Digital skills that experts believe you need to survive the current job crisis

• While thousands of Indians have lost jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic, all hope is not lost.
  
• Experts believe that upskilling and reskilling is the need of the hour as a massive adoption of technology will also mean a rise in demand for tech-driven skills.
  
• Given the current scenario, IT, edtech, pharma and healthcare are few areas that will continue to hire and grow, despite the pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we work – bringing in a digital first approach.

As companies are now assessing the alternate remote working model, this quick adoption of technology, will also bring in the need for agility and a greater demand for digital literacy and soft skills.

Neeti Sharma, SVP, TeamLease Services believes that ‘work from home’ is here to stay as companies are now seeking to deploy a qualitative workforce so as to strike a balance between cost, scale and quality.

“Employees need to be up-skilled and reskilled during this lockdown period and be prepared for the changed workplace environment. The current disruption has reinforced the need for technical, digital and soft skills required to work both in the virtual and digital world and these are the skills hiring managers are seeking in employees,” Sharma told Business Insider.

Over the past two months, thousands of employees have lost their jobs due to the pandemic. Startups like Ola, Zomato, Swiggy, Make My Trip axed jobs amid the lockdown. Meanwhile, a recent survey of CEOs, that included over 50 Indian startups, showed that one in four startups in India already announced pay cuts. And, a third of them are considering doing so.

But all hope is not lost as experts believe that certains sectors and skills will see a rise in demand soon.

IT, edtech, pharma and healthcare continue to hire digital skills

Given the current scenario, IT, edtech, pharma and healthcare are few areas that will continue to hire and grow, despite the pandemic, said Sharma.

Additionally, digital skills will continue to see significant uptake. Vijay Sivaram, CEO of IT staffing firm Quess Corp says that the need for android and iOS developers will continue to be while emerging skills like Kubernetes & microservices will also see a rise in demand.

“For functional roles, knowledge of platforms like application tracking systems for HR, invoicing through the use of RPA’s, collections through bots are becoming the new norm,” he said.

This also includes technologies like python, angular, full-stack and SaaS. In addition, data analytics is a much sought after skill set — which will surely boost the demand for professionals skilled in AI/ ML technologies, according to TeamLease.

Digital skills also critical to senior executives and product managers

With the change in the work environment, product managers will be more in demand as they will be required to “understand the change and adopt it as part of the company’s product plans.”

The senior managers need to understand technology and how automation works. On the other hand, sales professionals have to adapt to digital and know how digital skills can be aligned to their workstream.

Meanwhile, HR executives will have to prepare to deal with employees’ mental, emotional and physical wellbeing. They will be required to assess headcount requirements, productivity, assessments while planning their learning interventions.

“The pandemic has proved that organisations and leaders need to make smart and innovative strategies to combat such unprecedented disasters. They need to assimilate policies to ensure that any such unforeseeable circumstances do not have a negative effect on employee morale, business productivity and organisational culture,” Sharma of TeamLease said.

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