Automation, FinTech and ecom to create jobs in 2018

The debate on challenges to get a job versus retention of the same continues, re-skilling is the buzz word as it is imperative to job retention or moving up the ladder. Even the outlook to jobs has changed, it is no more 'job for life', it is 'job for a career', so obviously the catalyst is learning, exposure, money, perks and benefits.  

Jobs are changing, and it has been witnessed in the past as well. The study of changing scenarios clearly depicts that in every decade or at the end of every decade, there is a change in every job sector, and the one who is adaptable to the needs of the industry will survive. Technology will play a major role; in fact, it is going to dominate the nature of jobs available in the future and thus the nature of jobs will change in 2018 and days ahead. For example, sectors like e-commerce and manufacturing will also move to automation.  

As per the Government of Karnataka, there are more jobs opening up in the technology space for techies with the right skills and those who can adapt to newer skills.

The state capital, which presently generates one third of India's  technology  and startup jobs, is seeing more global firms set up centres or expand capacity as they look for talent in areas of analytics, Big Data and cloud computing, even local firms which have had adoption of automation, to deliver traditional services are   expanding teams in newer areas, thus creating opportunities for job seekers.  

Needless to say, the change in job scenario is all across, for example, customer support, with the shift to automation wherein, only escalated customer queries will be attended by a human officer. Those in customer service profiles will have to stay abreast of the latest technology. They must know how to manage technology from a higher end. The skill sets required for customer services will be different. A lot of companies are already using data analytics to track consumer behaviour. Having said that as rural banking is very different from urban banking, not all jobs will demand an immediate makeover of skill sets. GST reforms will have a major say in creating more jobs, for instance, sectors like automobile, logistics, retail, e-commerce, media and entertainment, and cement, which are benefited by GST, will see 11-18% increase in hiring. The IT & ITeS sector will see 10-12.5% boost in hiring. Consumer durables, pharmaceuticals and telecommunications will create 10-13%  more jobs. Artificial intelligence will create more jobs globally.

Tech adoption in Gurukul  

Colleges have to bring changes in their curriculum, make it relevant to industry demands, else following curriculum, which is in isolation of industry requirements will not help young minds and talents.

This is one of the prime reasons why top companies are hiring from Tier-I institutes only, very evident that these institutes collaborate with the industry and design and teach the curriculum best suited for a job seeker.

Curriculum needs to have long-sighted plans, with ingredients of tech-savviness, exposure to industry practices, and also promote entrepreneurship.  

In terms of other industries, construction and engineering have recorded a growth of 46% in hiring in November 2017 over the same period last year, indicating signs of recovery in the job market. With GST in place and move from informal to formal segments, this industry is likely to create an increase of 10-12% more jobs in the same sector and allied sectors.  

It is quite obvious that there will be 20% increase in jobs in the contractual space as well. These would be opportunities for job seekers who would like to get a head start on their careers, and as today's mantra is a job for a career, adoption to fixed-term contractual jobs, which impart learning and also infuses confidence and awareness with the corporate world will be high in 2018 and the years to come.

GST has been an advantage in the true sense as formal segmentation will create more jobs and largely in fixed-term contracts space, thus jobs which had been informal will transform into ones with social security and benefits, having all regulations in place.

An analysis of November 2017 vs November 2016, gives one some confidence about the good times ahead in 2018, and with the right mindset to re-skill and openness to adapt, we look to have good times ahead.

The Indian IT Industry will create approximately two lakh jobs in 2018 and this is primarily due to the increased and planned investments in areas and fields of automation and digitisation. In sections like mobile solutions and manufacturing (using AI) and FinTech, there will be a need to have 18-20% additional staff and these requirements will be across entry level, sub-to mid-level and mid-levels.

As per the TeamLease Outlook report, as India is heading towards Digital India, the industry requires 50% more workforce equipped with digital skills, the opportunities in digital technology include government initiatives, artificial intelligence and robotics. Modern cloud-based applications and frameworks that offer scalability and inter-operability will see a huge demand for re-skilling in 2018.  

E-commerce, Payments Banks, logistics and hospitality sectors will easily see an additional need of approximately 50,000 staff in the first 6-7 months of 2018, and these would be in the mixed gamut of permanent jobs and also fixed term contract
.  

(The writer is Assistant Vice President, TeamLease Services)