Master Skills from Free Courses During COVID-19 to be Successful Moving Forward

Okay guys and gals, it’s time for us to find the silver lining in this pandemic and I think I found 19 of them.  I’m a continuing educating junkie and it appears that COVID-19 has given us all a plethora of potential learning opportunities at my favorite price of FREE.  Who doesn’t love free?!  It doesn’t matter if you’re on a budget, furloughed, laid off or just cheap.  Free is a price you can’t turn your nose up at when valuable information is on the other side.

This is your time to shine by soaking in new knowledge because we all know you’ve run out of things to binge watch and are getting board baking your own bread for the millionth time.  While some really valuable courses like those being offered by Florida Atlantic University and Penn State filled up at lightning speed, that doesn’t mean you’ve missed out.  There are plenty of opportunities remaining to learn new skills and improve upon some of the ones you already have.

I started my search to find a course or two for myself and stumbled upon an ever growing list so I thought it was time to share it with you all instead of becoming a crazy hoarder.  Offering everything from industry specific knowledge to general professional development classes, these 19 opportunities are sure to keep you on your toes and get you ready for re-entry to the workforce when the time is right:

• Univeristy of Central Florida Continuing Education is offering free, self-paced, professional development courses.  The deadline to enroll for free is June 30. (Edited 6/4/2020 – At the same time UCF’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management is offering a series of 8 professional development webinars titled Research, Recovery and Reskill, focused on sharpening skills and re-tooling for the anticipated changes in the hospitality market as a result of the novel COVID-19 virus.

• University of South Florida is offering the “Post-Crisis Leadership” certificate as the college’s way of giving back to its business partners who have suffered for the benefit of the overall community. The initial session is full but there’s still a wait list available so sign up ASAP.

• University of Georgia has made ten, free, self-paced tutorial courses available that highlight a mix of hard and soft skills essential to success in today’s rapidly changing job market.  The courses will be available through June 30, 2020.

• eCornell is offering a free live webcast series and many expert-led online programs that can help you and your teams master the skills needed to lead in these times of uncertainty and change.

• Eastern Kentucky University’s Workforce Development and Community Engagement are offering six free classes in response to the new realities.

• Troy University is offering Leadership 101 for free. This course will explore personal development, leadership styles and actions, cultural diversity and current events, all through the lens of effective leadership.

• Kaplan is offering free courses to employees who are furloughed, laid off or otherwise affected by COVID-19.  Enroll before June 3, 2020 and start the course by June 10, 2020 to take advantage of this.

• Brentwood Open Learning College is offering free courses focused in hotel management, front office, and housekeeping.  Finish all three and you’ll have earned yourself a free course completion letter.

• EdX partners with 140 institutions across the globe and makes a small percentage of their courses available to you.  Check out their list of free courses in business management to find the perfect one for you.

• Dale Carnegie is offering a free online, on-demand session on handling stress and supporting resilience in times of crisis.  How can you pass up a chance at a free Dale Carnegie class?

• The American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute is offering an opportunity for hospitality professionals to develop the skills that can take their career to the next level.  Now through May 31, you can access complimentary online training if you’ve been furloughed or laid off as long as you were employed as of March 1, 2020.

• The Remote Leadership Institute has a four-part video series that promises to completely demystify remote leadership, giving you practical ideas and actionable steps that you can take right away with your remote employees and team members.

• Britt Andreatta is offering a free self-paced course through June 30 on how to successfully navigate your work life and personal life through this global change.

• PSI is offering free 12-week access to its emotional intelligence program and I think we can all benefit from some extra enlightenment in this area.

• ServSafe is offering free food safety courses and career development courses for food and hospitality workers.

• KnowledgeCity is offering free courses on topics such as emotional intelligence, productivity, adaptive thinking, coping with change and Microsoft.

• Typsy is offering a course with Thinktank Social’s director of social media, Sam Mutimer, and it’s your one-stop shop for the tools you’ll need to get your hospitality business’s social media accounts working to your advantage.

• Six Seconds is offering 50% off classes during COVID-19 and some online classes for free on topics such as leadership and change.

• Headspace is offering a full year of Headspace Plus for free to help those affected by unemployment. Discover meditation and mindfulness tools to help you feel less stressed, more resilient, and kinder to yourself.

I’ll be taking advantage of as many of these that I can squeeze in around the insanity of working from home with two little boys running around.  Let me know which were your favorites and how your experience was so I can pick which one to try next.