9 Cheap Career Apps To Take You To The Next Level

9 Cheap Career Apps To Take You To The Next Level Image via Pixabay.com 1.  Monday  (Productivity/Organization) Most of us hate when Monday rolls aroundâ€"but it can be a little less painful if you have the Monday app! Monday is a productivity app that teams or individuals can use either online and on mobile devices to organize and prioritize several tasks. All you need to do is make a list of tasks (either your own tasks or a set of office “to-do”s that you and other colleagues can split) and label each one based on its level of completion. If you’re working in a team, a fast glance at the Monday board can instantly tell you what your colleagues are working on. Managers and supervisors will love being able to see where their colleagues are in a task, and you’ll find it easier to track progress and reach out to folks who seem like they could use a hand. You can even mark a task as “stuck” for when you just can’t figure something out. If you need another reason to love Monday, every task in your dashboard can be color-coded based on level of completionâ€"and there’s a great amount of satisfaction that comes from seeing a task move from red to yellow to green. Done! Monday is free to download in the App store. 2.  Ummo (Self-Improvement) Most of us don’t consider ourselves experts at public speaking, and it’s safe to say we can all improve our speech habits just a littlewho doesn’t want to sound more professional, articulate and polished? Founded by students at Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “Ummo” is your personal weapon against those “umms” and “you know”s that pop up when we speak in team meetings, workshops, presentations, and conversations with potential employers. All you need to do is record yourself speaking, and the app generates a personal report to help you identify filler words and phrases you want to stop saying, including curse words. If you’re looking to improve your habits, stop saying “well” every 10 seconds, and become more aware of the words you use as crutches, this “personal speech coach” might do the trick. I mean, uh, you might as well try it. You have, like, nothing to lose! It might even be worth keeping updated on Ummo as they work on improving their technology according to their webpage, Ummo is working on “a clip-on mic or necklace that seamlessly and continuously analyzes your speech over the course of an entire day, providing real-time feedback via your Apple Watch, buzzing your wrist each time you say a filler word or showing you data you care about on your watch display.” This could definitely change the way you work and communicate. Stay tuned! Ummo is $1.99 to download in the App store. 3.  Golden (Self-Improvement/New Opportunities) Do you feel as though your skills could use some sharpening? Wish you could find some great volunteer opportunities to stay competitive in the workforce and improve your personal wellness? Golden might be your solution. This app screens volunteer opportunities and simplifies the searching process to help you find a gig that you love. How? Golden takes into account your time constraints, location, interests, friends and other preferences and presents different options for your review. If you’re interested, hit the “Down to Volunteer” button. Once you’ve found what you’re looking for, Golden will keep track of your hours for you so there’s no need to scramble last-minute if you need to report them to prospective employers. You can even get your background check done on Golden! Golden is free to download in the App store. 4. Google Docs, Sheets, and Keep (Productivity) Have you ever been on the train and suddenly realized you forgot to update an important column in your company’s cash flow spreadsheet? Or do you ever wish you could get started on that writing assignment in the downtime you have before your doctor’s appointment? Take your Google applications mobile! While you might already be aware of the Docs and Sheets apps, you might not know about Google Keep (and you should). Google Keep is a great app to have in those moments where somebody gives you their contact information, complex instructions, or advice on a problemit’s like the “notes” section of your phone, but much safer because Keep is cloud-based just like Docs and Drive. If you’re like me and you’ve run out of the iCloud storage you need for your iPhone’s notes to back up, you’ll find Google Keep to be a great alternative. Google Keep notes are accessible wherever you go, given that you sign in with your email address, and they’re easy to color-code, format as a checklist for grocery store runs, and even copy to Google Docs if you’d like to expand the content you wrote in your note. You can share Google Keep notes with others and pin important notes to the top of your screen (no more searching for your passwords). These Google apps are free to download in the App store. 5.  Prezi (Efficiency/Presenting) Infographic by Julia D One of the most dynamic slideshow platforms out there, Prezi levels up your presentations with more designs and layouts than PowerPoint, and certainly more unique features. You’ll usually be able to recognize a Prezi slideshow by its elegant moving parts and its fluidity; this means, the next time you need to create a slideshow, you have many more options for making the content come alive (alive enough to wake up your coworkers at the 8 a.m. meeting, at least). You can share your presentations with collaborators and even work offline on days when your Wi-Fi just won’t cooperate. Prezi livens up and brightens your presentations with customizable and pre-made templates that you can adapt for your purposes. Prezi is free to download in the App store. 6.  Things (Productivity/Organization) Things is a great app that optimizes your to-do list. According to this article, “The latest version [of the app] can slice and dice tasks into multiple views (such as “today,” “this evening,” and “upcoming”), break tasks into smaller parts with headings, and manage tasks in bulk.” Conveniently, Things also allows you to import tasks from the Reminders section of your phone and through Siri as well. What I like most about this app is that it allows you to group different tasks together under different headings. This means you can create a heading to denote a large project you’re working on (say “finish my thesis” or “land a new job,” for instance) and break down the smaller steps/actions that will move you along towards the goal. Most of us have heard that it’s easier to break daunting projects into tiny, manageable chunks so that we feel a sense of progress as we complete simpler tasksâ€"it’s true! If you don’t have a complicated project going on, a heading like “health” or “wellness” can encompass all those to-do items that might not normally be clumped together, such as “sign up for yoga class” or “schedule appointment with physical therapist.” Grouping these similar items together will help you pay more attention to the category overall and keep you from procrastinating on calling the dentist. Although this isn’t necessarily a cheap career app, it may very well be worth the $9.99 it costs if you’re dying to trick out your to-do lists and get more of your work done. 7.  GoodCo (New Opportunities) If you’re hoping to find a meaningful job that makes you happier, check out GoodCo, a “culture platform” that makes your job search much more enjoyable and productive. As described by CareerBuilder.com, “GoodCo uses fun quizzes and personality assessments to help users discover their unique skills and strengths. It then draws from thousands of company profiles to match them with companies and positions that align with these attributes.” Many of us dream of having a job that really resonates not only with our core values but with our strongest talents. GoodCo can be a great career app for showing you which companies might be worth pursuing depending on your personality, and for pointing you in the right direction for jobs that could be a great fit. It’s also useful if you’d like to gain a better understanding of your own strengths and areas for improvement, as the app contains fun self-discovery questionnaires! Download GoodCo and you’ll think twice about hiring a career coach; the app can change the way you think about yourself as a professional. GoodCo is free to download in the App store. Image via Pixabay.com 8.  Meetup  (New Opportunities/Networking) You probably already guessed what this career app is all about: helping you meet up with others! With Meetup, you can search for groups of like-minded people doing activities you enjoy, and meet up with them. You can also organize your own meetups around things that you love (or things you’d like to get better at). Say you’re hoping to practice your Spanish or learn Dutchyou can use Meetup to find others who may be willing to practice with you or even tutor you. If you’re hoping to train for a marathon, a Meetup centered around the same goal can introduce you to new friends and motivators as you amp up your workouts and challenge your personal bests. Career-wise, Meetup can act as a tool for locating networking events that might help you meet people in your field, or a field you’re hoping to switch into. If you aren’t looking for anything in particular, try browsing the different Meetup categories on the app or website; they’ve got “Outdoor Adventures,” “Tech,” “Learning,” “Food Drink,” “Writing,” “Language Culture,” “Social” and “Career Business,” just to name a few. At one of these Meetups, you might just find a great social media maven to help you start up your new website, or an engineer interested in collaborating with you on your next project. Meetup is free to download in the App store. 9.  Udemy (Self-Improvement/Learning) Similar to Coursera, Udemy is an online learning platform and teaching marketplace offering over 80,000 courses from data science to photography. Each course costs $9.99, and with the mobile app, you can access course materials (including videos) on the go. The best part of Udemy? You can take courses on your own schedule. Top categories on Udemy include Design, Marketing, Office Productivity, Language and Personal Development. Now, there’s no excuse to put off your longtime goal of learning to code. If graduate school is in your future, you can even find test prep courses on Udemy to help you ace the GRE, GMAT, LSAT and more. Udemy is free to download on the App storeâ€"just don’t forget the small fee for the course itself. It’s never too late to improve your professional relationships, grab that job you’ve always wanted, or perfect your speaking skills. Consider downloading these cheap career apps to get started and take yourself to the next level in the job market.