Cecropia Posted April 9, 2019 Share Posted April 9, 2019 The idea of "marketable skills" has always been a little nebulous to me. The term is sometimes used to mean specific, concrete skills such as small motor repair. At other times, it seems to mean an attribute (strong leadership, hard-working). I have an eye toward eventually getting some kind of regular part-time employment away from home. However, I'll be here caring for young one(s) during the day for another 1-2 years, and dh usually has inconsistent/long hours, so life just isn't flexible enough for me to commit to a job without paying for childcare. I have a bachelor's degree in biology. Without a career plan (truly, it's like starting with a blank slate), I'm not interested in investing in another degree for something unrelated. I'm actually afraid of pigeon-holing myself into one particular career path instead of being open for any opportunity. Perhaps I can start teaching myself marketable skills that can be useful in many different jobs, especially over the summer months. What highly/broadly valued skills do you think are most conducive to being self-taught in a home environment? Low-cost is a plus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted April 9, 2019 Share Posted April 9, 2019 I think this is *SO* dependent on location and personal skillset. Ideally, what would you *WANT* to do? What is your preferred environment? Are you open to working from home or do you need to be around people? A few years ago, I would've answered that you should know Excel and Quickbooks. In my current location, that's fairly useless advice. I think you might find it more helpful to think about potential careers. If you have a degree in biology, would you consider working as a project manager from home on drug studies? Would you want to work for a local university as a technician? As a pharmaceutical drug rep on a local traveling circuit? TBH, if I am headed back to work, I am likely doing it because I need a serious income and steady insurance benefits. It's not worth it for me to pick up $10/hr here or there for a few hours a week. If I wanted to do something like that, I'd open up a tutoring business. So, learning skills at home maybe isn't the best use of my limited time and resources. If you have any interest in IT, there are generally a lot of work at home opportunities, and people come from a wide variety of disciplines. A lot of skills can be learned through online tutorials. There are some websites that have a flat subscription fee of $300ish/yr., fwiw. Dh uses it to retool (like learning big data analytics, something that didn't exist years ago). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted April 9, 2019 Share Posted April 9, 2019 (edited) Excel Video editing web design programming math & science so you can tutor Edited April 9, 2019 by regentrude 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cecropia Posted April 10, 2019 Author Share Posted April 10, 2019 6 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said: Ideally, what would you *WANT* to do? What is your preferred environment? Are you open to working from home or do you need to be around people? I would probably have anxiety in a high-pressure or loud environment. I'm introverted and prefer working alone or with a small group, but I've also done fine working in retail with oodles of customers. 6 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said: I think you might find it more helpful to think about potential careers. If you have a degree in biology, would you consider working as a project manager from home on drug studies? Would you want to work for a local university as a technician? As a pharmaceutical drug rep on a local traveling circuit? Well, my earlier biology jobs were in field work, insect curation, and scientific nomenclature, so the options above wouldn't be drawing from that experience. I might have some personal objections to working for pharmaceutical companies... but otherwise, I'm pretty open to trying new things. 7 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said: TBH, if I am headed back to work, I am likely doing it because I need a serious income and steady insurance benefits. It's not worth it for me to pick up $10/hr here or there for a few hours a week. If I wanted to do something like that, I'd open up a tutoring business. So, learning skills at home maybe isn't the best use of my limited time and resources. I'm not sure what my end goal is, beyond getting a foot in the door somewhere. I'd work for $10 an hour if there was good reason to hope for advancement. I don't think I would make a very successful tutor, though... I could teach math and science, but I don't have that natural positive kid-magnet charisma. Brushing up on Excel seems like a good place to start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted April 10, 2019 Share Posted April 10, 2019 14 hours ago, Cecropia said: The idea of "marketable skills" has always been a little nebulous to me. The term is sometimes used to mean specific, concrete skills such as small motor repair. At other times, it seems to mean an attribute (strong leadership, hard-working). I have an eye toward eventually getting some kind of regular part-time employment away from home. However, I'll be here caring for young one(s) during the day for another 1-2 years, and dh usually has inconsistent/long hours, so life just isn't flexible enough for me to commit to a job without paying for childcare. I have a bachelor's degree in biology. Without a career plan (truly, it's like starting with a blank slate), I'm not interested in investing in another degree for something unrelated. I'm actually afraid of pigeon-holing myself into one particular career path instead of being open for any opportunity. Perhaps I can start teaching myself marketable skills that can be useful in many different jobs, especially over the summer months. What highly/broadly valued skills do you think are most conducive to being self-taught in a home environment? Low-cost is a plus. I think the problem is, if you aren't in a projected career path, and want to remain open, you are not looking at things that require a degree in a particular subject area. And, you aren't getting the benefits (insurance, retirement) if you are working hourly doing something outside of what you trained for. But maybe that doesn't matter as much to you? Would you be interested in working in a lab? I admit I don't know much about it, but a friend's daughter majored in Biology and does some fascinating testing in a lab. Her current job involves testing animal medicines. She loves it and it pays well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalmia Posted April 10, 2019 Share Posted April 10, 2019 Using your current skills: Teaching at a nature center, zoo, natural history museum, science center, state museum, arboretum (museum education is less about the teacher being the kid magnet, as the living creatures and specimens being the kid magnet). Working for the state government: forestry/entomology, fish & wildlife, environmental protection department/bureau. Adjunct biology instructor at local college. (Very low pay, but gives you recent experience to put on your resume). Substitute teacher for high school specializing in science. Working for a not-for-profit such as the Audubon Society, the Nature Conservancy, Xerces Society, a local land trust, or other conservation organization. Side gig type things: nature photography, nature writing 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.