Learn New Skills While You Are Unemployed

If any of you have read anything else on my blog, you’ll know that I am unemployed at the moment. Although I’m still waiting for the elusive unemployment benefits to actually kick in, I have been exploring the options available to me on the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s website to learn new skills.

Ultimately, the goal for everyone who files for unemployment to be gainfully employed prior to their benefits running out. While the most desirable outcome is to find a job making as much money and comparable benefits as they did in their previous job, the website also provides people with a chance to gain new skills to make people more attractive as an employee.

In late August, I returned to school for the third time since I graduated college 20 years ago. This time it’s to be a paralegal. I’ve been toying with this for several years actually — long before my health worsened or my job went downhill. In fact, five years ago, I wanted to go for the big prize of going to law school.

If I’m being totally honest, I wanted to go to law school while I was still working on my bachelor’s degree. I wanted to go for it again when I hated my first job out of college. I still wanted to possibly pursue it when I left that awful job and got a job closer to my parents. No, I put it on the back burner and turned off the stove. Then, I got pregnant about two years later.

I don’t have to get another associate’s degree to become a paralegal, since I already have a bachelor’s degree. I could theoretically take a few intro classes and do the rest online and earn another bachelor’s. My background in medical terminology makes me a desirable candidate for an attorney. Being able to read medical jargon and interpret test results makes me a desirable employee.

What is great is also that states often provide educational prep programs online that help you develop all kinds of skills. Today, I looked at it and there are all kinds of online classes. Believe it or not, there’s even a paralegal class. It’s also totally free.

Even if you aren’t unemployed but want to learn some skills like say, Photoshop, you should check it out. It’s called Alison. You can pay a small monthly fee so there aren’t ads and you can get an actual digital certificate and diploma for what you finish.

Since I’ve enrolled in a paralegal program already, I’ve decided to take some secretarial classes so that I can maybe get a part online job. The other thing that’s good about Alison is that you can connect it to your LinkedIn profile and your skills that you complete will automatically be added.

***This post includes affiliate links.***