Wednesday, October 28, 2020

Are LinkedIn Certifications Worth It?


No matter what industry you are in, whether you are a jobseeker, a marketer, or a business manager, you need to learn new skills if you want to grow. Developing new skills will help your career, your company, and your brand. The more you can do, the more value you can bring to the table.

A skilled individual brings a lot to their team. They also stand out from the competition, whether it’s a job search or securing new customers.

Gaining new skills used to be a lot harder and more time-consuming. You either had to go to a university, read books, or attend workshops and training sessions. Those methods can be expensive or impractical.

But now there’s another option that’s more accessible: online courses have become a lot more common. These courses can make it significantly easier to pick up certain skills and know-how.

Here we are talking about LinkedIn Certification courses and whether or not you should pursue them.

Should You Invest Into a LinkedIn Certification Course?

You can get certifications with the help of LinkedIn Learning, which offers “on-demand courses to help individuals prepare for professional certification exams and earn continuing education units (CEUs)”. LinkedIn Learning basically provides certification prep and units for continuing education.

But are they worth it? LinkedIn Learning can help bridge the gap between your career goals and the skills you need to develop to get there. According to LinkedIn, the goal is to “help the world’s professionals achieve more”.

You can learn at your own pace online. And there are thousands of courses to choose from, including business, creative, and technology courses.

If you want to transition into a new field, learning new skills through online courses could give you the boost you need. You at least need to learn the basics of your new field. Otherwise, you can’t really succeed in it.

Taking an online course is a good place to start, and LinkedIn Learning could give you a good grasp of what you should expect in that new field.

However, there is no substitute for real life experience: you need a way to apply your new skills and knowledge into practical situations so you can hone them. In that capacity, online courses can be somewhat limited.

LinkedIn certifications do have value. You can always tell your interviewers about your self-education efforts and get bonus points for your initiative. You can talk about the courses you completed and your certifications. Recruiters love self-motivated individuals.

They also look good on your LinkedIn profile, which adds social proof and makes you stand out from your competition.

LinkedIn lets you add, edit, and remove certifications on your profile. Just click the ‘Me’ icon on top of your LinkedIn homepage, select View profile, and scroll down to the section that reads ‘Licenses and Certifications’. If you’ve never added a certification before, you will have to add that section first.

Once you’re in the Licenses and Certifications section, type in your certification information. You will find a menu displaying different companies as you type in the Issuing Organization field. Select the correct authority from the menu so that their logo shows up next to your certification. Finally, click Save.

LinkedIn Certification courses are definitely worth it if you need to learn a few new skills. There are no drawbacks to expanding your knowledge—except for the financial investment that you have to put in. But you can get started with one month free. If you think the new skills are worth it, then by all means invest in them.

Do LinkedIn Certificates Matter?

The certifications themselves are only proof of what you’ve learned. On their own, they don’t have value. But they do show that you’ve invested in yourself.

LinkedIn Learning isn’t perfect. You will have to put some effort into researching the quality of the courses you have chosen. There are thousands of lectures available, and you can’t be sure of the quality of each course. There’s also no way to know if the course is updated to keep up with current industry standards. If it’s a skill that changes and evolves over the years, you will want the most up-to-date courses.

No certificate can equate to a person being an effective coach, consultant, marketer, or professional. At the end of the day, it is how you apply your skills, knowledge, and creativity. The certifications themselves won’t make you stand out—your value as a professional will.

If you want to invest in LinkedIn certifications and you are sure that you can get a lot of value out of it, then go out there and learn. Use your new skills as building blocks to solve problems and give value to your clients. At the end of the day, that’s what really matters.



source https://kennected.org/linkedin-certificates-worth-it/

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