Recent world events remind all of us that any limitations on our earnings can make life very hard. If you have found that your paychecks are not keeping up with expenses, or that it’s much harder to save than it used to be, the tips below can help you find options to increase your career success, your job stability, and your future earnings.
1) Take All Available Training
If your workplace offers brown-bag lunch seminars that will allow you to increase your training, take them. Even if you’re not able to earn pay for that 30 or 60 minutes, the skills you learn in such training can make you a more valuable employee.
For example, if you work for an accounting firm as a member of the support staff and can take training to become more skilled in specific software. Those skills can help you to become part of specific teams supporting a particular industry. If you can learn to quickly convert PDF forms or generate reports, you will become a more valuable member of your firm. Raises and job security may well follow.
2) Study On Your Own Time
It may also be time to study in your free time. Someone who works for a doctor’s office may benefit from learning to quickly transcribe notes or update software for office tablets, used by nurses and doctors.
Such training may come with a cost. If you notice that a particular problem in your office could be improved by skills that you know you would like to have, it may be possible to get financial help in reaching your training goals. Even if you have to wait until you get your certification to be reimbursed, the payoff could be quite helpful in the future.
3) Be Willing To Re-Tool
If you have gotten to the top of your industry and a step up requires a return to college, the financial risk and time commitment may simply not be possible. In such cases, attending a technical school for short, concentrated training may make more sense.
At a technical college, you can study to be a
- computer repair professional
- paralegal
- plumber
- electrician
Factory jobs are rare and at great risk of being outsourced. Tradespeople cannot be outsourced. If you can join a specific trade organization that supports your industry, you will have even more access to available jobs.
4) Pick Up Extra Shifts Or Change Shifts
If your employer will allow it, express your willingness to pick up extra shifts. This will earn you some overtime. It will also make you more visible to the powers that be. If you’re working at a store or a restaurant and they need to train another employee who can close, offer your help.
As a closing employee, you may learn skills such as
- closing out the till
- checking in with security and setting alarms
- running a forklift
- prepping for the next day’s shift to start work
Getting paid to learn is one of the best choices you can make as an employee. Even if it means being away from your spouse and your little ones in the evening, this training can increase your value to your employer and your paycheck in short order.
5) Consider Relocating For A Time
There are training options for folks who are willing to relocate for a short time. For example, you could work for a resort for a summer, get paid to drive a tour bus, and earn your CDL.
With a CDL, you can find work
- as a bus driver, so you’re home in the summer with your children
- as a tour bus driver, so you can move to a larger city with more opportunities
- as a dump or trash truck driver
- as a shuttle bus driver for a local hotel
Do your best to pick up every possible opportunity to learn; if you can learn and get paid at the same time, sign up! If you and your partner can split shifts so one person sends children to school and another is home when school is out, you can save on daycare and other expenses.
