Keeping Your Skills Up To Date When You Work From Home

How should you be keeping your skills up to date as a work at home mom? Working from home is a dream for many people. If if you’re a mom it’s often the best option for your family as it allows you to have the flexibility and avoid wasting hours on a commute.

When you work from home, you may be employed or self-employed, but either way, it can sometimes be difficult to keep up with colleagues.

At times, you can be overlooked, and when it comes to training, you may have to use your own initiative and keep yourself up to date.

Here are some tips to ensure your career stays on track while you work remotely.

Keeping Your Skills Up To Date When You Work From Home

Check the news about your industry

If you want to keep your knowledge of your particular career up to date, you need to know what’s going on in your specific industry. This will help you decide what skills you need to learn and what services you might want to offer in the future.

Find out if there’s a trade publication for your industry and visit their website regularly. Spending a little money on a subscription means you can keep your knowledge up to date and learn about big events.

Go to networking events

Although you work from home and use remote software, it pays to have some face to face time with colleagues or those in your industry.

Build a network on sites such as LinkedIn and you’ll find plenty of networking events and conferences, most of which have relevant talks and training sessions included in the admission price. This can be an inexpensive way to refresh your skills, as well as helping your career overall.

Check out Social Media Marketing World, an annual networking event.

Get included in company changes

Those who work from home can often feel left out when companies are going through changes, and this can leave you feeling anxious about your position in the business.

If your company is going through an Inpulse change management plan, make sure you’re included in the process, especially if they’re putting on training sessions or holding important meetings during the process.

Consider funding your own training

If you’re serious about furthering your career, you may want to fund your own training through a student loan or career development loan.

Many companies are cutting down on training, so it can be difficult to get the training you need, funded by them, and it often means you have to accept the courses they want you to take.

Funding your own training means that you have control and can study what interests you. Worried about fitting training in with work and the kids?

Why not consider an online college for your training? Just keep in mind that some institutions are better than others, so check they have the right accreditation.

Keeping Your Skills Up To Date When You Work From Home – Conclusion

It’s not always easy to work from home, and sometimes it can feel like you’re missing out on important information and training, which is why you need such good communication skills.

However, by doing a bit of research and staying up to date with your industry, you can identify opportunities and ensure that your career doesn’t suffer in the long term.