You may have heard that learning new skills is a great way to advance in your career. Having a specific skill set can help you stay in demand, make promotions more likely—and even lead to faster salary increases.
But what specific skills should you focus on? Time Inc.’s Money got together with Payscale.com to answer exactly that question. Using Payscale’s data, they analyzed 54 million employee profiles. They looked at everybody from entry-level workers to top executives, spanning 350 industries and 15,000 job titles.
Their goal was to identify the specific skills tied to the biggest pay increases. Here’s what they found (read their full report here):
Top skills concentrated in four areas
The researchers found that the skills related to the highest pay boosts were concentrated in four general areas:
- Data analysis
- Business management
- Technology
- Strategic thinking
Top data skills (and the percent higher salaries of workers with those skills):
- SAS (Statistical Analysis System): (6.1% higher pay)
- Data Mining/Data Warehousing: (5.1%)
- Data Modeling: (5%)
Top business skills (and the percent higher salaries of workers with those skills):
- Contract Negotiation: (5%)
- Financial Analysis: (4%)
Top tech skills (and the percent higher salaries of workers with those skills):
- Search Engine Marketing: (5%)
- Customer Service Metrics: (4.3%)
- SAP Material Management: (3.9%)
Top strategy skills (and the percent higher salaries of workers with those skills):
- Strategic Planning: (4.3%)
- Business Analysis: (3.8%)
Ready to update your skills? Check out CareerOneStop’s Local Training Finder or Certification Finder to find the best option for you.
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