What have you done to improve your skills in the last six months? The last year? He who stands still doesn’t stand a chance in this ever-changing world.

Think your job will be there forever? The title may well remain, but without a doubt, the job itself will evolve and you’ll need to keep up with it. People who resist change do so at their own long-term employment peril.

Consider the role of the Personal Assistant/Executive Assistant/Secretary.

In the ’80s, there were no mobile telephones and few, if any offices had computers. Typewriters, transcription machines, liquid paper, carbon paper, stamp machines, paper folders, plug and cord switchboards…these were the tools of the trade for the secretary of the early eighties.

Let’s transport that same person via time machine to today.

• She’s given a a Blackberry to check her email. Email? What’s that?
• She’s asked to prepare a PowerPoint presentation. I’m sorry, a what?
• On her task list today is to edit that Excel spreadsheet. Um?

Set up a teleconference? Transfer video to DVD? Apply patches to the networked computers? Research competitors via the internet? Use Photoshop to erase an unwanted object in the background? Updating the customer database? Managing her employer’s electronic itinerary? Replacing documents on the company Intranet? Collaborating on Sharepoint documents? Handling the electronic banking?

Our ’80s secretary is totally out of her depth and is almost unemployable except perhaps for limited reception-type roles answering the telephone for small, home-based businesses.

The job title has certainly remained, but the job bears little resemblance to the tasks she used to handle.

If you spurn opportunities to learn, your skill base ceases to grow. One thing you opted not to learn will link to the next and the next and soon it’s hard to know where to start to recover the ground you’ve lost. Declining or stagnant skills may prompt your employer to look for a replacement, and other employment opportunities will become increasingly limited as your outdated skills are no longer in demand.

Embrace opportunities to learn and develop your skills on-the-job. Your employer is doing you a favour in future-proofing your career!

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