Amalgamation Of Tech And Soft Skills Is Imperative To Be Future-Ready

Countries around the world are witnessing a huge rise in demand for qualified and skilled technology talent and India is no exception. According to a report, a sector-wise analysis shows that the information technology sector is leading the pack with 89 per cent of the corporates planning to hire IT professionals, during January-March 2022.

“Skill gap is not a new thing in the IT industry as there is always emerging technologies that require continuous development,” states Rekha Menon, Chairperson, Accenture India. Additionally, she highlights the increasing demand for technical skills in companies other than IT organisations. In the Indian job market talent shortage continues to prevail, there is eight times more demand than the talent available, according to Accenture’s Menon.

As we step into 2022, business leaders and HR teams are occupied defining the new norms of the hybrid work regime. By adopting technology, the perception of work, workers, and the workplace has dramatically changed.

The worldwide disruption has forced every individual or enterprise to push their limits and go back to their basic drawing boards. On similar lines, Ronnie Screwvala, Chairperson and Co-Founder, upGrad mentions during a conversation at recently concluded Microsoft's annual event, “Entire ecosystem of doing business and high growth is being redefined.”

“What did the pandemic do? Redefine everything,” says Rekha Menon and further adding to the same, she said, “Beyond the need of hard technical skills, there is a critical need of soft skills like complex problem solving, social influence, active learning, emotional intelligence and many more.”

On a lighter note, upGrad's Screwvala points out, “we need to be originators and innovators and not just duplicators.” The ecosystem today requires a mindset change to further nurture a lifelong learning approach in order to prepare the workforce of the future.