Expert tips on job-readiness via online certification by Raghav Gupta, Managing Director, Coursera, India

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) says the COVID-19 pandemic is “inflicting a triple shock on young people.” ILO’s official statement on May 27, 2020 said, “Not only is it [the pandemic] destroying their employment, but it is also disrupting education and training, and placing major obstacles in the way of those seeking to enter the labour market or to move between jobs.”

The coronavirus outbreak was something which no one was prepared for. However, the labour markets were already expecting a churning because of the intervention of technology. “One view is that technology will bring less work, make workers redundant or end work by replacing workers. The other major view is that technology will create abundant opportunities for workers and boost economies “(The Impact of Technology on Work and the Workforce, Paul Schulte and John Howard, ILO, March 2019).

A report by McKinsey Global Institute said: “Many activities that workers carry out today have the potential to be automated. Job matching sites such as LinkedIn and Monster are changing and expanding the way individuals look for work and companies identify and recruit talent. Independent workers are increasingly choosing to offer their services on digital platforms including Upwork, Uber, and Etsy and, in the process, challenging conventional ideas about how and where work is undertaken” (Technology, Jobs and the Future of Work, 2017).

An analysis of the above statements makes it clear that students have to give a serious thought to their employability to survive the churnings in the job market, badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Gone are the days when a good degree from a good institution assured them a good job. In India, even in top of the class institutions like the IITs and the IIMs, a number of companies have rescinded their offers after concluding placements while the placement season has stopped midway at a few campuses.

Raghav Gupta, Managing Director, Coursera, India explains what students should do to survive a tough season where there are few jobs and a greater number of seekers for those jobs.

Check the entire session below

What jobs and sectors are being adversely impacted by technology and Covid-19 pandemic?

There's been lots of research from the World Economic Forum, McKinsey, Deloitte and other leading institutions on how technology has been changing jobs even before the COVID-19 pandemic. McKinsey came out with a report in 2018 which said that those jobs, which have lower levels of education will be the most impacted because of technological changes. They updated that report in April this year, and they said that those jobs which have lower levels of education will actually be the most impacted because of COVID-19 as well. These jobs are in the retail industry, accommodation, food services and to an extent in arts and entertainment. So, the importance of education has gone up. It is much more important to be getting a good degree than it was two months ago.

What should commerce students do to become more employable?

India has close to 3.7 crore students in higher education. Engineering constitutes nearly 10% of that One of the big chunks is commerce and related programs. Many students who come out of such programs either get entry level jobs with financial and accounting rules. They might work in a BPO, KPO and so on. Some of them go for higher education. They might go for an MBA or become a chartered accountant or company secretary and so on and a lot of students join family businesses as well. Today, the biggest thing which might be relevant for a B.Com graduate is to learn skills which are related to data and digital to distinguish themselves. Those are the areas which companies are seeking in terms of differentiating skills.

A commerce student could come to a platform like Coursera and depending on their skills or job level they could choose a series of courses from a starting level. This can help them get into a fairly differentiated profile and then be ready for what the workplace is looking for. They can then supplement this with professional certificates. For example, for those students who are planning to go and work in a BPO or a KPO, IBM has a certificate program on Coursera, which is around customer engagement.

What are the skillsets that can be acquired through online certifications?

Of the 60 million people who are learning on the Coursera platform, almost 80 to 85 percent are working adults. They were recommended by their companies to take courses on Coursera. And when they get a credential, they put it on their profiles on LinkedIn. And today, Coursera certificates are the second single-largest source of certificates on LinkedIn globally.

Today we are able to measure how skills are changing. For example, if an individual who is new to the domain of data analytics or data science goes to Coursera, the skill growth is measurable over the next 3 to 4 months. If he started at a beginner level and finished at a particular level that is proof of the kind of skill building that he has made.

Now, companies also have been using in-person classes to deliver education. There are companies like Tata Communication, which used in-person learning four years ago and today 80 percent of that learning happens online. Those companies, which had much less learning happening online, have also transitioned online. Some of these trends got accelerated many times over as a result of the COVID-19 situation.

What will be the skills in great demand in the post COVID-19 scenario?

Skills in data, digital and professional soft skills would be the three broad domains in demand. For example, if a B.Com student wants to go and work in the finance industry, let's say a bank, there are nine skills that we've calculated. He will need skills in the areas of digital, data and business management. So, these are the skills that he should build. Professional soft skills have always been important but are probably even more important today. One bucket of skills includes being able to communicate well, to be able to work in a team, to be able to do critical thinking, to be able to do problem solving. Today, the second bucket of skill which is becoming important is the virtual version of all these skills. So, can I work with a global team of people who are on all parts of the world and still be able to drive results in my company? So, virtual leadership has become an important skill, and similarly, can I work in virtual teams and so on and so forth.

What should a student do if he is right now doing a course to enter a sector which has been badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic? What are the adjacent skills that he can acquire so that he becomes employable in different industries?

The idea about acquiring adjacencies of skills is a good way to go about it. When a learner comes to Coursera platform we ask them what they are today and where do they want to go. For example, a person who is an MBA in tourism and travel wants to shift jobs and work in digital marketing because he understands the consumer space. Coursera will be able to show him the type of skills that he should be building and the courses that he should be taking.

It is a tough situation today. But it is also free ticket to use the lockdown period to learn new things and to think about careers, which may be, new careers, which may be more relevant to a digital world and to a more data-driven world. That’s the way to approach it.

The advice on upskilling through online certifications was given by Raghav Gupta, Managing Director, Coursera, India in a webinar hosted by Careers360 recently.

If you have any doubt regarding any course or career, write to us at: ask@careers360.com