Acquire skills while at home during pandemic

Technological adaptability, skills on new technologies and a positive attitude should be the key focus areas for preparation for the job market in the post-pandemic era, said several human resource management officials yesterday.

The recruiting process will change for the pandemic because employers in many cases will carry it out online, said Fahim Mashroor, co-founder and chief executive officer of bdjobs.com.

But the employers will have to ensure that productivity does not fall, neither for online recruitment nor for working from home.

"It is challenging, so re-orientation is needed," he said in a session of the Youth Skills Summit 2020, jointly organised by The Daily Star in association with SBK Tech Ventures marking World Youth Skills Day.

Thanks to the adoption of digitalisation in business processes, employees should have the skills and adaptability to advanced technology, so training is necessary, Mashroor added.

During the session, titled "Preparing for a post-pandemic job market", Zulfiqar Hussain, CEO of Grow and Excel, said several formal sector employers announced layoffs during the pandemic.

However, some are starting to hire people based on new technological skills, he said, adding that the pandemic expedited automation in the formal sector where some unnecessary fat was being cut down.

Though some job cuts are happening, the pandemic taught a good lesson on adaptability to technology, which will be a step forward towards the fourth industrial revolution, Hussain said.

"So, there is no alternative to gaining skills," he added.

Human resources departments realised very deeply during this pandemic how important it was to provide moral support and to offer training on technology on working from home, said Md Faisal Imtiaz Khan, chief human resources officer of Rabi Axiata.

This is the right time for students, who have a lot of time in their hands, to prepare for the job market by adapting to new technologies, he said.

The new technologies might be blockchain, coding and artificial intelligence, whichever they seem fit, he said. "Please adopt skills whichever new technology it might be on," he added.

It was not easy to make people adapt to new technologies so that they could work from home, said Maher Sabbagh, people and culture director of Japan Tobacco International.

The pandemic has sped up technological adaptation by four or five years because every employee is motivated due to the pandemic and they realise it is necessary, he said.

"The right attitude is important for adaptation in any situation or any new technology, so I put emphasis on it along with a cultural attitude so that he or she can cope up with the new world," he added.

People need to continue with their learning, which is necessary for coping with the post-pandemic job market requirements, said Ghulam Sumdany Don, chief inspirational officer of Don Sumdany Facilitation and Consultancy, while moderating the session. He advised students to engage in extracurricular activities, maintain networking with people and become problem solvers.