Cultus
Demand for skilled workers is rising with expanding economy. Developments in technology and information over the last few decades have given birth to stringent business strategies and a complicated market economy therefore. The problem of unemployment has reached a severe stage all over the world. Lack of proper skills is one important reason why employment opportunities are declining, say the experts.
Knowledge seems to be the answer:
So, a trend of investing in education to generate potential candidates for responsible positions seems to be growing at a rapid pace. Important initiatives taken by the developing countries in this regard prove that requirements of knowledge and expertise are increasing everywhere. According to the reports, more than 3 million positions in the US are still vacant and are in search of right persons with appropriate skills. Peter Beynon, the Middle East Regional Director of ICAEW says, “Investing in education to raise skill levels would be a long-term sustainable strategy that would help GCC countries to diversify whilst also helping nationals into the workforce.”
The experts advise that for better employment opportunities it would be wise for the new age learners to sign up for the skill enhancement programmes just after high school. Optimizing the career objectives at an initial stage would help them to hit success at the right time. For the increasingly competitive market, the future workers need to follow untraditional routes. Some of the world-class corporates are teaming up with local governments to help the next generation employees land with proper skills.
Recent initiatives to meet the demands :
• Of late, the General Electric GE +0.8% created the MC2 STEM High School in partnership with the city of Cleveland. It basically aims at brining students on GE Lighting’s corporate campus for their sophomore years. Here the employees of GE serve as tutors helping students to achieve practical experience of creating lights and also working with advanced manufacturing machines.
• The technical schools of South Carolina have collaborated with a number of companies, and the list includes names like: Timken TKR +1.13%, Michelin, Caterpillar CAT +0.26% and Coca-Cola KO +0.75%. A partnership programme with BMW has also been launched to offer an apprenticeship programme. The programme intends to generate expert candidates. The 14 BMW scholars who completed the programmes were appointed for fulltime jobs in 2012.
• In Brooklyn, IBM IBM +1.16% teamed up with New York City to offer the Pathways in Technology Early College High School. Students in this programme will be earning high school diplomas with associate degrees to prepare them for entry-level jobs at IBM. The President of America called it an ideal example for the whole nation.
Business of knowledge:
“Businesses have got to be engaged in partnering with educators to be sure that people are trained to succeed in the 21st century economy,” says Harvard Business School professor Jan Rivkin. According to him, it’s time for the business to revise their approach toward education. Rivkin thinks that companies will only risk their future if they don’t choose to behave responsibly toward the society and their employees. Investment in such sectors will help them to flourish globally.
Through online…
The recent initiatives prove that states, industries, corporates have probably started thinking in the same line. The question that has been baffling employers for quite a few while as ‘how to find the right candidate?’ seems to find an answer very soon. The innovative training programmes being offered around the world are making career success an easier endeavor. Experts feel choosing online programmes would be the wisest and safest step to gain expertise. A number of famous online training providers are launching programmes to help the employers recruit, develop and retain good workers. It’s cost-effective and time savior, if that’s what you only know about online programmes then it’s time for reality check. They don’t only impart training, but make sure that your employees achieve superiority in the field. For example, in addition with efficiency, the online business schools have also started offering programmes to reward the employees with credits or options to top up their preferred university degrees. Thus, investment in education has become a very important for companies to fill their skill gap with well trained and competent employees.
MIT’s digital learning director said, “When I’m hiring someone for the long-term to lead the company, I want to make sure that their interdisciplinary skills and critical thinking are very developed”. Interest level among the employees regarding these courses has been quite evident. It has made training simple by offering the employers scopes to purchase the study materials and regulate the courses as per their preference.
