What is the quickest way to improve on an 18k salary with a new skill? What course should I enrol for?

[DempseyRoll]

If your only motive is to earn money, then the economy will dictate what jobs pay the most, but it is cyclic, for example Finance is a good place to be right now, but if you are earning 18k then clearly you aren't qualified in any particular area, and in order to do that, the quickest would be Project management with a Prince 2 foundation course (which will cost) and you would have to spend some time getting experience. Longer term you could look at CIMA and other financial qualifications to become an accountant, but you are looking at 3 years + of study. Stepping away from finance, you can look at plastering/electrician, and set up freelance, but that comes with its own risks.

I think the problem you have here is you get money for having good experience, good soft skills, or you are been paid to do a job nobody wants to do, or a combination of all 3.

In my experience, chasing money as the only motivational factor is never a good idea, you have to find some enjoyment or else you will end up bored and wanting a career change even when you are on big money.

Anyway, I digress, in my opinion, get to college/uni and do courses in business relating to environmental management/carbon footprint etc, or, social media studies, or , social studies in relation to corporate social responsibility. They will become more prominent over the next 10-20 years. Failing that, go into IT, it's now easier than its ever been and it still pays relatively well, try and find niche but growing products to gain expertise in, along with mainstream products like SAS (if you stay in finance) or .net (JAVA), HTML5 is the next big thing.

Hope it helps, too many variables to give you a solid answer, you need a careers advisor!