Ready to Ask for a Raise? Gain These Skills This Year to Up Your Earning Potential
Want to increase your earning potential? If you’re thinking of asking for a raise, you need to show your employer why you deserve one. One of the best ways of achieving that is by gaining new skills or refining your existing ones. New skills can make you more competitive and valuable to your boss.
When it comes to upskilling, you don’t necessarily need to go back to school. Depending on the complexity of the new skills you want to learn, you can get certifications that take a few weeks to months to complete. You just need to commit one or two hours per day to learning them.
When you gain new skills to increase your earning potential and your income, you want to make sure you learn the right and in-demand skills. For example, if you are a veterinarian or even a pet sitter, you can easily get a veterinary massage certification online.
Depending on what you’re looking to learn, you can get your certificates by taking short courses online or joining workshops, boot camps or seminars.
In this article, we’ll talk about some of the most lucrative skills to learn in 2024 that will help you increase your income.
In-Demand Skills to Increase Your Earning Potential
Almost any industry can be susceptible to layoffs. But employees with in-demand skills have a better shot at keeping their jobs and, as they continue learning, increasing their earning potential. They also can negotiate higher salaries because companies can’t afford to lose them.
To join that elite league, you need to upskill to learn in-demand skills that can help you earn a raise and even a promotion.
This section will cover some of the skills you need to learn to increase your earning potential in 2024.
Learn People Management Skills
Climbing the ranks into a leadership position requires more than just technical skills. Successful managers and supervisors also have leadership and people management skills. A short online course might be all you need to be able to ask for a promotion or pay increase.
Typically, this certificate can give current and future managers the skills and resources needed to foster strong connections, lead change and manage people. It will help you gain the practical knowledge you need to manage a highly motivated team. That can lead to new responsibilities at your workplace. And in most cases, more responsibilities come with better pay.
While anyone can learn these skills to increase their income and even earn a promotion, these courses are most suitable for people in management positions and those aspiring for management and leadership roles. This certificate can equip you with skills such as:
- Problem-solving and decision-making
- Forward planning and strategic thinking
- Interpersonal and communication skills
- Organization and delegation
- Recruitment and induction skills
- Workplace performance management
Duration: Three to six months. Self-paced.
Where to Learn:
- The Manager’s Toolkit: A Practical Guide to Managing People at Work – Coursera
- People Management Skills Course – FutureLearn
- Organizational Behavior: How to Manage People – Coursera
Business Communications
Effective business communication is important for almost any company. At an internal level, good business communication allows employees and management to interact with each other to achieve business goals. At an external level, it allows for better communication of the brand’s value to its customers.
Without the right skills, a business will struggle to reach these goals. This is why good business communicators are invaluable assets.
A business communications certificate can help you acquire transferable business communication skills useful in many career paths and can lead to higher pay and new opportunities. It benefits anyone looking to enhance their written, verbal and digital communication skills.
A business communication certificate is good for those who work in a people-focused profession such as human resources, marketing, sales and public relations. It’s also recommended if you’re thinking of venturing into leadership positions or working with a team.
Some of the skills this certificate will equip you with include:
- Diplomacy skills
- Negotiation skills
- Effective multichannel communication skills
- Public speaking
- Conflict management
Duration: Three to 12 months
Where to Learn:
- Business Communication – Duke University
- Business Communications – UBCx
- Modules: Effective Business Communication – Alison
E-Commerce and Digital Marketing Skills
These days, everyone is selling something online. So a short digital marketing course can get you ahead in many ways.
A digital marketing and e-commerce certificate is an in-demand program that can improve your digital marketing knowledge. This certificate suits you if you’re working in sales or marketing. As the future of commerce goes online, this certificate can help you assume new marketing responsibilities that will increase your earning potential.
Whether you’re a marketing novice or an expert, this certificate can help you boost your digital skills and stay current in the industry. At the end of the course, you will be able to develop comprehensive marketing plans, set effective KPIs and learn industry best practices.
Digital marketing is broad. After learning the fundamentals, you can later focus on one field, such as social media marketing, SEO/SEM analytics or project leadership. If you’re already an expert in one of those, you can upskill and master another field.
This certificate will equip you with skills such as:
- Attracting and engaging prospects across digital marketing channels
- Marketing analytics
- Building and managing e-commerce stores
- Strategic planning
- Storytelling
- Persuasive selling
Duration: Three to six months
Where to Learn:
- Google Digital Marketing & E-commerce Professional Certificate – Coursera
- Digital Marketing Specialization – University of Illinois
- Digital Marketing Strategy and Planning Specialization – Coursera
Product Management Skills
Product managers oversee the development of a company’s products. So they guide the teams that develop and implement a product.
A product management certificate teaches you to manage the product’s development process from inception to when it goes on the market. It can also help you understand how to track a product’s performance after its launch.
The certificate program will help you stand out and show your employer you can handle the planning and launching of new products. These new responsibilities can help you make yourself valuable and ensure you have the upper hand when negotiating for a raise.
Apart from that, this certificate will also equip you with the following skills that can help your career:
- Soft skills like time management
- Roadmap planning
- Product strategy planning
- Team management
- Conducting market research
Duration: Two to six months
Where to Learn:
- Certified Product Manager – AIPMM
- Digital Product Management Specialization – Coursera
- Real-World Product Management Specialization – Coursera
Bookkeeping Skills
If you’re interested in becoming a bookkeeper, a quick course can help you get your foot in the door. Learning certain skills – like accounting – allows you to work with small businesses to manage their financial data and do other bookkeeping duties.
According to AIPB, one of the industry leaders, certified bookkeepers can advance their careers and earn promotions and raises.
A bookkeeping certificate isn’t just for accountants or people in the finance industry. It could benefit project managers, business managers, administrators, etc. Additionally, you can apply the skills you learn in your personal life when creating a budget, managing your spending habits or filing your taxes.
A bookkeeping certification will help you learn or refine your accounting skills by equipping you with modern bookkeeping knowledge. The course will help you learn how to use various cloud-based bookkeeping and accounting software, prepare financial statements, manage accounts payable, correct accounting errors and record inventory.
This certificate will equip you with the skills you need to:
- Understand accounting concepts and measurement
- Create, interpret and analyze financial statements
- Create and manage cash flow statements
- Work through various accounting circles
- Do inventory costing methods
Duration: Two to four months
Where to Learn:
- Bookkeepers.com training course – Bookkeepers.com
- Intuit Academy Bookkeeping Professional Certificate – Coursera
- Become a Bookkeeper Learning Path – LinkedIn Learning
Salesforce Certification
Salesforce is a top customer relations management provider globally, and its certifications are in high demand by employers worldwide. These globally recognized credentials can help you advance your career by learning relevant skills that can help you increase your income.
It offers more than 40 certifications across different fields, from commerce and IT to administration and consulting. You only need to identify a course suitable for your career choice, and you will be on the road to increasing your income this year. The industry’s popular Salesforce certifications include Salesforce administrator, marketer, designer, architect, developer and consultant.
If you work in any of those fields, a Salesforce certification will help you learn the skills you need to thrive in the current job markets, stay competitive and increase your salary. Salesforce offers in-depth knowledge and hands-on experience, making the credential proof of expertise that employers consider.
Duration: Depends on the certification level. You can earn entry-level certificates in a few hours, while expert certification can take over four years.
Where to Learn:
How to Identify In-Demand Skills to Up Your Earning Potential in Your Industry
For most people, it’s easy to find new skills you want to learn. But it’s important to do your research and not jump into it blindly. The idea is to learn a skill that’s in demand in your industry and valuable to employers.
But how do you know which skills are in demand?
Resources for identifying in-demand skills:
- Research industry reports: Many organizations, such as consulting firms and industry associations, publish reports that provide an overview of the skills that are in high demand in specific industries. These reports can give you a good idea of the skills that are currently in demand and the skills that are expected to be in demand in the future.
- Monitor job postings: Reviewing job postings can give you an idea of the skills employers in your industry want. Look for positions similar to yours or in related fields, and pay attention to the skills and qualifications that are mentioned in job descriptions. This can give you a good idea of what skills you need for certain roles.
- Stay up-to-date with industry news and trends: Staying informed about the latest developments in your industry is crucial to understanding what skills are in demand. Read trade publications, attend events and conferences and connect with professionals in your network to stay informed about the latest trends and developments in your field.
- Ask around: Talking to your colleagues, managers and industry experts can provide valuable insight into the skills that are currently in demand in your industry. Ask about the skills that are most valued in your field, and what skills they think will be in demand in the future. This can give you a better understanding of the skills that you should focus on developing.
- Use online resources: There are many online resources that can help you identify in-demand skills, such as LinkedIn, Glassdoor and Indeed. These platforms allow you to search for jobs and see the skills required for those positions. This can give you an idea of what skills are in demand and what skills you need to focus on developing in order to stay competitive in your industry.
How to Ask for a Raise After Certification
Once you have more credentials and these new skills, you need to create a road map for asking for a raise.
First, make note of how your certifications will benefit your employer. Exactly how have your new skills upped your earning potential? You must convince your manager or HR that you can bring more value to the company.
Second, research how much other companies are paying for your skillset. You can use Glassdoor and Indeed to compare salaries.
Finally, prepare all your talking points and book an appointment. Ideally, you should negotiate for a raise in person. But you can write an email or book a video call if you work remotely. Remember to be flexible with your demands and show confidence.
New York contributor Kiara Taylor specializes in financial literacy and financial technology subjects. She is a corporate financial analyst who also leads a group affiliated with University of Cincinnati that teaches financial literacy to Black students and helps them secure employment and internships.
