How to Upskill Yourself with Temporary Jobs
With advances in technology, many jobs are disappearing or require new skills to adapt. To stay competitive in this digital age, professionals must learn new skills. This is known as upskilling.
Upskilling can help you stay competitive and give you leverage in a rapidly shifting job market. And others agree - 28% of temporary workers say they chose to temp because it’s a way to gain experience and skills.
Upskilling is the future of work, and one of the most sought-after methods is through temporary jobs. So, we’ve outlined what upskilling is, the advantages, and how you can use temporary jobs to learn new skills.
What is Upskilling?
The definition of upskilling is:
“Gaining a new ability or quality through education or training.”
Essentially, upskilling is the process of learning a new skill that is required for new or changing jobs.
Some companies offer training and development to upskill, but if yours doesn’t, there are alternatives. You can learn skills through a course, formal education, or upskilling programs. But we’re here to talk about one of the quickest and most effective ways; on-the-job training with temporary jobs.
Advantages of Upskilling with Temporary Jobs
Working ‘temp’ jobs allows professionals to learn many skills fast. Below are some of the reasons why you should consider ‘temping’ to upskill.
On-The-Job Experience
Although education and foundational knowledge are important, getting hands-on experience gives you a competitive edge over other candidates. That’s because companies often prefer work experience, and it shows that you not only know the theory but also how to apply it in real life.
Learn New Skills Fast
Temporary jobs allow you to gain foundational skills to start or advance your career. Look at the job description and choose jobs with the skills you want to develop. You can work in different positions until you reach your learning goal.
Get Paid to Learn
Not many other upskilling strategies allow you to get paid – in fact, you’re paying to learn for most other methods. You can pick up shifts on the side or make it your full-time gig with temp jobs.
How to Upskill with Temporary Jobs
We recommend following three steps to ensure you get the most out of upskilling.
1. Identify skills you’d like to learn
Focus on technical skills instead of soft skills. Anyone can say they have good time management since it’s hard to measure. Instead, focus on the abilities you need to perform practical tasks.
To identify the skills you want to develop, start by asking yourself three questions:
Where do you see yourself in one year?
What skills do you need to get there?
What skills do you already have?
These questions will help you determine where you want to go, what experience you need, and your current skills gap.
For example, say you’re an Administrative Assistant that wants to be an Office Manager within one year. The skills you may need for the job are calendar management, file management, report generation, vendor management, and people management.
Great news! You already have the first two skills from your current role but need to develop report generation, vendor management, and people management.
2. Create an upskilling plan
First, create a goal. Make sure it’s realistic and has a target end date. You are more likely to stick to a goal if it’s specific. Then, you can start planning.
Determine which job will teach specific skills, what to begin with, and the time it should take. You may not be able to find temp work in your field for each skill, so instead, leverage transferable skills. These are skills that can be used in a variety of occupations.
Using the previous example, your goal might be to learn one new skill a month, finishing your upskilling program in three months. Your plan may look like this:
Month 1 – learn report generation through a temporary analyst role.
Month 2 – learn vendor management through an event planning gig (this is a transferrable skill).
Month 3 – learn people management through a youth leader/coaching role and take an online course.
Note: You can double up on-the-job and education training for certain skills.
3. Develop your skills on-the-job
Now it’s time to implement your strategy! Remember to refer to your plan as you need to stay on track.
Once you’re done, make sure to put your newly developed skills into practice on the job. If they are well practiced, you are more likely to remember them in the future.
AmbiMi’s on-demand staffing app makes upskilling easy! Every time you work a gig, your experience and skills are updated in your AmbiFile. So, the more you work with AmbiMi, the more skills you acquire and the better your chance of finding jobs in the long term.
Want to upskill with AmbiMi? Download the app below!
