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    See emergence of work models such as micro-tasks, need new skilling platforms: GenLeap’s Sachin Sandhir

    Synopsis

    The gig economy is creating new opportunities and integrating an extended workforce in the ecosystem which includes talent from tier 2 and 3 cities.

    Sachin-Sandhir
    "With workspaces, work culture and the entire business ecosystem having rapidly transformed, especially in the last two years, the demand for skills of the future has significantly spiked," said Sandhir.
    The pandemic has changed the way we work. From remote working to the skills required, there has been a sea-change in work models. As employees look for flexibility, the gig economy becomes more entrenched and digital skills become popular. Sachin Sandhir Founder & CEO at GenLeap says evolving work culture is sweeping across industries. Edited excerpts.

    Economic Times (ET): Many today want flexibility and freedom as a non-negotiable part of their career. What do you think will be its impact on how a career is developed and how incentives to attract talent works?
    Sachin Sandhir(SS):
    While remote and flexible working has fast become one of the key priorities for many in the workforce, I believe we are bracing the era of a hybrid work economy. Organizations need to find a balance between the flexibility that comes with remote working with the unmatched collaboration of physical presence in the workplace. As employees are reassessing their choices and priority areas, businesses are focussing on attracting and retaining talent, which has become a key competitive differentiator. Corporates need to offer their employees professional development opportunities, re-skilling and up-skilling for a career to increase retention as well as have more people join in.

    ET: The gig economy seems to be firmly entrenched, especially for people in the knowledge and creator economies. Have firms associated with career management taken such changes into account?
    SS:
    The gig economy is creating new opportunities and integrating an extended workforce in the ecosystem which includes talent from tier 2 and 3 cities. Emergence of work models such as micro-tasks is giving way to a re-invented, inclusive and diverse workforce. The gig work culture has also significantly pushed up-skilling through alternate and additional credentials. Organizations in the career management sector are understanding this changing dynamic and aligning their approach accordingly. Managing an end-to-end career lifecycle is now considering the evolving work culture, the newer jobs and the skills needed to excel in these.

    ET: What do you think is the future of work, and what do you think will be some of the new skills that will be in demand?
    SS:
    With workspaces, work culture and the entire business ecosystem having rapidly transformed, especially in the last two years, the demand for skills of the future has significantly spiked. Job roles are changing and newer jobs are being created as we speak. Hyper-automation and technology integration in every business process has meant that those skilled in new-age technologies such as cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and big data are going to have a definite edge in the jobs of the future. It is interesting to see how this has shaped online learning trends seen recently. Last year, Coursera released a list of its most popular courses and Machine Learning, AI, Data Science and Cloud platform Fundamentals were in the top 5. While these technical skills will remain relevant, the workplaces of tomorrow will also warrant soft skills which will be equally important for employers hiring and for the professional growth of the employees. Adaptability, resilience, complex problem solving, emotional intelligence, empathy, self-motivation and integrity will be critical success factors. It has become essential to prepare and guide students to equip themselves with skills that they will need to succeed in the jobs of the future, which is what GenLeap is also aiming to achieve.

    ET: How do you foresee EdTech/CareerTech evolving in the current times?
    SS:
    With the shakeup in global markets and more particularly the US and the impact of schools and colleges reopening after the pandemic, the investment activity in Edtech/ career tech is slowing up from an investment perspective as funds are drying up and valuations have actually gone down for various brands. This basically means that funds are no longer easily available and brands which have raised large funds are not able to raise funds at a higher valuation like in the past. This now means that EDtech is now having to cut costs and in several cases lay off people. The other major trend that I see is the focus on creating a work-ready India and the advent of skilling platforms that help aspirants become more employable. I see the time for plain vanilla offerings of edtech and everyone selling to the same consumer going down as customer acquisition costs of these edtech has gone up drastically. I feel the time has come for a player that will address the discovery challenge for students and professionals, which helps them acquire the right skills and choice of employers based on early self-discovery.

    ET: How do you see career management platforms like yours disrupting the ecosystem in India?
    SS:
    Career management platforms have existed but as I addressed earlier, focus purely on psychometric tools which are good but have the limitation of the current state of mind or environment impacting the outcomes. An end-to-end career management platform from discovery to employability does not exist, and this is where we intend to be a one-stop solution for the complete career management needs of an individual and given the large numbers that India is churning out, platforms that address the skills challenge and make students employable will continue to make a large difference and will define the shift that will happen in the future. We intend to be a partner for these skills platforms on our marketplace by providing their customers a learning path based on our self-discovery and I see some good examples in our partners that we will be working with to make a difference.
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