Contingent roles offer opportunities to develop skills for the future

The world has considerably altered post-pandemic with new work norms being forged. Future success will demand new abilities and skills while we enter a new era of work.

As we celebrate World Youth Skills Day this month, we will look at the importance of skills development within the workforce and how contingent roles can offer you more opportunities to develop skills for the future.

New norms mean new skills

In the UK, 30% of employees feel they lack the abilities necessary for today's jobs. The online assessment company?Questionmark ?conducted a study of the UK workforce in relation to the competencies outlined by the World Economic Forum (WEF). The survey found a gap between the present-day confidence levels of UK workers and the abilities that will be required in the future. It also emphasised the areas where workers are being hampered by a lack of training and support.

According to the?WEF Future of Jobs research , when the “double-disruption” of the economic effects of the pandemic and rising automation altering jobs takes root, half of us will need to reskill in the next five years.

Technology skills have been identified as being essential for the future employment market, but the survey finds that the UK is underperforming in this area. The terms that most baffled respondents were frequently tech-related, such as Big Data (31%) and Digital Transformation, which accompanied the respondents’ poor confidence in technology (21%).

Don’t underestimate the value of soft skills even in the digital age

The top competencies and skill groupings that international employers perceive as becoming more important in the years leading up to 2025 are emotional intelligence, critical thinking, complex problem-solving, resilience, flexibility, creativity, originality, and inventiveness.

As we have moved into a digital era, the dependence on technology has never been stinger, but this does not mean soft skills are not needed. Machines still lack emotional and social intelligence and higher cognitive abilities like problem-solving, critical thinking (including brainstorming), creativity, systematic decision-making, and so forth. This is true even though advances in artificial intelligence, robotics, and machine learning are making it possible to automate an increasing number of human tasks.

Even if someone has all the hard skills necessary to complete a project at work if they lack the soft skills necessary to comprehend what the client or stakeholders want from the project or the ability to communicate with and inspire their team members to complete the project, whatever they build or create for the stakeholders will not satisfy their needs and fail.

What are the trends in Financial Services?

According to the?Financial Services Skills Commission ?there is a severe lack of skilled workers for UK financial services companies. The potential of technology and big data is limited by a talent shortage. Companies with the necessary technological and behavioural skills can move forward with transformation, but others cannot do so for lack of ability.

Many financial services players are turning the contingent workforce to help with key talent gaps, and so we have seen a significant increase in the hiring of contingent staff. Contingent resource can be used to temporarily replace any critical skill gaps, increasing the flexibility and responsiveness of your team as needed. The contingent workforce can give organisations more flexibility in their workforce, allowing them to extend their labour force and increase productivity output on demand without incurring the expenditures of acquiring and maintaining permanent employees.

How contingent roles can offer you more opportunities to develop skills for the future?

Contingent roles can offer many opportunities to place hard-hitting logos on your CV and learn from some of the world’s most renowned financial institutions. If you are looking for opportunities to get into harder-to-reach organisations such as the big four and bigger retail banks, working with an organisation such as Momenta can help you get opportunities that would otherwise be difficult to find.

It is also an opportunity to gain valuable skills and experience from not just one role but multiple roles that can give you career resilience that a permanent role would not necessarily give. Contingent roles are the perfect opportunity to not only develop your skill set to take on new challenges. Many permanent workers, after a while, still feel a sense of wanting a new challenge. This is hardly the case with a lot of contingent roles. One benefit is that you will never be bored because you are part of a constantly evolving market.

Working with an organisation such as Momenta can open the door to some of the world’s most prestigious financial institutions. This not only will open doors for future prospects, but you will grow key skills of the future that many permanent employees would not always get access to.

If you are looking to start a contingent career or are looking for a new contingent role, join Momenta today to get access to be part of a network of highly skilled and talented professionals, helping thousands of them secure roles within the Financial Services, Legal, Technology and Learning & Development sectors.