At Bain and Gray, we are really passionate about not only helping you to find a job you love but also support your personal and professional career development. Career development doesn’t only look brilliant on your CV, but it shows to your employer that you are proactive and enthusiastic to progress in your work.
Whether you are currently in a role and working from home, have been furloughed or are actively looking for a new job, the chances are that with the current pandemic, you may have a little more time on your hands. Whilst we very much encourage you to use this time to enjoy your hobbies and spend time on yourself, we highly recommend enrolling in some administrative online courses that will help to build on your existing skillset and elevate your CV.
The beauty of these free online course that we are going to share with you, is that they can be done in your own time and in the comfort of your home! These courses will make you stand out from other candidates and will really help you when interviewing.
Here are Bain and Gray’s top 3 FREE online courses for soft skills:
Decision-making and problem solving
Personal assistants are expected to deal and solve problems on a daily basis and also make big decisions on behalf of their bosses and the business. This free online course by Coursera, has everything you need to know about making decisions and solving problems, in just 5 hours! You will learn about assessing problems, elevating solutions and anticipating risks, helping you to build your critical thinking skills.
Communication
No matter what industry you are in and what level experience you may have, every administrative professional should know that communication skills are vital within a workplace. This course (from Coursera) will teach you how to communicate more effectively at work and achieve your goals. It will provide you with the tools you need to improve your communication skills and will help you to learn how to build trust and ask thoughtful questions.
Negotiation
The art of negotiation is something that employees at all levels have to often deal with on a daily basis. This course allows you to explore how current approaches to negotiation strategy and tactics are used, what it entails and how authority and power can influence these negotiations.
Here are Bain and Gray’s top 3 FREE online courses for soft skills:
Data protection
Since General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018, understanding and knowledge of privacy, data protection and associated regulations have become highly valued within businesses. This free online course (Introduction to GDPR) will teach you everything you need to know and will give you the knowledge and skillset that you can then take with you to a job interview. This will not only impress your employer but will help you stand out from other candidates going for that role.
Events management
For a PA and EA, having the ability to organise, plan and execute a successful event is a highly sought out skill. The Oxford Home Study Centre has a free online course that covers the below:
- The concept of contemporary management
- The fundamentals of event creation
- Effective event marketing strategies
Typing
Whatever your title, if you an administrative professional it’s highly likely that your role will require quick, competent typing skills. Typing.com is a fantastic free online course that will teach you everything you need to know in order to be a proficient typist! Typing.com is also great if you are looking to elevate your IT skills.
