It feels awful when you read a job posting and it sounds absolutely fantastic. It’s right up your alley until you get to the skills requirements and you realize you don’t quite measure up.
This has been difficult to overcome in the past. Time and money seem to be the enemies of further education. Even if we have the money, most formal courses take weeks and weeks. It requires a real commitment.
And this skills thing is a concern in our day jobs too. The digital era is changing the way we work faster than ever and we need to make sure we have the right skills all the time.
Let me introduce you to Lynda.com. It is an online platform with over 3,500 video courses on topics such as Advanced Excel, Statistics, Effective Presentations, Interviewing, Photoshop and more. The courses are delivered in short video segments with exercises for practice and they are delivered by experts.
You might be tempted to think that this is just fluff. Who really uses online learning?
What did you do the last time you needed to fix something at home? You hopped on YouTube, right? What did you do when you wanted to look up a recipe or craft you saw on TV? Yep, YouTube again.
Video on demand is convenient and accessible. What more could you want?
What if it were free? If you have a library card, you can access it for free. Really.
Since Lynda.com was purchased by LinkedIn and LinkedIn was purchased by Microsoft, they have cut deals with many public libraries and universities to give staff, students and patrons free access.
This is just too good to pass up. Skip the burger lunch today. Grab a sandwich and head to LinkedIn Learning. You owe it to yourself to check it out.