Career development, promotions, and the process of advancement are all based on skills. Sharpening your job skills is always worth doing. It can also be extremely necessary. Many jobs emphasize only part of a person's skill set, and the other skills go stale, sometimes for years.

If you're looking for a promotion or a new job, this can be a serious problem. The shock, when asked by interviewers about your skills and discovering you lack any level of useful current experience, is unforgettable. This lack of current experience and knowledge is a real threat of blowing a job interview.

There's a way of dodging this bullet, however. To sharpen your job skills, you'll find you don't have to look too far to find out what needs doing, before being confronted with the necessity.

Sources for identifying weak points in your skills

• Job ads: These are the basic source of information on the current state of your job field. They usually give a clear picture of skills in demand, which is helpful in identifying what skills of yours need sharpening.
• Professional websites: Further up the ladder, you may find that you're unfamiliar with the required skill sets. That's a classic sign of needing to upgrade yourself.
• Industry news and websites: Management is always concerned about current news and trends in their industry. You can assume that skills issues are being discussed, as part of training programs and job structuring.
• Higher jobs in your workplace: These positions contain a lot of fundamental skills, all of which are needed to progress up the ladder. Examining the job duties of higher positions in your workplace can serve as a guideline for future needs.

Ways of upgrading your skills

The next issue is exactly how you intend to sharpen your skills. The need is for accredited, CV standard skills, the sort you can use effectively in a job interview. The sources of the solution start in the workplace itself. They might not even cost you anything in many cases.

• Training officers: The training officer knows everything that's available for staff. You can find out in ten minutes what you can and can't do. In many cases, the training officer will also make inquiries for you, which is likely to be much more efficient than doing it yourself.
• Managers: It's good management technique to have a structured, ongoing staff development plan. Competent managers are well aware of this, and it's a major asset to them to have staff with good skill sets. The reception will be positive, in most cases.
• Colleges and training companies: Both of these can do remedial work on your skill sets, and they do it with current standards of training, which is extremely important.

Your job skills are your greatest asset. Sharpening your skills is an effective way of broadening your job prospects, improving your promotion chances, and adapting to changes in the workplace.