Since the Covid-19 Pandemic began some 16 months ago, more than 190 million cases have been recorded globally and more than four million lives have been lost. This number continues to increase daily.
As a direct result, traditional industries are suffering from a lack of sales, that is in turn directly linked to job losses. Retailers have been forced to lay off many employees in recent months as sales have declined. The Leisure and Hospitality Sector in Sri Lanka is reeling with many hotels closed for business.
Job Losses Are Trending
Here is an understatement: The Covid-19 Pandemic has led to a great deal of job losses. This Pandemic has affected over 8% of the world’s population and continues to escalate.
During this Pandemic, many people are going to be displaced from their current occupations. Those who best manage to adapt to these changes will be able to help others in their stead. The rate of unemployment in Sri Lanka by the end of 2020 had reached a dismal 5%. Sri Lanka has been hit hard by this Pandemic, and this is also an understatement.
Different analysts have tried to answer the burning question of ‘Whether your current job will be present in 5 years time?’ by forecasting how the demand for certain industries will grow in the next decade.
These forecasts include rapid growth in jobs for Expert Tutors, Virtual Assistants, and in fields like Artificial Intelligence and App Development. Other jobs like Data Analysts and Digital Marketers also have a place in the galaxy of employment opportunities.
Artificial Intelligence is the Future
According to the International Labour Organization, current projections are that the global crisis-induced ‘jobs gap’ will reach 75 million in 2021, before falling to 23 million in 2022. Time will tell if these numbers will increase or decrease due to the continued resurgence of the Covid-19 Pandemic.
While reports state that we’ll soon see a ‘robotic revolution’ and many jobs will become automated, others argue that such an outcome is unlikely because of how our society functions. Regardless, it’s important to be aware of what jobs may be around in five years and start preparing now. The advent of Artificial Intelligence and Technology is here and will become the future.
This is not all. We are living in a highly connected world. According to Statista, a company specializing in market and consumer data, the current number of smartphone users in the world as of 2021 today stands at 3.8 Billion, and this means 48.20% of the world’s population owns a smartphone.
Expand Your Skills
With this in mind, we can safely say that the existing workforce will need to become increasingly digital to advance in an ever-changing world where digital skill sets are bound to get you ahead.
This is a shift we need to embrace. While technologies evolve constantly, it is important for you to prepare now for the future, so that in five years, your skills are still relevant, making you highly employable.
The result of these shifts and changes will be opportunities for people who can grow and thrive alongside them. While this may seem like a far-off possibility, you should start thinking about what will be relevant for you across the next five years or even beyond.
If you are a millennial, the main aspiration that you should have is to expand your skill set. Consider a skill set that makes you well-versed in Mobile Development, Virtual Reality or Game Development as these are a handful of the career growth areas we can identify as prospering in the future.
Another option would be to consider a qualification in Computer Science or one of the more popular Development Platforms such as Flutter or React Native. You need to be prepared for the future and invest in skills that will be relevant for Jobs in Sri Lanka.
In addition to this, you should learn about virtual reality (VR) and how it is being used with games, education and training. VR has received a great deal of attention over the past year, including how it can be used in healthcare.
This is what will give you the ability to do work that goes beyond just a paycheck. What many people will need would be the services of experts and you should acquire the required skills to position yourself as one.
Find Your Dream Job
DreamJobs.lk by Elegant Media is Sri Lanka’s leading destination to find the most suitable and matching jobs and vacancies, recently announced its acquisition of two popular job hunting websites, as part of its aggressive expansion to better cater to the growing and fast-evolving technology-driven job market; at the same time, strengthening its status as Sri Lanka’s largest online job-hunting portal and recruitment platform.
DreamJobs.lk has a database of over 300,000 registered job seekers, each with a specific skill set and in addition, partners with over 2,500 employers in order to showcase the best jobs for the best talent; making it the natural choice for job seekers of all backgrounds.
