19 Apr Success Through Skill Development: Upskilling, Reskilling & Beyond

To survive in today’s workforce, continuous professional development is key to navigating the waves of industry change and technological advancement. 

But while professional development is a broadly-referenced buzzword in today’s market, there are many different ways to evolve professionally and nurture your career potential. 

Today, we’ll look specifically at a subset of professional development: skills development. As you look to advance and develop a strategy for success, there are two skill development approaches to consider: upskilling and reskilling.

Upskilling: Grow In What You Know

The first skill development approach you can take if you want to advance or change is upskilling. 

Arguably the more “traditional” mindset when it comes to skill development, upskilling is about learning more advanced skills that will help you climb the proverbial ladder and advance within your current industry, gaining traction towards a higher-ranked position, a greater pay rate, and/or an increased set of responsibilities. 

As upskilling focuses on advancing an individual’s current career path, it looks at elevating and building upon already-existing skills — not so much introducing completely new ones. 

Why upskill? Not only does upskilling help individuals advance to the next level along their career trajectories, but also can help on a larger scale, by mitigating skills gaps in the workforce, and within particular industries.

Not only does upskilling help combat the skills gaps of today, with a growing gap between job vacancies and candidates who meet the mark, upskilling also looks to the future, addressing projected future skills gaps by developing tomorrow’s necessary competencies today. The growth that comes with upskilling can help employees adapt to industry trends, changes, and advancements – including those brought about by the pace of technological evolution in the workforce.

Reskilling: Diversify Your Abilities

Though both centered on achieving career movement through skill development, upskilling and reskilling are not one and the same. While upskilling is about growing one’s competencies along their current professional path, reskilling is about knowledge that equips individuals to undergo career pivots.

 While reskilling may be a strategy that an individual uses when they simply want to go in a new career direction, it is often a necessary course of action when an individual’s current line of work is fizzling out with the changing times – a line worker’s job being replaced by automation, for example.

Reskilling is becoming less of a “should” and more of a “must” in our volatile economy and quickly-changing working world, with the World Economic Forum estimating that over half of all employees (54%) will require ‘significant’ reskilling this year and beyond.

Check out this article from the World Economic Forum for more insights on the pressing need for reskilling to meet current and future economic demand. 

Looking to the Future

Regardless of whether an individual or employer deems upskilling or reskilling the most relevant form of skill development for their career, company, or otherwise – skill development is inevitably the golden ticket to success. By continuously investing in your own growth and/or that of your team, you will be primed for workforce success – in 2022 and beyond!

We’re all about skill development and corporate training here at ISC Resources. Reach out today if you’re ready to equip yourself and your team for success and professional longevity.