Excelling in your first job is not only based on what you already know but on your ability to show more skills aside from your job description. With more skills, you are not only showing your ability to learn but also your ability to be adaptable to any job requirement. This is very important especially during this period of recession.

As companies are considering termination of certain employees more than ever, you need to show skills more than what you are asked to do. If you have more abilities that could benefit the company, you are virtually indispensable for the company’s operations.

But learning additional skill seem very challenging today because most of the skills that you can learn will require financial considerations. There are schools that offer short term courses – online and in your local community that would require a fee to get certified.

These courses however aim to train you with a certification in the end. Basically, you are only paying these schools to provide you with certification so that you have proof that you actually have the skills. Sometimes, it does not even matter if you really mastered what they taught you. As long as you can provide the fee, you can get certified.

Skills over Certification

But there are still situations wherein expertise or skills is better than certification. In a real business scenario, you will be able to show your additional skills and become essential to the companies operations. You do not need to have those certifications – as long as you have the skills needed by the company, you will be able to exercise those skills.

When the skills you desire do not require any certification, you can consider an alternative practice in learning. There are practically hundreds of online courses that you can have without any fee.

Free Online Courses

Free online courses usually come in two formats – modular or through multi media. The modular courses could be extracted anytime. There will be no teachers, only authors of the courses. They will outline what you need to learn and provide detailed explanation on certain aspects of the courses.

There are free online courses that actually start on a specific date. MIT has an open university that lets anyone join in and get free updates on what they need to learn. There are also multi-media learning websites that could provide you with just everything that you need to learn. Podcasts, videos and slideshows regarding a specific skill is available free to watch and even download.

Dedication Required

Almost everyone have a bad habit of disregarding free things. This is also true in free online courses. Some think that since these things are free, they can just take their time in learning these things.

If you are really serious in acquiring a new skill, you need to be dedicated in learning them – even if they are given out for free. Through constant practice and a little bit research on the things that you need to learn, you will be showing new skills that could help you in your career in no time.