Skill-up to Fill-up Gaps!

There has been lot of talk in recent days to fill-up the skill gaps in view of the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on economy and the need to meet new demands of the industry. The education sector is usually blamed for the skill gaps.

Having been with industry as well as with academics at senior levels for over 40 years, and hence having observed the issues from both ends, I have following points to make:

1. The need for upskilling has been highlighted since many years, with several reports suggesting most of the new graduates as unemployable. So, it should not be seen as a consequence of pandemic only.

2. Truly, there is need for constant updating of one's skills in these testing times. I suggest that the emphasis has to be on skilling in following four ways:

i) Upskilling- Upgrading existing skills in present jobs.

ii) Reskilling - Learning fresh skills for new upcoming jobs.

iii) Cross-skilling - Learning complementary skills; e.g. learning about Maintenance by a Production worker.

iv) Multi-skilling - Learning as many skills as possible, both in related as well as unrelated areas e.g. foreign languages, driving, sports, cooking etc.

3. Apart from above, one has to learn Life Skills or Soft Skills like Communication & Presentation Skills, Leadership, Interpersonal Relationship, Team-Building, Creative Thinking, Decision Making, Problem Solving Skills, Ethical Attitude, Emotional Intelligence, Time Management etc. These are often termed as Transferable Skills that can be transferred and utilized in any new job easily.

4. Industry has to play an important role if it wants employees with desired skills. It has to collaborate with Universities in redesigning curriculum, offering internships, taking guest lectures, allowing plant visits, sharing expertise, having joint research projects etc.

5. On the other hand, Universities have to reinvent their roles and train the faculty members extensively on new technologies for teaching and updating them on latest developments in the field. It would be better if Universities induct more faculty members with industrial experience rather than just on the basis of their degrees.

I hope above points would be found useful in filling up the gaps in skills that are needed to meet new demands as well as in developing more competent human capital.

Linkedin Profile 2.0

#success #management #leadership #softskills #training #trainingdevelopment #communication #values #ethics #personality #skilldevelopment #lifeskills