Five ways to get clear on your learning goal
Photo by Amy Hirschi on Unsplash
In yesterday's essay, I emphasized the importance of clarifying your learning goal before you start buying courses and doing the learning. We're continuing with that same theme today - and I'm sharing five tools you can use to clarify your learning goal.
These five are mostly geared towards professional, career-focused learning.
Tomorrow, I'll share a few ideas focused more on personal learning.
A learning goal is a clear, achievable statement of something you want to learn or accomplish.
Occupational Outlook Handbook
The Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) is a free resource you can access at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/. The OOH hundreds of jobs and tells you what the employment outlook is for them as well as information about them. The OOH also links to O-Net which contains information about skills and tasks performed by that job.
Job Description Reviews
Read through a sampling of job descriptions that contain the role, certification, or area of responsibility you're considering. You can get clear on what's really required by reviewing sample job descriptions.
Informational Interviews
Reach out to people who hold jobs in the area that you are interested in or who hold jobs that use skills you are interested in obtaining them. I have NEVER had anyone turn me down when I ask them if I can talk to them for an informational interview.
Job Shadowing
If you really connect with someone during an informational interview, you might take the next step and ask them if you could shadow them for a part or whole day.
Volunteering
When I was learning web development I would build a web site for anyone that would let me. From small scale political campaigns to not for profits, you can often practice new skills and gain valuable references and relationships by volunteering your skills to help build out your experience. All work, even volunteer, is valuable to include on a resume and discuss in interviews.
Join the Conversation
Which of these have you tried? Other ideas to share? Share a comment with your idea or experience.