Getting Skilled – Unlearn And Relearn After The Pandemic

 

Portfolio Update

I was recently reading LinkedIn for skills that employees must acquire as working professionals and freshers, especially after the pandemic, when so many jobs have become redundant, new jobs have cropped up and some have seen modified working styles and requirements. The article focussed on the PM's statement, on ‘the importance of getting skilled, reskilled and upskilled as the need of the hour.’ Dr. Manish Kumar, MD of National Skill Development Corporation, in an interview, stated that, ‘the industry requires us to upgrade’. While, hard skills or technical skills, in-demand, vary from logistics, AI, analytics, machine learning, BFSI, data science; employers are also seeking soft skills for their workforce. 

Some of these skills, like communication, are learnt as a result of being taught and with practice. But others, like empathy, adaptability, ability to manage change, growth mindset, are more of personality traits, according to me. Yes, we do teach these concepts too; behavioural trainers, mentors and coaches especially work on developing these skills at workplaces. However, a major part, of how one will relate to it, and ingrain that skill, will depend on the experiences of the fundamental years of life, which contribute to the making of a personality.

I also came across readings which elaborate how employees are expected to have skills like curiosity, interest in work, thoughtful questioning ability, be proactive and be flexible to work individually as well as in teams.

Agility is another vital skill and is much sought-after.  Ability to agile towards change, towards people, towards how we perceive self and develop our skills.

So how do we develop these skills? How do we know which profession would suit our existing skill sets or what additional skills we need to develop which are related?

Learning the new way

With the increase in online education in these recent months, many online platforms have seen huge jumps in student enrolment. For example, E skill India was holding 13 k people in February 2020 and now itis 3 lacs.  This rise in the number of people who are seeking online education would definitely happen in due course of time, due to digitalisation and technology. But due to pandemic, the same has happened in 5-6 months span.

One way to know the ‘jobs in demand’, is the skills portal by National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC). Here the demand and supply, that is ‘jobs available’ and ‘skills available’ in the market are matched.  Most of these skills are practical and on-the-job ones.

Another use of AI in this field is to find out how certain competencies which make up a skill are interrelated to other jobs and can be used across jobs and sectors. Here in the making, is a Google Map pathway for skills. Again an NSDC initiative.

Skill Set Database

Another app which is currently in use is the knack app, a San Francisco-based company developed this too for helping recruiters hire better-suited candidates for their jobs. This is an AI, where a person taking the test will be taken through a path to knowing his existing skill sets, the ones that are related will be shared with him. Also, some additional skills which he may develop to grow in his career and take a particular career path will be laid out for him.   

With the use of such technology, going digital is the way forward for all of us. It is time the job givers and job seekers realise the value of Learning and Development programs and people who will guide them towards getting skilled, reskilled and upskilled.