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How can international students meet the demands of a post COVID workplace with global employers?

For students and graduates across the globe, the employment landscape has changed somewhat in the past few years. While the pandemic has been largely responsible, there are several ways to meet these changes with new skills and reduce the skills gap. By gathering the necessary methods to meet the expectation of employers and new business requirements, international students can use these changes to provide the missing talent for your industry.

What’s changed?

Remote working has spiked during the pandemic across industries globally. Working from home started from necessity but quickly grew into an integral part of modern working practices and the benefits to both workers and businesses became quickly apparent. According to research from accounting leaders EY, the majority of those surveyed in Southeast Asia employees would prefer not to return to pre-pandemic ways of working. The same can be seen in India and other countries across the world where hybrid working is also popular. These changes have essentially altered the standard working practices and will influence new strategies for employers looking for candidates.
Digital Channelling has surged worldwide, with home working and learning comes an increase for more online services, shopping, online food delivery and telemedicine. The result of this will be higher levels of e-commerce and leads to a shift in demand for jobs and labour going forward.
Automation and AI were embraced by a wider range of businesses due to the pandemic. Historically, the years following a recession lead to increased levels of automation due to businesses responding to the new economic landscape. It’s anticipated that there will be a greater shift in these areas and the requirement for skills to fill these gaps.

What skills are needed?

Shifts in workplace trends lead to an adjustment in which roles align with business needs. New skills may need to be acquired in order to meet the demand for digital roles. According to a McKinsey Global Institute analysis, as leaders recover from the challenges brought by the pandemic, they will need to encourage development in four skill areas to close the skills gap. These are;

1.    Ability to operate at pace in a fully digital environment
The digital skills gap was present worldwide before the pandemic, this has been accelerated to present an urgent need for skilled digital workers. 82 percent of job vacancies now require digital skills of some kind, but robust knowledge of computer programming, data literacy, AI and the cloud will help propel your graduate profile above the competition.

2.    Cognitive skills for redesign and innovation
Hybrid working means there is an increase in autonomous working practices. In this new environment, the importance of problem-solving skills, creativity and innovation will be essential.

3.    Social and emotional skills to ensure effective collaboration, management, and self-expression.
This skill requires the ability to maintain strong professional ties, despite distance. Being able to continue to drive change from any location and grow client relationships through a range of contact methods and leaders who will need advanced communication in order to support employees remotely.

4.    Adaptability and resilience to thrive during COVID-19 aftershocks and beyond.
With the instability that has been present across the globe, one of the key responses will be adaptability. With business challenges ahead, the key will be flexibility and gaining new knowledge and applying this to progressing within your role. 

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