WILL THE (STILL PENDING) OUTCOME OF THE U.S. ELECTION RESHAPE INDUSTRIES AND ACCELERATE THE NEED FOR NEW SKILLS?

Individuals and industries alike awaited the coming of the U.S. election to provide some direction for the future ahead; knowing that unlike previous elections, a conclusive decision on election night was unlikely.

As always, election outcomes have a downstream effect on industries; unique to the current situation is the uneven impact of the pandemic, which has left certain sectors hard hit. Sectors such as healthcare, already struggling from the financial impact of COVID-19 which has reduced elective surgeries and, in some cases, reduced headcount, may see greater changes due to the continued battle over the affordable care act.

The changing of the guard will also shift focus on industries such as automotive and energy, with a greater emphasis on environmental regulations and renewable energy. 

New policy directives will change not only energy companies’ business models, but also their workforces. Traditional oil and gas will need more talent in highly skilled areas like artificial intelligence and data than in drilling, for instance. As a result, more could be done on the part of companies and the new administration to reskill and provide learning and development opportunities for the energy worker of the future.

Read more: https://www.kornferry.com/insights/articles/five-industries-on-biden-radar [Korn Ferry]

While the future administration will result in a need for industry leaders to reshape their business and therefore their workforce, COVID-19 also plays a key factor in the need for new skills and a reskilled workforce to support the changes brought on by tech advancement and automation.  

LinkedIn, Coursera and the World Economic Forum, partnered on the new Future of Jobs Report 2020. While the findings have been consistent over the past two or so years —  growing demand for data analysts and scientists, AI and machine learning specialists, robotics engineers, software and application developers, and digital transformation specialists — the new study highlights the ease of transition into some of these areas based on how established the pipeline for those roles are. 

Companies looking to buildout their talent pools may need to consider an adjacent skill strategy — building their talent pools with a mind towards future skill needs based on ease of transition and training duration — to meet the current and future demand. 

The report also highlights the difference in skills of focus for employed versus unemployed talent, with the former more interested in learning personal development and self-management skills. 

While new tech will reshape the tasks that will need to support future business needs, workers will more often be working with new tools versus being displaced and, if remote work becomes a norm, skills that focus more on the individual’s ability to manage workloads and collaboration will become more valuable. 

Read more: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/10/x-charts-showing-the-jobs-of-a-post-pandemic-future-and-the-skills-you-need-to-get-them/ [World Economic Forum]

Based on this collaborative effort, LinkedIn has recently launched a career explore tool that focuses on skills needed for career transitions. The tool offers options for future careers based on difficulty of transition and skills needed for the new role, and provides training modules via the platforms learning portal.

Read more: https://linkedin.github.io/career-explorer/ [LinkedIn]