Here's a lovely TED talk by Rainer Strack on the Workforce Crisis in 2030.
What's was interesting to me from this talk is that India will be a major labor surplus market in 2020 when compared to other global economies. However, the other fact that was fasinating was that there are going to be new jobs and skills that will show-up - like the one on "cognitive systems engineer" in the automotive industry that he talks about. So, how fundamentally prepared are our students who are graduating out of our schools, colleges, professional engineering & management institutes for this change? Also, it reiterates the need for current people who are working in companies to learn new skills and unlearn old ones continuosly, is worth thinking about. Imagine a labor surplus market but a skill mismatch that is looming around. As I reflected on this talk, I realize the immediate need to transform mindsets - in organizations, working professionals and students who are getting prepared for the future.
The kind of people & skills organizations require will be very different from that of what we see today. The need for a 'new culture of learning' will be very important. It starts with:
- Organizations forecasting what skills they will require from current employees and start to train them for the same.
- Current working professionals need to invest in themselves continously with new skills. It will be no more a case of "graduate & earn" but "graduate, earn & learn".
- With students, they need to be aware of emerging new areas of work, what it takes to prepare and succeed in them while schools/colleges/teachers need to expose them early to new upcoming careers.