Imagine a world where your skills speak louder than your degree or job title. A world where what you can do holds more weight than where you studied or the positions you held. This is the essence of the “skills-first” approach that’s becoming the talk of the town in both corporate corridors and government chambers. It’s a paradigm shift, a fresh perspective on talent management that’s redefining the way we view expertise. No longer confined by the traditional molds, this approach zeros in on skills and competencies as the real game-changers. It’s a revelation that holds the promise of transforming economic landscapes and opening doors to a plethora of opportunities. For businesses, it’s a ticket to stronger talent pipelines and a remedy for those pesky skills shortages. For policymakers, a skill first approach can promote economic prosperity and serve as a boom for local communities.
According to World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2023, by 2030, approximately 85 million jobs could go unfilled globally because of a lack of applicants with the skills to take them, which could result in $8.5 trillion in unrealised annual revenues. In this context, a skills-first approach can support organisations in finding and attracting a wide range of hidden talent who might otherwise not even participate in the labour market.
How is skill first approach framework developed?
The world economic forum has created a 5-step process to develop this framework.
- Identify current and future skills needs and gaps and map skills to work tasks.
- Articulate skills need in job descriptions and leverage and recognise innovative skills assessment methods.
- Co-develop and co-deliver skills-based training programmes with industry, learning providers, and government.
- Boost lifelong learning and access to skills-based learning opportunities.
- Create skills-based pathways for development and redeployment.
Organisations need to Embrace a skills-first culture, policies, mindset and adopt a common skill language.
At a country level, a high-level national body providing expert advice and leadership on labour-market trends and current, emerging, and future workforce skills needs can help enable a skills-first culture across the country. This includes establishment of expert bodies such as SkillsFuture in Singapore.
Skill First Approach Program Followed By Global Businesses And Big Economies.
In 2021, HSBC,initiated its own Future Skills campaign of skills-building activities. Using the World Economic Forum’s skills taxonomy, the company implemented an innovative in-house Skills Insights Hub. The hub facilitates to identify existing skills and references them against skills descriptions, showing what skills are needed now and in the future. The Hub supports with gap analysis between current and target skills states and helps measures the progress of ongoing skills interventions. The impact of the solution has been helping them to identify the most prevalent skills in parts of the organisation and the ability to map them to a skills taxonomy.
Moreover, these trends can be split by gender, region, ethnicity, and age. This helps HSBC see how their skill data compares with other companies in the same industry. This way, they can grasp the outside supply and demand for skills. HSBC is also looking into how their human resources department and other business units can benefit from the Skills Insights Hub. This includes strategic learning plans, smart workforce and succession planning, responsible redeployment, fitting rewards, and active retention approaches.
Singapore is embracing a skills-first strategy to ready its workforce for the future. They predict what skills the market will need and encourage citizens to acquire them for better employment and productivity. In parallel, they collaborate with employers to implement skill-based hiring and career development for workers. The SkillsFuture Singapore Agency (SSG) spearheads this effort, orchestrating a national movement. Their goal is to offer lifelong learning chances for Singaporeans, promoting competitiveness through reskilling and upskilling opportunities. SSG equips Singaporeans with resources to map out their own career and learning paths.
Since the introduction of the SkillsFuture Credit, a resource developed by SSG, in 2015, the participation rate for training has increased from 35% in 2015 to 50% in 2022. In 2021, 94% of the surveyed trainees indicated that they could perform better at work after undergoing SSG-funded training.
According to the Bangladesh Bureu of Statistics, the unemployment rate in Bangladesh as of November 2022 was 6.91%. Our GDP is currently at $485.51 billion. In order to increase skill first hiring practises, fresh graduates have to be equipped with both soft skills and hard skills. In the age of globalisation most Bangladeshis haven’t been able to leverage professional networking sites. As per NapoleanCat, social media management and analytics platform, in the month of January 2023, there were around 4.65 crore Facebook users whereas there were only around 18 lakh LinkedIn users. This data showcases that huge proportion of people are unaware of or not using professional networking sites effectively.
In a world brimming with rapid technological advancements and evolving market dynamics, the “skills-first” approach emerges as a beacon of transformative change. As the traditional notions of qualifications and titles are being reshaped, this approach puts the spotlight firmly on what individuals can deliver, their competencies and aptitudes. Bangladesh, with its burgeoning youth population and expanding digital landscape, stands at the threshold of a remarkable opportunity. By fostering a skills-first culture, aligning policies, and emphasising skill language, the nation can harness its untapped potential. With strategic training initiatives and leveraging the power of digital networks, the country can empower its graduates to meet market demands head-on, bridging the gap between education and employment. As the unemployment rate nudges downward and GDP surges upward, embracing a skill-first ethos could be the catalyst that propels Bangladesh into a future marked by prosperity and inclusivity.
Author-Wasiul Hoque
