Re-Skilling ? Can You be Specific ?

Although , this is a topic of considerable current interest – and widely covered by media - , I find very little “ clarity of thinking “ on part of those who debate !

The reason for all this sudden interest is that , although economy is growing fairly well , jobs are not growing to take care of persons joining the work force , each year ( some 12 million )

On top of that , manpower costs are rising rapidly ( what with DA linked to CPI )  , prompting businesses / industries , to go in for more mechanization / automation ( resulting in still less jobs )

Then there is a war-like cry that robots will soon displace humans from many jobs – causing further un-employment

And the universal “ Remedy “ being offered is :

“ Re-Skilling “  !

Even if all of the foregoing is partly true , the correct approach must be , as follows :

[ A ]

·         Make a list of Industries

·         Make a list of “ jobs “ , commonly found in each Industry

·         Make a list of “ skills “ , required for carrying out each of these jobs

·         Make a list of “ specific existing jobs “ that are likely to disappear ( citing clearly-worded “ reasons “ against each )

·         For these “ Likely to disappear jobs “, which current “ skills “ will ALSO disappear ?

[  B  ]

·         Make a list of what “ NEW JOBS “ ( giving clear trade-names / titles / designations etc ), are expected to come up , in next 3 / 5 years ( Industry-wise )

( Industry Associations like CII – FICCI – ASSOCHAM , can be requested by the Government , to help )

·         What will be the NEW SKILLS that will be required for each of these NEW JOBS ?

This exercise will be like writing “ job descriptions “ for each “ New Job “

·         Make a list of Institutions ( Schools / Colleges / Coaching Classes / ITI  / Online Courses etc ) , who / which , impart these skills , currently

·         List those “ New Skills “ where there is a shortage of “ New Skills Imparting Resources “

·         Frame Recommendations for :

           #   Jobseekers – as to where can they acquire

                these New Skills

          #    Institutions – as to what new courses they

                Need to introduce

         #     Government – as to what kind of Policy

                Support / Monetary Support , it should

                Extend to the Institutions / to the “ New

                Skill Learners “ / to the “ New Job Employers “

HINT :

 Job Portals such as Naukri / MonsterIndia / TimesJobs etc have , in their databases ( accumulated over past 15 years ) , may be 20 MILLION job advertisements , posted by 100,000 Companies of India

Each of this job-posting , carries a ,

·         Industry Name

·         Job Title / Designation / Vacancy-Name

·         List of KEYWORDS denoting SKILLS REQUIRED

And since each Job Advt carries a “ Posting Date “ , it should be possible to “ DETECT “ the changes in the SKILL REQUIREMENTS  , from year-to-year or even month-to-month ! [  Just like Google’s N-Gram Project ? ]…. https://books.google.com/ngrams...

These portals have all the required RESOURCES ( BIG DATA Scientists ) , to carry out the type of analysis needed to come up with reasonably good PREDICTIONs re RE-SKILLING !

I urge them to come forward to offer their service for a highly desirable objective of :

RE-SKILLING of millions

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10  July  2017

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs