Get Smarter for Cheaper

A mistake that people often make is believing that their education is over once they have graduated from college and landed their first job. But continuing to learn new things and improve your skills can offer greater income and career opportunities.

Here are five steps you can take to improve your skill sets for your current job:

1. Be proactive: Don't become lazy and fail to seek out ways to improve yourself outside your normal job hours. You don't want this to become your entire after-work life, but you should make it a habit to set aside a few hours each week for the specific purpose of furthering your education.

2. Talk to your boss: Take the time to find out which skill sets will be most beneficial for your advancement. This is important, because what you believe might be important -- such as an MBA -- may not be as important as some specialized skill -- such as a new language. You wouldn't want to make the assumption that a specific skill or degree is going to help improve your advancement prospects, only to find out that it won't help much or that something else would have been better.

By taking the time to talk with your boss, you will get an idea of what skills are most important to the company. In addition, this will indicate to your boss that you want to improve yourself and are looking to advance in the company and that you have taken the initiative to make that happen.

3. Find a mentor: In addition to your boss, find someone whom you respect and ask that person to mentor you. Not only will you benefit from a mentor's experience as he or she teaches you and help you along, a mentor can point you toward the valuable skills you'll need to advance.

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