How To Choose The SkillsFuture Courses That Best Suit Your Career Goals

Are your skills up to date? Innovation cycles have become so short that even seasoned professionals in Singapore often have problems keeping up with the latest developments in each of their sectors. For this reason, continuing one’s education after graduation has become almost a necessity for advancing one’s career.

In Singapore, one of the best ways to do this is by taking SkillsFuture credit courses. SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) is a public education initiative aimed at updating the skill sets of citizens and permanent residents. Courses by SSG are facilitated by professionals with years of experience in their respective fields, ensuring that the knowledge gained is more practical than theoretical.

There is a growing number of courses available through SSG that participants can take advantage of. Moreover, this is made even easier by the SkillsFuture Credit programme, which lets Singapore citizens and permanent residents receive an opening credit of SGD 500 from the government to jumpstart their lifelong learning journey.

If you’re interested to learn about how you can also benefit from this initiative, you can start by studying how to select courses that best suit your professional goals. Here’s how you can choose SkillsFuture courses that can make a meaningful impact on your career.

1. Assess Your Aptitude

If you’re interested in taking a SkillsFuture course, chances are that you already have a university degree or other certification as well as some years of professional experience. You probably already have a good idea about what things you excel at as well as areas that require improvement. These should inform the types of courses you’re going to take.

In any case, casual self-assessments may be subject to bias. Taking psychometric tests administered by a qualified psychologist or HR professional may help you better understand which courses may be right for you.

2. Consider Your Career Goals and Trajectory

Take some time to consider your long-term goals when selecting your courses. Doing this can help save time and make your learning more efficient.

If your goal is to further specialize in your field, you may want to look into courses that build on top of the skills you already have. Most individuals looking to advance up the career ladder or pivot towards a slightly different direction may also benefit from studying concepts that they are currently struggling with at work. If you’ve already decided that your current career path is not for you, then you may consider choosing an introductory course on any subject you’re interested in pursuing further.

3. Explore Available SkillsFuture Courses

Now that you understand your own career goals and motives, it’s time to choose your SkillsFuture courses. Visit the SSG website to find out what credit courses are available. Pick out all the ones that you think are a good match for your aptitude and career trajectory and start noting their requirements.

Be sure to note whether these courses are part-time or full-time. Also, consider the start dates of the courses you want so you can fit them better into your schedule.

4. Prioritize 1-3 Key Areas You Want to Work On

If you’re like most people considering SSG courses, you’re probably interested in a wide selection of subjects. Unless you can spare the time to tackle all of them, it’s usually more effective to take on only as many as you can realistically handle. You can always start with just one to three courses and then take on more later on.

It may be helpful to prioritize courses which offer something that you could apply immediately to your current job. This way, you can synthesize your learnings and professional experience even before you earn your certification.

5. Do a Reality Check

Some SSG credit courses have prerequisites that you might not be able to meet. Make sure that you are indeed qualified to take the courses you want before diving in.

Also, though many of them only last a few hours, all SSG courses will require you to commit some of your time. If you have professional responsibilities that make taking classes difficult, consider scaling back the number of courses you’re taking. Alternatively, you can see if you can come to an arrangement with your workplace that will allow you to continue your education.

6. Consider Taking Additional Courses after You’ve Started

If you think you can handle the course load, you can consider taking on more of the SSG courses that you identified earlier. You can also look into other courses offered under other programs. This is worth looking into if the other courses you want are already offered at the same school you’re going to take your first picks in.

Build a Better Career with SkillsFuture

As the name suggests, taking SkillsFuture courses is a great way to future-proof your skill sets, however you envision your career path to be. Whether you take these courses as a refresher on skills you use every day or as a means to pivot to a new career, you’re going to find a SkillsFuture course that will help you with your long-term career goals.

To learn more about SkillsFuture, visit the SSG website or contact technical schools and other institutions currently participating in the initiative.