World Youth Skills Day: Leaders Encourage Upskilling and Reskilling To Meet The Demand Post Pandemic
In 2014, the United Nations General Assembly declared 15 July as World Youth Skills Day, to celebrate the strategic importance of equipping young people with skills for employment, decent work, and entrepreneurship. Since then, World Youth Skills Day has provided a unique opportunity for dialogue between young people, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions, firms, employers’ and workers’ organizations, policymakers, and development partners. In 2022, with a focus on re-imagining the workplace post-pandemic, the World Youth Skills Day takes place amid concerted efforts toward socio-economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic with leaders from across the industry placing importance on upskilling the youth in light of the world slowly shifting to sustainable development.
“Reskilling especially in the aftermath of pandemic has become a necessity. Adapting to the new normal requires new technology solutions and the right talent. It is important to build a vibrant skilling ecosystem to train younger generation in cloud computing and disruptive virtual collaborative technologies. Sustained effort in bridging the gap between the traditional and modern skills is imperative for new-age businesses. It is essential to enhance productivity among the remote and hybrid workforce and create a foundation for them to thrive in a dynamic borderless workplace driven by talent and technology.” – Mathew Philip, Senior Director & Country Manager, Sales, GoTo
“The pandemic changed the environment for learning forever. Classroom lectures morphed into virtual and recorded sessions. In the post-pandemic environment, work from home and remote working have become the norm. This poses a formidable challenge for youth entering this new workplace now. Opportunities to shadow senior colleagues and learn from them is now highly restricted. There is a need to reimagine how we mentor youth and groom them into seasoned professionals in virtual mode. A youngster starting a new job for the first time will need to demonstrate greater initiative in building strong relationships with mentors on various channels and forums. They will also need to develop self-learning and independent problem-solving skills. Businesses that create the right platform for mentorship and the tools for self-learning will be better at fostering youth skills in the post-pandemic world.” – Ranga Shetty, General Manager, Granicus, India
“While the pandemic continues to demand agility from organizations and employees alike, digital transformation triggered during this time is only beginning to gain momentum now. Employees too are competitive, motivated about their learning, growth and career advancement, and are urging organizations to provide opportunities to develop knowledge, business intelligence and other skills to be eligible for cross-domain and cross-functional stints and meet new challenges.With no dearth of core engineering jobs and with employees having the power to be selective, compensation and benefits will not be the only deciding factor. An opportunity to learn and develop new skills and deliver cutting-edge technology projects driven by innovation will be seen as a priceless perk to attract the best engineers to any organization as well as serve as a catalyst for internal mobility and employee retention. Now is the time to build a talent pool that can flex to meet changing labor market dynamics to align with current and future demands. And organizations that can best leverage this shift in technologies and talent today will crack the code.”- Sajid Ahmed, EVP and Head of Technology, Wells Fargo India & Philippines
