Lifelong learning is a good thing. From a LinkedIn video to help you deliver an unexpected speech more professionally, which I read with interest last week, right up to a part-time degree, there’s a lot of choice out there.
I went along to a Skills Workshop hosted by the Solent Growth Partnership to get up-to-date with opportunities for workers of all ages to find jobs in new industries or sectors where there are plenty of vacancies and few applicants. I discovered the 2025 programme of fascinating short courses will be open for enrolment soon. They last up to 16 weeks, and can be free as the Government is meeting most of the cost. Subjects include AI, digital marketing, project management, solar panel installation, hospitality and the skills needed to be an NHS support worker.
That all sounds very sensible. However, they’re called Skills Boot Camps, and that set me thinking – why? Actually I had heard of boot camps before and thought they were not for the likes of me. Frankly, it sounds like the army. Marching around, living under canvas in all weathers? Fine for fit young people but not older people thinking of a career change. Naturally if you google them, you’ll find out more. But I had already dismissed the idea from the name alone.
Canvassing female friends, they all agreed – it’s not something we would choose to find out about. And that’s a shame, these skills could make all the difference in finding a new career. Wish they had another name……