Money Fix: Investing in new job skills

Now that the kids are on track with their back-to-school endeavors, it's time for those in the more seasoned crowd to stop and assess what investments they might need to make in their own, professional development. For the lucky ones, employers foot the bill for training and give guidance about what's needed. In other cases, the onus is on the employee to figure out what classes to take, how to pay for them - and their value.

Research: Check first with local recruiters and professional associations for a sense of what skills you would be wise to develop. Take a look, too, at help-wanted ads to find out what new skills employers are looking for, says Ted Turnasella, president of Comp-unications, a West Islip compensation firm. Make note of what training is starting to be seen as "preferred or a plus," he says. Do further research using the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Outlook Handbook and O*Net OnLine, says Gary Huth, principal economist in the state labor department's Long Island office.

Training: Again, recruiters and professional associations can direct you to preferred training providers. And while you may not be able to afford a full-fledged certificate program, you can take classes of value that are less pricey. How about training in social-media skills at an area continuing ed program?

Value: It's hard to determine an exact return when you invest in your own career, says Ray Mignone, a certified financial planner in Little Neck. But he says his clients who invest in training and skills tend to reflect higher earnings over time. As Huth puts it, in today's changing work world "a general rule of thumb is that in almost every job, standing still is not an option."