He mentioned that he learned how to cook by taking a job cooking. But after several conversations, he explained further.
He decided that he wanted to learn how to cook. So, he approached a local restaurateur and offered to work for free. The restaurateur allowed him to work at one of his local restaurants and boy, did he learn. After about 6 months, he was offered a paid position at one of the other restaurants.
He turned the job down, but that's because he wasn't looking to work as a chef, he just wanted to how to really cook for himself.
My first thought was, well, good for you, it must be nice to have a luxury of not earning a living for six months. But then I realized that I have friends who have been laid off and they're not working anyway. They could be using this time off to learn something new.
The one thing that I've figured out recently is that creativity and hard work means more than anything else when you're trying to navigate this tough economy.
So, if you know of a field where you can work for free to learn about it, I say go for it - you never know. Employers are also dealing with a tough economy and they might love to take you up on your offer.
If you don't know of any companies to approach, or need more skills before you can make such an offer, consider taking online classes. Below is a list of some great universities and a couple other companies offering free courses online.
Free Online Classes/Courses
- University of California at Berkeley
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Tufts University
- Stanford University
- Yale University
- University of Notre Dame
- Carnegie Mellon University
- University of Washington
- Johns Hopkins University
- New York University
- Berklee College of Music
- Vanderbilt University
- Gresham College
- Open University (United Kingdom)
- Utah Valley State College
- Utah State University
Hewlett Packard Free Classes Online
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