Students have been told for generations to follow a familiar path to success: earn a degree, secure a stable job and rise up the corporate ladder.
That’s still the case for a lot of people, but the job market is changing and those skills now more often have a practical application and they can create jobs as well as a career.
Sneh Gaur, the Delhi-based entrepreneur and content creator, says a single skill changed her professional life. And her learning of Spanish not only opened her to a different language, it also allowed her to work internationally, earn money and be able to work anywhere in the world.
Sneh’s career started as many young professionals do. She worked in a corporate job where she received wages of around ₹40,000–₹50,000 a month. And it was the definition of success at the time, she said.
"I thought success meant getting a degree, getting a job, earning a salary, and waiting for the next promotion," she said.
And then as time went on, she realized financial security was only a starting point; she wanted more flexibility, more travel, more freedom to do the projects she wanted to do as well and not a fixed corporate routine.
That impulse led her to learn Spanish but she didn't know then how much the decision would change her future.
"I had no idea that learning a new language would change the direction of my life," she said.
The language first brought her to Spain and an entirely different culture. But it also connected her to people from all over the world and expanded her personal and professional network.
Sneh turned Spanish from an additional qualification on her resume to a business opportunity, instead. She started teaching Spanish, and later started guidance programmes for people who are planning to move to or study in Spain, and then took her career up to digital products, mentoring services and collaborations with different brands.
Instead of living on a single monthly salary she grew up in a working-class society, she used one skill to generate a number of different streams of income.
Her entrepreneurial journey was not over in Switzerland. By that time her online business and remote team allowed her to do so without employment from a traditional corporate salary. Technology and digital platforms enabled her to run her business from another country and still serve clients worldwide.
Sneh’s reflection on her journey is that the biggest milestone was not moving abroad but learning a practical skill.
"And sometimes the things that change your life are not just a promotion but it’s a skill," she said.
Her story reflects a growing trend in today’s employment landscape. Academic qualifications are of course extremely important, but employers and businesses are also looking for skills that can be put into use within industries and international markets.
At the same time, students, graduates and young professionals are being told that investing in skills that are of real value a language for example, a coding language, digital marketing or data analytics can unlock opportunities that go beyond any conventional career track.
One skill in an ever-connected world can open up world markets, financial freedom and the freedom to customize a career on your own.
