Finding the right skill to learn can be difficult, especially if you’re taking a step towards a completely different career. Putting in the time and effort to learn a skill from scratch for there to be little to no jobs available is an important aspect that you need to be wary of. Although this shouldn’t limit you, it’s a factor to keep in the back of your mind when choosing which path to go down.
Totally Money has conducted a study showing which skills are the most in-demand for popular job industries, highlighting which ones have the highest number of jobs available. From computer heavy skills to more manual labor sectors, there’s a variety of directions you can take when looking to change your career for the better.
So which skills should you look to learn?
Business Related Skills
When it comes to looking at the most in-demand business skills, learning the skill of ‘data’ opens up the highest number of opportunities for you, with more than 30,000 job listings having the skill as a desired asset. Agile and project management follow data as the second and third most desired business skills. Having proficiency in data comes at an average learning cost of £198.01, whereas project management has an average cost of £322.56.
Coding
With the rise of the digital age and complex technologies, skill sets like coding are becoming a real asset. If you’re looking to take a step into the coding and software development industry, there are a variety of skills that can be learned, all with their unique career paths. JavaScript ranks as the most desired skill with more than 5,000 jobs available. With the average cost to learn javascript being £123.56, it’s an affordable career to take a step in to. C# and python are also popular coding skills with a match for their demand in the job industry.
Language
Learning a new language is a bucket list favorite for many people, but rarely do we think about turning it into a career. Whilst there are fewer job opportunities for this skill compared to the likes of business and coding skills, there is still a demand for them. French and German rank as the most in-demand languages to have, closely followed by Spanish. However, it would be fair to say that having an additional language is an attractive skill all employers have a desire for.
Creative
Whilst there are many more technical skills emerging with the rise of the digital age, the creative industry is still booming when it comes to desirable skills that companies are looking for.
With the number of online courses rising rapidly, creative skills such as photoshop, animation, and illustrator are all easily accessible and immensely useful in a number of roles. The competition is high, however, but with photoshop having more than 1,000 jobs available, it could prove to be the best creative skill to learn.
Trade
On the flip side of technology comes the trade industry. Perhaps you work in a tech-heavy environment and DIY is a passionate hobby of yours. Trade skills are still in high demand. Electrical skill sets have a huge demand of more than 11,000 jobs being available and with the skill costing on average £188.85, it’s accessible for many too. Plumbing follows with close to 2,000 jobs available.
So whether you’re looking to stay in your current industry but slightly tweak your career path, or you fancy beginning a whole new journey into a completely different job role, looking at learning these skills will provide you with the biggest opportunity for work, with employers showing a keen demand for them.
You can view more information such as the average expected salaries for these skills and their costs to learn here.
About the author: Henry Keegan is the Head of Search at TotallyMoney, an independent credit broker that offers consumers free credit reports, helping to improve the UK’s credit score.
