Upskilling is the process of taking your existing set of skills and improving them. Your focus is on developing new ideas and learning knowledge within the same general framework that you’ve already been operating in.
Reskilling is slightly different. It involves developing completely new skills to help take your career in another direction. You’re still developing new ideas and learning new things – only it’s outside of your current area of expertise.
Both play crucial roles in your approach to a business career, but which one makes the most sense for you at this current moment? It turns out that either idea is great; it depends on where you currently are in your business career.
Upskilling: Great For Advancing Your Current Career
Upskilling makes the most sense for individuals who want to improve upon their existing career or role within a business. It’s something as simple as obtaining a Master of Management online to develop your skills as a business leader further. You’re already in charge of a team, but this extra bit of education helps you manage them better and get the most out of them.
Or, it’s a marketing executive who wishes to get better at their work by learning more about specific marketing tactics or strategies. Perhaps you currently work within a marketing team and headline the social media marketing side of things, but now you want to branch out and develop your SEO skills so you can do more or be in a prime position for a promotion.
That actually highlights one of the things that should indicate when upskilling makes more sense than reskilling:
- If you’re looking for a promotion within the same general role at work
- If your industry is evolving and you need to adapt to stay relevant
- If you’re looking for a newer and better job at another company within the same career field
Reskilling: Great For Switching To A New Career
On the other hand, consider reskilling when you want to switch career paths slightly. You’re still interested in a business career, only not doing what you’re currently doing. For example, you’ve worked as an admin assistant for a few years but want to get into marketing – you don’t currently have the correct skillset, but reskilling helps you learn all of the key skills you need for this specific job.
Reskilling also becomes a practical professional development tip for people who’ve been out of work for a while. Maybe you worked within a business framework before getting pregnant and having children. You took a few years off work and are ready to return – but your old skills are outdated and you need to reskill to learn completely new ones.
Generally, you should think about reskilling when you:
- Don’t like your current job and want a new one
- Need to learn new skills because your skills are outdated
- Your current job is being made redundant, so you’re forced to retrain for new roles
Overall both upskilling and reskilling help you improve your career in business. It all comes down to where you’re at right now and your feelings towards your existing job. If you like it but want to do more or earn a better salary, upskilling is the way forward. If you don’t like your job or don’t think it’s very futureproof, then reskilling can be more beneficial.
