If you’re someone who wants to take on a creative job in today’s economy, you’ll often be expected to have a range of skills. Perhaps you’re thinking about being a social media manager or you want to create content for some of your favorite brands. You might think that there’s one key set of skills that you need to have. However, the reality is that you often need to have a number of complementary skills to help you do your job. You might be able to write a good article, but can you create images or format a web page?
When you’re thinking about looking for a creative role in digital marketing or something similar, there are several skill areas that you might want to consider learning. You don’t have to be an expert, but some basic skills can get you far.
Many roles in the creative industry will expect you to have some basic knowledge of how to compose and edit images and photos. You don’t necessarily have to be a Photoshop whizz, but they might ask that you have some basic knowledge of the software or something similar. There are a few simple skills that could benefit you, and that you can use to impress when you attend interviews. Learning how to remove background from picture edits is a key skill that allows you to do so many different things. Being able to adjust light and color on a photo is another skill that can be really helpful.
Graphic Design Skills
As well as being able to edit photos and images, a few basic graphic design skills could help you in your career too. You don’t have to be able to draw and design things from scratch. However, it’s useful if you’re able to use tools like Canva that make graphic design easier. Just being able to drag and drop different elements is perfectly acceptable if you also have a good eye for composition and color. If you’re asked to knock up a quick graphic to support a blog post or post on social media, you can feel confident that you’re able to do it.
Video Skills
Businesses have recognized that video is a very engaging form of content, so they’re using it more and more. Working with video content can be tough, so you might not be required to do much with it if your role isn’t directly related to it. However, some employers might want you to have some basic video recording and editing skills if you take on a role as a general content creator. Even if you’re not working directly with the video content itself, it can be helpful to know how to do things like writing a script for a video.
Social Media Skills
Even if you’re not working as a social media executive or manager, you can still benefit from having some skills related to social media. You might think that you’re savvy with social media if you use it in your personal life, but social media for business is slightly different. There are different tools involved and you have to give a lot more thought to your audience. There’s also a lot more planning involved. A social media post could be workshopped for a long time, while a personal post could just be off the top of your head.
Web Design Skills
If you’re not a web designer or developer, you most likely don’t need to have a huge range of web design skills. However, you can often find that you need to know a few things when you’re involved in other roles. If you’re a graphic designer or a content writer, it can be useful to know some basic web design skills. This might just mean knowing how to use the WordPress CMS so that you can put together a blog post or add an image to a page.
Writing Skills
Even if your main job doesn’t involve writing, it’s a good idea to brush up on your writing skills. Being able to write a good turn of phrase can be helpful when you have to create a graphic and there’s no time or need for input from a copywriter. It’s also very useful when you need to describe an idea that you have, send an email, or if you’re asked to quickly post something to social media.
When you want to take on a digital or creative role, it benefits you to become more well-rounded and build on your skills.
