In a competitive job market, how do you make sure you’re a cut above the rest? One of the best ways is to have extra certificates and diplomas that are relevant to your career. They don’t even have to cost you an arm and a leg. There are plenty of easy courses that look amazing on your resume in 2019 and they’re either completely free or very low cost. Here are some of the best.

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Starting a Business
FutureLearn’s Starting a Business course will teach you the basics of becoming an entrepreneur. It covers aspects ranging from evaluating a business idea to writing a business plan. The course consists of six blocks, each lasting two weeks and requiring two hours per week of your time. It was developed in conjunction with the University of Leeds.
Bonus: There are idyllic places that will actually pay you to live there if you’re willing to start your own business.
Bonus: There are idyllic places that will actually pay you to live there if you’re willing to start your own business.

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Basic Mandarin Chinese
One of the highest paying jobs for Generation Z is translating and interpreting, although how much you’ll earn depends on your language pair. With China’s rise as an economic powerhouse, it makes sense to learn the first language of more people than any other. EdX offers a Basic Mandarin Chinese course that requires four hours a week over six weeks.

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YouTube creator courses
YouTube’s Creator Academy offers a variety of free courses to help you learn how best to use the channel. While being a YouTuber is one of the jobs that could make you a millionaire, knowing how best to use the channel will be of immense help if you’re in any kind of marketing job too.

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How to Start a Startup
Sam Altman created a series of lectures that were initially given at Stanford University and are now available for free. There are twenty videos in the How to Start a Startup series, each covering a different aspect of starting a startup. Guest lecturers include Facebook’s Dustin Moskovitz, PayPal’s Peter Thiel and LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman.

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New Venture Finance: Startup Funding for Entrepreneurs
Coursera’s New Venture Financing: Startup Funding for Entrepreneurs was created by the University of Maryland and requires three to five hours a week over four weeks. While you might know where the best places for tech start-ups are, this course teaches you how to get the money for your startup.

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FreeCodeCamp courses
FreeCodeCamp offers free coding courses in HTML5, JavaScript and more. Each courses takes 300 hours and eventually you get more than just a certificate. You'll have the opportunity to code for nonprofits, so you can also gain practical experience.

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Secret Sauce of Great Writing
Great writing skills aren’t only for professional writers. You’ll be much more marketable if you have business writing skills. Udemy’s Secret Sauce of Great Writing consists of sixteen lectures that, all together, will take less than an hour of your time.

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Social Media Strategy for Small Businesses
Knowing how to use social media for business purposes is essential these days, whether you have your own business or work for someone else’s. Alison’s Social Media Strategy for Small Businesses takes two to three hours and teaches you how to use the different social media platforms to your business’ best advantage.

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Fundamentals of Marketing Your Business Online
One of the highest paying in-demand jobs for women for women is being a marketing manager. To help you get on track to pursuing marketing management as a career, you’ll need to know about digital marketing. Alison’s Fundamentals of Marketing your Business Online takes one to two hours and teaches you the basics of online marketing.

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Customer Service
You don’t need to work in customer service to have to know how to build great relationships with your customers. Employers will love the fact that you know the importance of good communication and how to handle clients, no matter what field you work in. Vision2Learn’s Customer Service course requires ten hours a week over nine to eleven weeks.

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The Beginner’s Guide to SEO
The Moz Beginner’s Guide to SEO is divided into ten chapters, each covering a different aspect of SEO. These include how search engines operate, keyword research and growing popularity and links. If you want to be a content manager and have one of the jobs with the best work/life balance, knowing how SEO works is essential.

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Information Security Awareness – Foundational
Covering seven modules, the Information Security Awareness – Foundational course by the United Nations is mandatory for all UN ICT users. It’s useful for anybody who works with information in a world full of hackers.

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Watson Analytics
Business analysts have one of the jobs with the best starting salaries. To help you snag that dream position, the Watson Analytics course by Cognitive Class will teach you how to work with data and present it in a user-friendly way. The course takes four hours to complete.

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Inbound Sales Certification
Sales is one of the highest paying in-demand jobs in Canada right now. HubSpot’s Inbound Sales Certification course teaches you everything you want to know about how to attract potential customers. It consists of 21 videos with an overall duration of a little over four hours.

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Lectures on Digital Photography
Being an Instagram celebrity is one of the highest paying jobs that don’t involve sitting at a desk. To become one, though, you need excellent photography skills. Stanford University Professor Emeritus Marc Levoy’s Lectures on Digital Photography teaches you how cameras work and how best to use them. It’s not for the casual Instagrammer but for those who are serious about pursuing a photography career.

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Finance Theory I
Want to go beyond the financial terms most Canadians don’t know? Andrew Lo of MIT’s Finance Theory I teaches you the basics of financial theory and management. It covers aspects like capital markets, asset valuation, diversification and portfolio selection, capital budgeting and common stocks.

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Getting Started with Google Analytics
Udemy’s Getting Started with Google Analytics will teach you the basics of using Google Analytics to increase your website’s performance. It tells you how to implement Google Analytics, how to interpret data and much more. The course consists of 21 lectures with a total duration of just over three hours.

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Introduction to Public Speaking
Like it or not, when you move up through the ranks in your job, sooner or later you’ll be required to deliver presentations. Introduction to Public Speaking by EdX was designed by the University of Washington and will teach you how to speak confidently, clearly and effectively. It requires three to five hours a week over ten weeks.

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This Is How You Make iPhone Apps
Being an app developer is one of the great careers for women in tech. Udemy’s This Is How You Make iPhone Apps is a great way to get started in this field and you don’t need any coding experience to do the course. It consists of 23 lectures taking about four and a half hours in total.

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Adobe InDesign Made Easy
If you’re an introvert with a flair for design, you’re probably looking for creative careers that let you work alone. Graphic design is a great option and these days, one of the prerequisites for working as a graphic designer is to know Adobe InDesign.
Udemy’s Adobe InDesign Made Easy is a beginner’s guide to the program for PC and Mac. The course consists of 105 lectures, taking a total of just over eleven hours.
Udemy’s Adobe InDesign Made Easy is a beginner’s guide to the program for PC and Mac. The course consists of 105 lectures, taking a total of just over eleven hours.
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