May it be taking a break, leaves for marriage, pilgrimage tour, maternity leaves or any other occasion; a working employee, planning for a long leave, always fear either about job security or skills turn out-dated or rusty on return from a long leave as well as plan to improve skills during Long Leave.

With Technology and Business moving at lightning speed, it is a very tough job to have an APPRECIABLE COME BACK and blend with the work easily. For everyone in long leave or even looking for a change of career after a long break, the following tips hold good to improve skills during the long leave.

10 kick-ass ways to improve skills during Long Leave:

1. Firstly, find your comfort zone, plan, set a goal. They accelerate your learning and increase your focus. (Read on: How to set goals smartly).
2. Stay updated with current trends/updates related to your field. Reading articles, watching YouTube videos/tutorials every day can give a lot of knowledge.
3. Regular interactions with your colleagues/knowledge gurus and friends to get any updates on your work/team/core areas.
4. Know your capabilities and manage your bandwidth accordingly. Remember! if planned precisely, you can do much more while you are on leave.
5. Take up online training, which is the perfect learning platform today. It gives flexibility in scheduling which is not feasible always while working due to tight schedules and deadlines.

   

6. Your thirst to learn new technologies shouldn’t go in vain just because it wasn’t ‘THE TECHNOLOGY’ as per your past job responsibility. However, Keep your skills relevant and don’t jump across or drift away too much unless you really want to.
7. Whether you are a self-learner or one among those paid learners, the principle or motto should be the same.Decide wisely as time is precious especially during a vacation.
8. Do some certifications. They will surely make your resume heavy along with your skill set.
9. Build your contacts and network as well as hang out with geeks through any means (chat, or meet personally). Some of their knowledge will surely rub-off on you.
10. If not much, at least one to two dedicated hour is appreciable to be spent during your leave. The question arises, how?
    • Read blog posts
    • Prepare future tech talks
    • Watch webinars
    • Participate in tutorials
    • Review technical books
    • Implement small projects

“Have a positive attitude towards learning. Results of your learning is a reflection of your mind set.”

Needless to say, you are the best judge to decide on the type of skill you need to acquire or improve on. The above-mentioned steps will definitely help to improve skills during Long Leave. Do share with us, what are your thoughts and what would you do to improve skills during Long Leave.

Also, read:

• It’s possible to achieve GOALS if they are SMART GOALS
• 10 things we usually skip or forget when we are late to office
• Most effective things to do when you are ON BENCH!
• Its possible to achieve GOALS if they are SMART GOALS