In a world where not everyone is destined to be a CEO, finding the Skills To Learn that align with your goals can open doors to a fulfilling and lucrative career.
Obviously. not everyone is meant to be a CEO. The world would be a very funny place if that were the case.
However, most people need a career of some sort.
And that means that acquiring skills is more important than ever before.
But what should you learn in today’s economy if you want a well-paid job? What counts?
Let’s have a look.
1. Leadership
Top of your list of priorities should be leadership.
It’s one of the best ways to get into a senior management role without having to start a company or know someone at the top.
Being a leader is a complex job and companies need individuals who can do it well.
Simply doing what most managers did in the 1990s and 2000s isn’t enough any more and firms want individuals who can offer real nuance.
Companies’ main problem is their people.
Keeping them happy and motivated is a perennial challenge.
If they can hire managers to do that work for them, then they often find that they save money, even if that means paying exceptionally high salaries.
For you, this is great news.
Once you get into a leadership role, it means that your path to better pay is often shorter and easier.
Yes, you’ll need to be good at things like conflict resolution and strategic thinking, but that’s something you can learn on the job.
A bit of common sense goes a long way.
Once you know how to lead people, then it opens up a raft of high-paying positions you can enjoy, whether that’s becoming an executive manager, team lead or even CTO.
Read more on How To Lead Your Team By Example With These Simple Steps.
2. Financial Management
Getting into the world of financial management can also be exceptionally lucrative (more so than most people realise).
Companies are crying out for people who can do financial analysis, accounting, and investment management.
Gaining these skills, of course, is challenging. financial
Not everyone has the aptitude for it.
But if you can master some basic approaches, it can have a profound effect on your career.
You don’t need to know everything in advance. You can start by knowing the 6 qualities that make you a good financial advisor.
Most professionals learn on the job for several years before aiming high for senior positions.
The best route is usually as an analyst working alongside a senior professional who knows what they’re doing.
If you can get into this person’s inner circle, you can pick up techniques faster and deliver more value to companies.
You can also gain the respect of your peers, encouraging them to elevate you, too.
Most companies will pay handsome sums of money for people who are good with numbers, but you’ll need to explore a range of fields to demonstrate competence.
What’s more, unless you enjoy numbers, these can be quite dry.
You’ll want to learn the basics of corporate finance and then move on to risk management and financial modelling.
Learning these helps you add value to companies and ensure they keep their finances on the right track.
Getting a qualification, like a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) can be beneficial.
These are often enough for you to get your foot in the door and start making waves in a company, even if you don’t see much of an upgrade in your salary just yet.
Don’t worry: that usually comes quite quickly.
3. Cybersecurity
Another area worth exploring, cybersecurity is often a gateway to high-paying roles.
Again, companies are willing to pay more because people with the right skills are few and far between.
Only a handful of individuals understand cybersecurity and only a fraction of those people can manage teams and implement solutions at the enterprise level.
Cybersecurity is becoming more important in organisations because of the need to protect against hackers and other malicious actors, both inside and outside the firm.
Companies need people they can trust to put advanced solutions in place, allowing them to meet their requirements for regulatory purposes.
They also need individuals who can help them prevent losses and protect commercially sensitive data that could put the entire operation at risk if it falls into the wrong hands.
The best approach is to go on some cybersecurity courses and learn the basics.
You’ll want to cover things like network security, cryptography, and ethical hacking.
Certifications like CompTIA Security+, CISSP, and Certified Ethical Hacker can be useful.
Don’t worry if one course doesn’t cover it all.
You can often find educational institutions offering more comprehensive, across-the-board curriculums that cross over with each other, allowing you to delve into the areas that will benefit your target employers the most.
Once you learn cybersecurity techniques, you’ll always be in demand.
Companies are often willing to pay almost unlimited salaries to get people like you on their teams, especially if you can prevent breaches long-term and deal with internal threats effectively.
4. Sales And Negotiation
Building your sales and negotiation skills is another powerful approach you can use to get into a high-paying career.
People who do it well often have unlimited earning potential.
The trick to effective sales and negotiation is primarily psychological.
The more you can understand other people and yourself, the more likely you are to thrive in this line of work.
If you can become good at selling in B2B environments, that’s even better.
These often pay the highest commissions because of the sheer size of the contracts you can secure.
Start by developing your negotiation skills and understanding psychology.
Film yourself trying to sell and see what vibes are coming off you.
If you’re having trouble pinpointing what’s wrong, get an instructor or an expert to evaluate your techniques and approaches.
Don’t be surprised if you get it wrong the first one hundred times, even if you feel confident.
Sales is challenging because it is so interpersonal and often runs counter to our instincts.
Focus on things like managing long-term relationships and negotiating to find win-win outcomes.
Don’t be afraid to be creative and inventive in your approach so you can find the best options for everyone involved.
You can also get sales certifications if you’re having trouble breaking into the industry.
However, the best approach is usually to demonstrate you can sell.
5. Project Management
Becoming a project manager is another strategy you might want to use to get a high-paying career.
These professionals are in high demand because of the sheer number of complex undertakings most firms are involved with at the moment.
What’s great about project management is that there isn’t a great deal of competition.
Hardly anyone thinks to themselves “I’m going to become a project manager.”
But that doesn’t mean they’re unimportant for the economy.
The short supply usually means that firms are willing to pay much more for your services, especially as a contractor.
You can look forward to pay that exceeds $1000 per day on many jobs, simply because of the complexity and experience required.
Getting into project management is, of course, quite challenging.
Again, it’s not because it is a particularly competitive industry.
Project management: your path to leadership and exceptional pay.
It’s just that it requires a lot of formal experience in work first before you can take on the big roles.
Even so, most organizations treat project managers as high-level executives, meaning that if you manage to wrangle one of these jobs, you can often earn an exceptionally high rate of pay.
To be a project manager, you’ll need to get better at managing your deadlines and keeping everyone on your team on track. You will also need to be highly productive. Transform your office for more productivity if possible.
You’ll also require skills in getting team members to work on the right things at the right time to deliver project milestones, a skill that many people struggle with.
If you want to be a competent project manager, start with the software. Gain proficiency in Agile, Scrum, and project management software like Jira or Trello.
These will help you with the day-to-day running of your work and provide you with some technical expertise that employers will appreciate.
Ideally, you’d work within the systems your target companies are already using.
If you can show competence in these, you will often demonstrate that you have the skills required to take projects through to their ultimate completion.
Don’t be afraid to learn multiple platforms at the same time.
While it can be quite a high cognitive burden, it is also something that will set you up for long-term success in the industry and help you keep moving forward.
6. Digital Marketing
Even after many years, digital marketing remains one of the most solid paths if you are ready to Change The Direction of Your Career and boost your earning potential.
It’s lucrative because online companies depend on it for success in the modern world.
They need experts who can drive sales and reach their target audiences across platforms.
This goes beyond limited conventional channels, like their website.
Digital marketing requires knowledge of SEO, SEM, social media strategies and technical on-page optimizations.
Learning all of these can help you enormously in your career.
It also proves to future employers that you have genuine value to offer.
So there you have it: some of the skills you need to learn to get into a high-paid career.
Which will you pursue?
