Why it’s important for millennials to invest in self-development

As with every year, the start of 2017 sees a fresh crop of matriculants setting out on their paths to entering the job market. With current millennials already active in a highly competitive market, it is unlikely that by the time our newest matrics enter the formal sector they will arrive at an enabling environment, because work experience is the silver bullet for youth unemployment.

Especially since the country’s overall unemployment rate stands at 27.1% and youth unemployment has averaged over 51% for the past three years.

While government, business and civil society need to come together to address the problem through multi-faceted programmes, there is something millennials can do to increase their chances of breaking into the job market and getting onto a successful career path.

Low levels of education, and the lack of qualifications, experience and work readiness are all often cited as reasons why it is so much harder for young job seekers to secure employment. Luckily, these are factors that motivated individuals can address by taking charge of their own skills development.

With more and more accessible and affordable learning environments available, millennials can embark on a self-driven up-skilling programme that will help them.

What’s important is to choose a quality, accredited provider. You want the qualifications you gain through your own efforts to be reputable and recognised. It’s also important to be well aware of your interests, passions and strengths so you develop yourself in a direction that is meaningful to you and the future you want.

The advantages of upskilling as a millennial include:

• By being proactive and making choices to learn, gain training and achieve qualifications, you become more appealing to current and future employers;
• By committing to up-skilling yourself, you demonstrate your drive for new opportunities, innovation and success;
• By investing in your own professional development you take a great step towards securing a better role in your current or future organisation;
• By gaining knowledge in areas of business or technology or languages that you are most interested in, you begin to shape a career, and a future life, that is most likely to be rewarding and successful.

Following your own up-skilling programme doesn’t have to mean signing up on bricks and mortar campuses. On the contrary, learning online offers many benefits to millennials. Young people are generally most comfortable and adept online, and find it an easy place to learn.

Courses can be accessed any time and from anywhere, which means if you are already studying at university or college, you can easily take on additional courses, and study at your own pace.

If you’re taking a gap year, you can study while you travel and gain a qualification which adds a phenomenal richness to your experience.

If you’re unemployed and whiling away time because you don’t have the resources and opportunities to go out and learn, you can log on at home or at your local library and begin studying towards something that can change your circumstances for the better.

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