How I keep myself relevant to industry standards !

Being relevant to the industry standards is key to getting hired in today's date.

Industries like IT, Programming, Creative writing, Digital Marketing, are some of the job roles which keep changing frequently as per the industry. Acquiring relevant skills and upskilling oneself is an uphill task. These job roles require deep knowledge regarding the industry, ability to control the stakeholders, forecast future trends, engage and create value out of the task and most importantly be ready for the next job promotion. Primarily the job roles listed above are not customer facing roles but the value performed through these job roles interact with the customers or consumers first hand.

In this rapidly changing industry landscape, one should be efficient enough to analyze the gaps for self-improvement. Ask anybody there will be opinion based like enroll in MOOCs, take extra classes, network with similar people in the same industry, read books, research on the topic via online medium all of these are old skool most of it being lethargic and boring to inculcate.

The steps I follow to keep myself industry relevant are -

Attend Multiple Interviews

I attend multiple interviews close to 5-8 interviews in a month. No, not because of getting a job or shifting from a new job rather get to know which type of skill set each industry and company demands from its employees.

• You not only get aware of the industry but also gain confidence in handling situation, answering questions, gain perspective on hiring criteria
• You get to know how your skills get tested. Example, the objective of the sales role is to bring in revenue to the organization but the same qualities of salesperson don't get hired in any organization. Banks and financial institutions require aggressive but sophisticated salespersons, FMCG, FMCD, Realty, eCommerce requires a street smart and highly aggressive sales person to their sales team, in consulting firm partners who bring in projects they require high-level of intellect, deep industry knowledge, and professional network get hired into that role. 

Go through the job roles listed on the Company Website and Job Portals
Every company has its website with a dedicated careers page for listing open position. Just open your dream company website and hit the job role you like and analyze what skills you lack in and develop yourself to fill that gap and work on your CV.

Likewise, look out for job roles you're interested in and consistently go through to make a list of improvements you have to make into your professional and personal life, the level of intrinsic detail it requires your job requires today, the ideal features of that job role and the would-be candidate which the company is looking for, will definitely help in being in a step ahead than your peers in the same job or company or industry or age.
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Gain Knowledge through CVs of seniors or role model

Another way to keep improving and staying relevant is to gain knowledge from your senior's CV. A senior can be anybody your brother, your colleague in a cross-department, or role model, a college senior, the person you admire the most or even your boss. 

This will help you cut your way out and pick up important aspects of that CV and incorporate in your professional life. Their CV would be a solid example as to how they showcase their skills, precise information neither more nor less, career accomplishments, additional courses they did to take their careers to next level, shifting industry, the time gap between each job assignment etc.

One has to be mature enough to find a way out for his career as you cannot ask others to ask to write your career when you hold your pen in your hands. It's not necessary or important that everyone has to be or become a C level executive in a career. It's not the years of experience or a course that makes one  C Level executive but vision, sheer determination, work approach, outstanding performance delivery, execution brilliance, becoming a well-equipped person with the relevant skill set and excellent people management and relationship skills will definitely move further in life.

Watch interview videos of industry stalwarts and CEOs, Directors, etc

By watching videos of these industry stalwarts, it not only helps in deep diving into the topic but also how it can help you achieve that level of thinking and resurrect your own life. After a certain point of time in your career money, position,  skills, academics doesn't matter, but your decisions, focus, alternative thinking,  your relationship with your boss, and exceptional performance matters.

Watch the series of videos on ET Advertising and Marketing Videos of MDs, CEOs, etc who talk on the ever-changing industry, their take on situations, changing points in life, the vision they have set for themselves and their companies.

These people are the real sales persons but they are not in front line because they cannot be everywhere the sales occur but still they impart and leverage their skill set to people at bottom but  continue to crack large deals due to their persona and not not because of the company they work for.