You know that one guy on your LinkedIn feed that keeps posting certificates every day? Everyone has them on their network, or at least the algorithm helped them get on your feed somehow. EdX, Udemy, Coursera, 10MS you name it, he (or she) has done them all.
At one point, you wonder… does this person even have a day job?
Chances are they don’t. And now they’re on an upskilling spree. And they want recruiters and every Tom, Dick, and Harry on LinkedIn to know about it. The algorithm rewards them. Fine, fair enough.
While it’s awesome that they’re taking the initiative to level up, I can’t help but wonder how or when the certificates and(or) the skills acquired from them will be put to proper use. I kid you not I have seen people gloating about the most redundant and obvious of skill-sets. Anyway…
So you’re a business student. You have school work or a job to deal with. You just spent 4 years on a degree that taught you outdated theories, delivered by professors who read off a PowerPoint. Trust me, you’re not alone. This author went to the “Premier” business school of the country only to have graduated with surface-level knowledge of business theories no one needs to know in 2022.
If you’re a generalist manager in charge of bringing in business for your company, be it your own or an employer’s, then you need to have an array of skillsets, and that is where folks you need to have operating knowledge of a few fundamental facets of business such as product, operations, sales, marketing, and of course, customer relationships.
But university just gave you one major, didn’t it? And your field is probably not hiring. And the ones that are hiring, just need you to execute and bring in revenue. Your financial models mean nothing to them.
So from personal experience, and about 30 hours of YouTube, I have put together a list of 5 courses that should help you – a business student going on manager, to possess skills you didn’t learn in school, to structure ideas to help your creativity bloom, and of course to be able to talk the language of your team’s various specialists like marketers, engineers (if you have ‘em) and sales reps.
The courses range from popular to underrated, from free to pricey, from open for all to offered by specialized industry educators. BUT, they all help you polish those edges and learn application-ready skills. I will weigh them on their popularity, accessibility, price point, content matter, and brand-weight of the certificate issued itself.
Over 400 words read… and I’m still not there, damn you must be bored, I’m sorry here they are:
Google Project Management: Professional Certificate by Google | Coursera
Let’s face it, your PM course was taught by an old guest lecturer who made you read a book with no significant take-away. Been there.
In the real-world Project Management is a skill-set that any manager needs to possess if not be great at. Whether you’re a sales leader, a biz dev guy, or a marketing lead you will need to execute projects. And don’t even get me started if you work in tech – you will have to become the de-facto project manager even if there is a “technical PM” because that dude will only oversee developer tasks, but you’ll be left in the dust having to manage product launches, stakeholder expectations, revenue, and Customer Experience.
Take the certification as it is a valuable source of “practical” subject matter with live task submissions and actionable insights from experts in the field. Plus the website says its good enough for an entry-level job in project management.
I recommend this as it is a very refreshing take on the age-old methodologies and teaches course-takers on how to make projects work for you, instead of the other way around. Coursera is usually cheap and the course will take you about a month if you don’t have a full-time job, 2 months if you do. But hey this has major street cred and although not a replacement for PMI’s PMP certification, this is still really good and thousands of takers have spoken very highly of the newly learned perspectives from this course.
As a manager if you’re gonna be stuck doing the dirty work, why not get accredited for it?
Digital Product Management: Modern Fundamentals by UVA, Darden | Coursera
Hands down the ultimate introduction to how to create a digital product.
Now I know what you’re thinking. Why do I – a business student, need this? Well, to be honest, unless you work desk jobs like investment banking, you will be involved with some software, some digital content, product, or solution. Even if you sell soap at the biggest MNC in the country, you will need to know how to leverage a website to sell more soap. If you just landed your dream job of being “TO” at a mass-murdering Big Tobacco company, you will need to learn how to use sales automation software to maximize, well cigarette sales.
Whether you work in tech, SaaS, or CPG, you will not be able to escape our society’s insatiable appetite for software.
So while you’re still young, learn how it’s made, learn how to hook users, and solve their problems. It will help you sleep better at night knowing you learned a skill that can be used to build the future.
The course is delivered by Alex Cowan, a superb professor at Darden, who gives you a ton of free books and resources on Agile, Scrum, and other PM methodologies. He will hold your hand and mold your mind to become a problem solver. Plus, if you apply for financial aid to Coursera, you will probably get it. Highly recommended.
Fundamentals of Digital Marketing: Google Digital Garage | Google
Learn from the biggest ad monopoly in the world how you can take your cupcake business online and sell more cupcakes. I’m not kidding, that is literally what the subject matter is.
Digital marketing – those two words are probably the most used terminologies in business across the globe. We hear about it, sit through meetings bantering about it, and see youtube thumbnails on how to make a bajillion dollars off of it, but in reality, understand very very little about it.
So as the author, you too might want to be more fluent in the jargon that your colleagues so skillfully spew. So if you need to start somewhere start here.
Jokes aside, the course is rather great – for starters it’s free, it’s very basic but detailed. We miss great opportunities when we don’t get our groundwork right. It is offered by the Big Daddy himself and a cool certificate is issued at the end.
A great stepping stone in Digital Marketing, and a worthwhile investment of time, because let us face it, Kotler is useless in 2022.
Microsoft Excel: Literally Any Course | Just Take Any Course, Guys.
Now I have done several courses across Udemy, EdX, and YouTube. Each served a different purpose.
To be honest, any course on Excel is worth a try.
But keep it free, please don’t pay to get this, as a business manager you will not need to know super-massive-back-hole level Excel. Functional knowledge of how to set the correct date format in a cell will suffice. And learn how to link cells on different sheets too.
If you’re a nut like me, you might just end up creating a CRM dashboard with it, or make DCF valuation tables in your free time for your stock-market investments.
Brand Strategy Sprint: Professor Scott Galloway | Section 4
As a business student, you are preparing for a lifetime of brand building. Even if you work in accounting or HR, your job will entail that you contribute to the overall brand. And who better to teach Brand than the OG himself – Professor Scott Galloway of NYU, who teaches brand strategy at Stern.
He wrote three amazing books, a newsletter, and founded three companies, plus his YouTube channel is amazing.
An hour with Professor Galloway will have you thinking differently.
Sadly this course is not free. BUT incredibly worth it.
You will learn how to psychologically penetrate the mind of your audience through harnessing your product, platforms, channels, creatives, messaging, tone, and customer service.
While this course does offer a certificate of completion, this course is strictly for learners and not for LinkedIn show-offs.
This course does not have the global recognition name that Darden or Google does, but you will learn how to build and execute a carefully orchestrated brand strategy.
Learn away!