Developing your skills at work makes sense for a number of reasons:
- helps you do your job better
- keeps your skills up to date
- may help you move into a new position or job in the future.
The first step is to ensure you have a current job description or work plan so that you have a clear understanding of your work responsibilities. Identify areas where you may need to develop or learn new skills. These may include technical or job specific skills such as ability to use a database or operate machinery. You may also identify general skills such as communication, teamwork, leadership, project or time management that apply in any workplace.
With your supervisor, discuss and agree on a plan for developing your skills in the areas you have identified. You may be able to build skills through ‘on the job’ training and assistance from your co-workers or in other cases external training may be most appropriate. It is helpful to agree on a timeframe for your plan and ensure it is realistic and specific. After a designated period of time, review your plan to assess the progress you have made.
You may also consider approaching someone who has the skills you want to develop and asking them to mentor or coach you.
Labour demand in various industries will also create work opportunities for people with disability. This is another good reason why it is worth investing in developing new skills. Skills Info web site (see Related Links) provides information about what skills are in demand in different regions of Australia.
If you receive employment assistance from a Disability Employment Service or Job Services Australia they may be able to give you support to help you develop your skills at work.
If you want to increase your skills you may be eligible for financial help through free training vouchers.
The Workplace Adjustment Tool has information on training providers: