The COVID-19 pandemic exploded digital transformation on a global scale which in turn, increased shortage for the tech skills and talents across the globe.
There had been an existing shortage of tech talents before the pandemic, and now with the rise of companies going more digital, this tech skills gap has significantly widened. With the rise of COVID-19, came the unprecedented wave of tech adoption causing an increase in the demand for tech talents. According to Wolfgang Wendt, a General Manager at IBM, the current priority is being given to technology talents in order for organizations to succeed. This wave has led to an increase in individuals developing interest in the acquisition of tech skills.
What Are peoples Responses
According to a McKinsey report, the pandemic has increased funding for digital initiatives and these initiatives require a skilled tech talent pool to execute them.
What jobs will be created?
According to a 2020 World Economic Forum report, by 2025, there will be a loss of about 85 million jobs with the emergence of about 97 million new roles.
Some of the most in-demand future jobs are:
Business Analysts
Data analysts
Software Engineers
Product Managers
Cloud specialists
AI and Machine Learning Specialists
Robotics Engineers
Software and Application developers
Digital Transformation Specialists
Social Media Specialists
The interesting thing being that the skills required for these jobs are not usually acquired in a university.
What jobs will be lost
As digital and AI technologies continues to transform the world of work, today’s workforce is required more than ever to learn new skills and adapt as new occupations emerge.
Some jobs that will experience redundancies are:
· Data Entry Clerks,
· Administrative and Executive Secretaries,
· Accounting and Bookkeeping
· Payroll Clerks
· Accountant and Auditors
· Assembly and Factory Workers
· Business Services and Administrative Managers.
How this shift affected the current work force?
The pandemic has caused a massive shift in job transitions. People are realizing their lack of knowledge and skills for the jobs of tomorrow and are now seeking opportunities to reskill, upskill or even pivot to entirely new careers.
According to a LinkedIn data analysis, the past few years has witnessed massive career pivots and the last year has seen the most shift into tech related careers. The study found a large migration made to Tech jobs were from non-emerging (non-Tech) roles. For example 72% of transitions made into Data and AI bound roles originated from an entirely different job family. They concluded that through effective career pivots, there are significant opportunities for transitions into the budding Tech jobs.
The beauty of this skills migration is that tech skills are now sort for across all industries and sectors and no longer by just in technology-based companies alone.
How has it affected recruiting?
The low supply and high demand of tech talent will lead to wage inflation as organizations use higher salaries to attract and retain more talent. Also, tech talents are highly mobile and are able to move from one organization to the other if they don’t feel valued in their current roles.
This fluidity, flexibility and ease of mobility which provides more freedom and varied job options makes it one of the main reasons why acquiring tech skills has become desirable and highly sort after.
Opportunities that COVID-19 has created
Increase in remote work
Increased demand for tech skills such as data analysis
Increase in global talent recruiting making tech skills more attractive to a wider range of recruiters.
Increased move to online channels for business transactions needing digital marketers
Increase in online purchasing and services making room for social media experts
Increase spending on data security leading to an increase in cybersecurity experts
Increase migration of assets to cloud increasing the need for cloud specialists
Increase use of advanced technologies in operations and business decision making
Many of these changes brought by the pandemic are not going to fade with lowering infection rates, which means a continuous global investment in tech and tech talents. To therefore remain relevant in workforce and stay ‘literate’ we invite you to upskill, reskill and pivot now by registering for one of our courses at HiBreed Station.
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