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accelerating skilling and reskilling in the U.K. with brightfit

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accelerating skilling and reskilling in the U.K. with brightfit
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Over 1 billion. That’s how many jobs worldwide are likely to be transformed by technology by 2030, according to OECD estimates. That represents around one-third of all jobs in existence, and it is clear that we are in the midst of a major reskilling emergency. 

The scale of the problem is bigger than any workforce migration we’ve seen before in human history. New job creation has been in abundance in recent years, and the World Economic Forum estimated in 2018 that by this year, 133 million new jobs in major economies would be created to meet the demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. There’s a definite cost to no action here. The failure to meet the skills demands of the new technological era could put at risk $11.5 trillion in potential GDP growth across the G20 countries alone over the next decade. With the expected toll on humans infinitely worse.

The COVID-19 pandemic aside, we’ve just experienced The Great Resignation, and most global unemployment figures are at all-time lows or incredibly close to them. Something has to change on a fundamentally colossal scale. 

The growing skills gaps across industries in recent years has led many organizations to reconsider their human capital strategies. Nearly half of all businesses increased their learning and development budgets this year compared to 2021. Many more are expected to increase their budgets for learning and development to address this challenge. In fact, Randstad Sourceright’s 2022 Talent Trends survey of human capital and C-suite leaders finds that 75% believe reskilling and upskilling employees is an effective way to address talent scarcity. 

A ‘Bright’ Light Ahead

Last year, Randstad RiseSmart launched a career navigation and intelligence platform called BrightFit™. There was a growing need for more effective ways to drive workforce agility while supporting an individual’s long-term employability. BrightFit can easily help sense-check if someone going through a layoff needs to upskill or consider a career change to ensure they have a job that will still be required in a few years. 

Previously BrightFit has been likened to a GPS or satellite navigation system, and with good reason. If you’re setting out on a car journey to somewhere you’ve never been before, you plan the road ahead. You gather as many data points as possible and find the best way to navigate your chosen destination. Careers are no different. Who wouldn't want to compare your interests in a role with how healthy the market outlook is for it, before committing the energy, investment and time to it? This level of upfront planning is fundamental to achieving the career move you value.

From a coaching perspective, BrightFit raises the quality of coaching and, specifically, the coaching conversation. Let's face it, behavioural assessments can only get you so far. Armed with BrightFit insights, coaches can now ask more challenging questions, enriching the coach/participant conversation, which in turn will lead to better outcomes and a more fruitful career. 

The Skilling Solution for U.K. Businesses 

The world of work is transforming at a pace none of us have ever seen. As a worker, if you aren’t able to adapt, grow, and apply new skills and innovative ideas, your odds of success at an organisation worsen.

Against a backdrop of a possible economic downturn, now is the time for employers to foster a resilient and adaptive workforce by doubling down on talent experience, retention, and reskilling. Finding opportunities to develop adjacent and transferable skills for new and in-demand roles will prove a critical means for overcoming talent scarcity.

With this in mind, I’m excited to reveal that today we are bringing the BrightFit career navigation and intelligence service to customers in the United Kingdom. Using local U.K. data to provide current and future insights, Randstad RiseSmart BrightFit™ helps current employees and those impacted by workforce restructuring explore roles with a bright market outlook, uncover their skills gaps, and identify courses to take their skills to the next level. BrightFit’s algorithms analyse real-time labour market data from more than 40,000 sources and over 17,000 associated skills to yield a unique combination of scores that guide individuals to careers with a bright market outlook and a good skills fit.

Job skills gaps and scarcity will always be a challenge for most organisations, but equipped with the right insights and a well-crafted talent strategy, you can build a resilient and adaptive workforce for any contingency in the year ahead.

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