, company network and personal blog to highlight the areas of your work and your industry that most interest you.

The top 5 skills to learn in 2020 are:

5. Digital Marketing

In 2020 if you aren’t online you don’t exist. Getting someone’s attention online will only continue to get more difficult and so the people who can reach and engage other’s online are, and will be, in high demand.

Both marketing or the internet aren’t going anywhere, so at least learning the basics of this field can give you a huge leg up in a job interview or if you’re an entrepreneur you can monetise your own merchandise.

Another excellent thing about digital marketing is that you don’t need a degree in it to get a job. You just need to learn it, get certified, and prove you can do it. A large majority of the best digital marketers are self-taught. With digital marketing, you can even make a six-figure salary.

However, the digital marketing field is massive and if you have a website I recommend learning SEO and digital advertising. You can start with:

SEO (Search engine Optimization):

Search engine optimization is a process to increase the quality of your website content and traffic. It’s like making your content more keyword-friendly or google search-friendly. It will increase the visibility of any content. You can learn the basics of SEO from the online course –Introduction to SEO by Zikshaa.

Google Adwords:

Using Google Adwords you can run ads on Google. It’s built on an open marketing bidding system, meaning there is a live-auction each time someone searches for something on Google. There are a lot of free resources available to learn and get certified. Once you get certified, you can add the certification to your resume and LinkedIn profile. It’s very attractive to potential employers.

Facebook Advertising:

Facebook Advertising is an effective digital marketing platform and worth learning in addition to Google. It’s also easier to learn than Google Adwords. You can learn how to do Facebook advertising on YouTube or through Facebook’s free tutorials.

However, if you want to take a full digital marketing course to learn all of the basics, check out this digital marketing course on Zikshaa.

4.Sales and communication skills

Sales are the most important aspect of any organisation. That’s where the revenue comes from. 99% of the revenues are generated by sales. One can produce a variety of products/services with high-end technologies but if they are not sold to the consumer the whole investment goes in vain. And to do sales you have to have good communication skill.

Furthermore, in an increasingly skill-driven future, those who can sell ideas, products, and themselves will have a decisive advantage and can earn more. Whether its a start-up or traditional company everyone has a requirement for sales. And luckily if you are an engineer and have good communication skills then technical sales might be the right thing for your future.

Firstly you’ll have to focus on your communication skills and vocabulary. Secondly the accent. And then to get the hang of sales you can read books as You Can Sell by Shiv Khera. Also watching some ted talks and youtube videos will be helpful. Again selling can’t be learned by watching videos and reading books. You have to exert yourself in the field and learn through the hard way. However, once you mastered the art of selling you can definitely earn above average.

3.Programming language

Unless you are living under a rock you already know that Code runs the world. It’s more like a mindset and it can actually change the way you look at the world. Whether you are from a programming background or not you can learn to code if you devote some time. And unlike other skills coding doesn’t require a degree to get a job. Even if you have no intentions to become a coder, learning how to code will teach you so many things about. For example, how the world today works and how the future is literally being built. In 2020 every app, website, car, or piece of hardware that you use is powered by code.

You can go into a variety of fields using a Programming language. You can start by learning HTML if you want to develop a website or Java for android apps. A great place to start for free is Codecademy, where you can start feeling it out and go at your own pace.

2.Business and Data Analytics

The business is driven by data. Each and every action made on the internet is being tracked whether its right or wrong is a completely different topic. But there are a lot of opportunities in this domain. Data and analytics will only become more prevalent in the future, as more of our actions are tracked. Learning how to use data to power your decisions will be essential for most roles in the future.

1. How to build the best marketing strategy to grow a business

2. How to best track the impact of marketing on a business

3. How to best determine the health of, and opportunities for a business

If you can master all three, you will not only be a more valuable job candidate, but you can have a measurable impact in most business environments, companies, or even use the info to launch and optimize your own business.

You can start by learning google analytics. Like Google Adwords, you can learn how to use it for free online at the Google Analytics Academy.

 

1. Content Creation

Ninety-one per cent of business-to-business (B2B) professionals use content marketing as part of their strategy. And out of 100 users on the internet, only 2% contribute the unique content or so-called are content creators. Rest all are just consuming and modifying content here and there. It takes a lot to become a content creator.

Some of the key points to keep in mind for becoming a content creator are:

Read news about the industry every day.

Focus on your industry and read everything related to it. The more you read the more information you’ll have. And the better the content you can produce.

Write on the regular.

Only reading is not enough. Make it a habit to write at least thrice a week. It doesn’t mean you’ll have to write essays of 1500 words but at least write a few thoughts here and there. Figure out when your mind is the clearest — for most people, that’s after or during a cup of tea/coffee — and just free-form write.

Study your industry’s audience.

Whatever you write is ultimately judged by the audience. You are on their mercy that they will accept or reject the content. So focus on understanding the need of your audience.

Establish your own voice.

Create your own writing style. Write not to deliver but to impress. People love personality more than content. So make sure they come back for you and your writing style.

Curate other people’s content (when it makes sense to).

You can create everything in this world. Know the limitations and if possible share others work by providing them credit. This way you can relate your content to the available content.

Understand your KPIs.

Just because you wrote something that doesn’t mean it will be discovered. Generating lead is one of the challenging things faced by many content creators.

A KPI is a specific metric you’ve chosen to measure how well your content is doing against your expectations. Modern KPIs include:

Social media traffic, the number of visitors that come to your content from a social media post.

Direct traffic, the number of visitors that come to your content by entering your website’s URL directly into their browser’s address bar.

Organic traffic, the number of visitors that come to your content from a search engine result link.

Submissions, the number of people who visit your website and leave having submitted their contact information in exchange for a resource you offered them (a form of lead generation).

Offer solutions, not just commentary.

Don’t write just for the shake of delivering. Creating value in the content is important. Don’t just address the things you know — explain why they’re important and what your audience can take away from it. The people consuming your content aren’t interested in just hearing you talk. They come looking to satisfy specific needs.

Note: There are no shortcuts to success. Youll have to devote a good amount of time to learn a skill. There are people working in every sector and earning the lowest or the highest based on their skills and experience. The more time you’ll devote to something you are likely to succeed in that.

If you are stuck in your life and want mentorship then feel free to contact nirajan@zikshaa.com. I’ll be happy to help you out.