Image Source: Pixabay

In today’s world, the skills gap across all industries is quickly widening. This is a result of rapid advances in technology, with innovation and disruption happening at a much faster pace than ever before. Technological advances like AI are changing the very nature of jobs, redefining the skills needed to complete work.

 

In fact, the World Economic Forum believes that by 2022, at least 133 million new roles will be generated as the result of “the new division of labor between humans, machines, and algorithms.” Considering the rise of the digital age, digital skills are more important today than they were in previous years.

 

Unfortunately, technology seems to be moving at a faster rate than professional digital education, and with education unable to keep up, the digital skills gap keeps increasing. What does this growing digital skills gap mean for college students? Let’s take a look:

Staying Relevant Is a Priority

Since technology is constantly changing, it’s essential for students to stay current. While a certain set of digital skills might enable you to land a job, a stagnant set of skills are by no means enough to ensure continued job security. In a time where required digital skills are so dynamic, staying relevant is the only way to guarantee job security.

 

But how can you stay relevant? The following advice may help:

Keeping Your Eyes Open in the Consumer Space

Since a lot of innovation is happening in the consumer space around smartphones, cloud-oriented devices, connected cars, and so on, it’s wise to keep up to date with consumer tech developments. In fact, a lot of enterprise technology started off in the consumer space, so ignoring this space could prove to be a grave mistake.

Reading and Researching

The web is filled with resources about emerging technologies, including blogs, news sites, and e-books about tech disruptions. Even if reading about technology every day is too overwhelming, it is worth skimming the headlines to stay current. You should also pay attention to futurists who speculate about where technology is headed.

Looking Beyond Your Department or Industry

Identify organizations in your area that are adopting new technology, even if they lie outside industries you are familiar with. Today, fields like healthcare, marketing, cybersecurity, and retail are all in dire need of individuals with data science skills. What this shows is that no industry has been untouched by digital transformation. Every industry acts as an opportunity for you to learn and stay ahead of the curve when it comes to digital skills.

Going Beyond a Specific Skill Set

Today, being skilled with technology is great, but it alone isn’t enough to help you progress in your career. As stated in an article by Ohio University, “While AI adoption is high in digitized sectors — with high tech and telecommunications leading the way … the lack of understanding of business intelligence versus advanced analytics is another gap to fill.”

 

Because technology is ever-changing, companies are looking to fill the gaps with business intelligence professionals who can help them make smart decisions now and into the future. You need to be able to adapt your digital skills so that they can be used in a variety of ways to benefit a business. From using analytics for decision-making to using AI to simplify operational processes, it is key that your skills, digital or otherwise, are flexible and transferable.

 

Additionally, you will also need to be able to integrate digitization with humanity. While the demand for technical skills is massive, there is also a demand for human skills. Considering that personalization is the key to engagement in any industry, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. Our world is now oversaturated with information, and businesses in every industry struggle to stay relatable and personable within the digital experience. Thus, to succeed, businesses are increasingly focusing on personalization in every step of the customer journey.

 

Consider the example of Spotify— a brand that has managed to strike the perfect balance between technology and personalized attention. On Spotify, listeners are able to browse curated playlists based on artist preferences and browsing history, with personalized suggestions in regards to bands and shows in the area that the listener might likely to enjoy.

 

With more and more strategies like these becoming commonplace in businesses, you need to be able to leverage your digital skills to mimic human behavior to stay competitive. In essence, you should also be able to create a “human” experience within the digital realm. The ability to contextually use your ever-evolving digital skills is a requisite for career growth.

 

While the digital skills gap means easier access to jobs for students with applicable skills and degrees, its implications beyond the requirements needed to simply get a job should not be overlooked. As new roles and skills continue to emerge and evolve, there will not be enough skilled workers to meet demand. However, due to the quick pace of technological evolution, even those individuals with digital skills will soon find themselves in a position where their skills are obsolete.

 

To combat this, it is integral that graduating students brace themselves for a professional life that demands continuous learning. In the digital age of today, the only way to ensure continued growth is to stay relevant through continued professional development.