Amanda Rose: Top five digital skills you will need to get a pay rise

These days, everyone needs to be a jack of all trades. Here’s what you need to brush up on if you want to land a promotion.

I don’t understand people who won’t upskill in digital. It’s the biggest barrier they’ll have for keeping their job, landing a new one in the future or getting a pay rise or promotion.

I’m talking about gaining basic digital skills here, not specialist ones, and training yourself to be comfortable using them. These days, everyone needs to be a jack of all trades.

In an interview, if you can confidently say you can manage Zoom meetings, send newsletters to databases, you are comfortable with Google docs and sheets and can design your own art to add to social media posts, you will be seen as an all-rounder that can get the job done. Combining experience and this suite of skills will make you highly employable.

There are plenty of free courses available or ask your manager if you can complete a paid course and if the company has a budget for that. Often you can negotiate for them to pay for the course if you do it in your own time.

For me, the top five skills all people need are:

1. Online meetings

This could be Zoom, Teams or Google hangouts, but you need to know how to book them, run them, how to record them – not just how to log in.

2. Email functions

Being able to manage your email and communications efficiently is important along with being able to send newsletters via marketing services such as MailChimp.

3. Canva

You don’t have to be able to create art from scratch, but being confident using this graphic design platform to tweak a template is a must.

4. Social media

Don’t be scared of social media. You need to know the basics of how to post, boost your posts and how to analyse the results to ensure your campaigns are working. To start, think Facebook, Instagram and Linked In.

5. Diary management

Put your pen and paper away. You need to know how to run your digital diary online.

Do you have a work query for Amanda? email [e-mail]

The founder of Small Business Women Australia, Amanda is a key mentor and career advisor

digital skills