It’s not uncommon that my clients find they lack one or two (or three) skills listed as either a requirement or “asset” in a job posting. I think that if you have at least 70% of the job requirements that that should still apply for the job, stressing your transferrable skills and focussing on your passion for the role, industry and company – it’s sometimes the attitude and enthusiasm that can get your hired over the next person.
However, there is absolutely nothing preventing clients from showing the initiative and learning the skill on their own and discussing it on their resume. (Hello! My name is Proactive Learner.) Some common missing skills including analysis/spreadsheet or advanced Microsoft Office skills… I say advanced because almost everyone has a grasp of how to use Outlook or Word but very few have the advanced capabilities to do vlookups and pivot tables in Excel. Microsoft’s website now includes some great training and there’s no need to pay for it either.
How about taking it a step further and learning about Big Data or Mastering Data Analysis, for free, from a well known university? Open source learning is the new way of learning and there really is no excuse not to take advantage of this brilliant societal equalizer. Here are some options for free learning:
[tweetthis]Learn about Big Data or Mastering Data Analysis, for free[/tweetthis]
