“If we knew then what I know now. If I knew then, you'd be here right now”… Cheers, Kenny Rogers. Why didn’t you tell me this years ago?!
When we find out something new, we all ask ourselves; “why didn’t we know this sooner?” The big topic on our mind at the moment is ‘Life Skills’. You know, the skills that actually help you get through life, that you wish someone in school taught you (but, of course, they didn’t). You feel like you should already know this stuff by this point in your life. When you think about what you were taught in school, yes, it helped make us ‘book’ smart, but not necessarily ‘life’ smart.
When we all start our first full time position in the working world we were likely given onboarding training and then follow-up training throughout the role. However, why does only our professional training advance and not our personal training too? Why aren’t we offered useful life skills to help make us better all round? Are we expected to already know these things? 90% of companies offer eLearning to its employees but there are no specifics on what life skills training they provide. Probably very few.
Thomas Gagen, one of iAM’s founders, and our Creative Director gave us some insights into his personal experiences and what life skills he wished he knew (many) years ago but was never taught;
“It was 2004, and I’d just landed my first proper job as a graphic designer in London. Hooray! I was dating someone a bit older than me, and they wanted kids and a house. A daunting thought at 24. As with most students, I’d worked up a bit of credit card debt and I should have done something about it. But I didn’t know anything about compound interest.
As the APR slowly killed my bank balance my other half announced we were having a baby. “I’m sick of renting,” she said. “Let’s buy a house”. Do you need a mortgage to buy a house? How the hell does that work? A 25 year debt? No thank you. And with my baby due in 4 months’ time, how the hell do I change a nappy? I’ve never needed to know that before! So, I stumbled along until I was 26. I needed a new job; I was bored of living in London. To get a new job, I needed a CV. Ooooh if only I knew how to craft a decent CV (make sure you spell check it well is the top tip I can give you there). Fast forward, few decent jobs later and the government is going on about Nest pensions. Who do I ask about that?”
I’m sure we can all relate to Tom’s experiences and thoughts on the skills in life we wish we knew but didn’t. Why aren't we taught these things sooner, rather than at the point of need. How could our workplaces have supported us better?
As new generations enter the workplace, we wonder what could be done from a young age for those in their first full time job and beyond to help support them in their personal lives so they don’t have the challenges Tom had? Or is it just up to individuals to educate themselves on non-work issues? We’re of the opinion that training should be proactive, rather than reactive. Obviously, we can’t learn everything before we need those skills, but many things simply require a short conversation to help us understand them. Surely we can pick a bunch of very important things that we’re all likely to face, like Tom did. Knowing in advance how interest and mortgages works, how to craft a great CV and even how to change a nappy would have been extremely useful.
Fact is, we spend 5 days a week at work and only 2 at home. People simply don’t have that much time to spend their free time constantly upskilling. In our opinion, employers should go the extra mile and provide training and guidance for additional life skills. It helps make people better and happier, and that can only be a good thing for businesses. Which is exactly why we created the Life Skills Collection of courses. They can be shared with your colleagues, friends and employees to help employers provide that extra support in life.
We’re talking about short 2-minute, animated videos that break down everything from budgeting basics and hacking happiness to mastering effective communication and even buying a house. And we’re giving them away to you for FREE, because we’re generous like that.
Discover our FREE life skills eLearning collection – bite-sized, gorgeously animated videos to help you ‘adult’ like a total pro! Learn what affects your credit score, how pensions work, why it’s important to pay off your credit card and much more. There are also courses on topics that you might want to know but have never asked, such as ‘what is gaslighting’, ‘how do you buy a house’ and even how to change a baby's nappy. This whole collection is completely FREE to you!
And if you're looking for even more unique, engaging eLearning content that your learners will love, why not get in touch with us or try iAM Learning for yourself - get started today!