Affordable Courses

A critical skill today: the ability to upgrade yourself

The ability to learn new things is a key transferable skill that is in demand by a majority of employers. More important than that—learning new things keeps your brain healthy!  Read books and trade periodicals. Spend time regularly at the library. Go back to school. There are many options for affordable courses today. Invest in yourself.  Add the courses you complete to your resume and LinkedIn profile with the date completed.

GOOD NEWS!  You don’t have to break the bank to polish up this essential skill! Some ways are even free!

One of the best ways to polish your skills is with Lynda.com. Below the sample lesson shown here (from a course on LinkedIn) are four excellent reasons I recommend this training system.

“What makes a great LinkedIn profile?” a sample lesson, part of a larger course, from Lynda.com.

Here are links to just a few popular courses you might be interested in:

Excel Tutorials
Office Tutorials
PowerPoint Tutorials
Access Tutorials
WordPress Tutorials

Four excellent reasons why  I recommend Lynda.com

1) Lynda.com training is very affordable

Some courses are free and ALL are extremely inexpensive. For as little as $25, you can subscribe and take as many courses as you can fit into a one-month period. While that is a per monthly charge, there is no time obligation. You can suspend your subscription at any time, no questions asked. Your account history will be kept for you to reactivate the next time your favorite software is upgraded and you need a quick refresher.

When do you do your annual career review?  Schedule self-improvement time into your calendar on a regular basis. At your annual career review, decide what skills you need to achieve your next set of goals. Browse Lynda.com‘s class offerings, decide what you want to take, and how many hours the course(s) will take. Then plan a long weekend, take a few days off work, or block out an hour or two per day over the course of a month–for class time for yourself.

Do you really want to master the material? For just $10 more, Lynda.com gives you access to all of the tutorial files used in the lessons. You will be able to download them to your computer, open up the files in the software you’re learning, and then follow along with the tutorial. Learning by doing is the best way to learn, in a deep and lasting way!

2) The courses are excellent

Each Lynda.com course is taught by a vetted expert in their field, who has great communication skills. The courses are well designed with an interactive outline consisting of short, easy-to-follow video tutorials. Each lesson is short — from 2 or up to 10 or 15 minutes. Each video lesson can be stopped, paused, and replayed as frequently as needed until you understand the material. You can follow the lessons in sequence, or skip around and zero in just on the information you need.

For instance, say there are some features in Microsoft Word you don’t use frequently, like how to create a Table of Contents. You can go find what you’re looking for in the course outline and just watch the relevant tutorial(s). Here is a link to Microsoft Word Tutorials.

3) The ever-growing catalog of courses is very helpful

Lynda.com has training in an ever-expanding array of fields, particularly in the technical and creative areas, as well as marketing, small business, and professional development. As Lynda.com was recently purchased by LinkedIn–a brilliant move on LinkedIn’s part if you ask me–they will undoubtedly continue to expand their offerings. When you set up your free account, you can adjust your settings as to what fields you are interested in. As of this posting, hundreds of courses are offered in fields including 3D Graphics & Animation, Audio & Music, Business, CAD, Design, Developer, Education & eLearning, IT, Marketing, Photography, Video and Web.

Here are links to just a few popular courses you might be interested in:

Excel Tutorials
Office Tutorials
PowerPoint Tutorials
Access Tutorials
WordPress Tutorials

4) Get an automatic certificate added to your LinkedIn Profile

Take however long you need to get through a course. As soon as you’ve completed all lessons in the course, you will be given the option to receive an official certificate of completion from the course you just finished. It will go right into your LinkedIn profile, with just one click. Instantly, employers and prospects know—wow! You are sharp and on your game!

Now that is slick!

Remember: a hot skills to have on your resume that will make you competitive in today’s market is the ability to upgrade yourself.

Now get 10 days of free, unlimited access to Lynda.com, courtesy of Write Stuff Resources!

Note regarding the certificate: I am not 100% sure if you can acquire a certificate for your LinkedIn profile using the free account. You may have to subscribe for a month. If anyone knows for sure about that, let me know!