By Subashini Rajasuriah

We’ve all been told that all you need in order to get a job is to graduate with a degree and that will set you up for life. Alas, reality is much bleaker than one would have imagined. You find yourself scrolling endlessly on job portals until you come across a position titled ‘fresh grad’ but you feel your self deflate when you see the words ‘with a year’s experience’ stated underneath.  

You soon begin to find that many job listings require you to have experience despite the advert being for fresh grads or if they do in fact take in fresh grads, they often expect you to hit the ground running when taking on tasks. If an organization does not provide ample learning opportunities, its candidates may choose not to opt for the role, but as a fresh grad you may not be presented with the luxury of choice.  

So, the question is how does one upscale without having any prior work experience? The answer lies in e-learning. Online learning or e-learning as its commonly referred to, has features that cater to modern learner preferences – hence its rise in popularity.  

Employees today are keen to learn and upskill but not many have the time and finances to throw themselves into a comprehensive college-based course. Furthermore, today’s learners want personalised content at their fingertips as they are constantly on the move and in need of information instantly. E-learning addresses this demand by offering bite sized pieces of information that are easy to absorb and can be accessed throughout the day through various devices.  

In addition to that, e-learning takes into consideration the differences of individual learners, and it allows individuals to practice their own unique learning styles. Each person has a different learning style and there will never be a one-size-fits-all type of solution to address this matter. That is why individualistic learning methods are some of the greatest advantages of e-learning. It also enables learners to choose their learning path and navigate at their own pace. When they are able to decide what to learn and when, they remain invested in the course. 

E-learning is also environmentally friendly as it is a paperless way of learning. Therefore, there is no need to cut trees to address the constant usage of paper for learning materials. It has also been deduced that distance-based learning programs consume less power and generate smaller amounts of CO2 emissions as compared to traditional campus-based educational courses, further strengthening its stance as an ideal solution to tackle the gaps in learning and work experience.  

Platforms such as Udemy, Coursera, Skillshare and LinkedIn Learning are examples of e-learning platforms that have a comprehensive collection of courses to choose from.  

E-learning is definitely the future of education, and one must be proactive to explore options and opportunities to better oneself, and to prepare for the ever-changing landscape of the workforce.