Digital skills: are we ready for the digitization of employment?

The digitization of employment? . The labour market demands digital skills. That is, workers who master, in addition to other languages ​​or their academic speciality, the essential tools to function fluently in the technological age. We are talking about knowledge about electronic devices, networks, cyber security, communication systems or data analysis.

NEW DIGITAL PROFESSIONALS

Moreover. The workplace robotization as a fundamental extra of the educational program is history. However.  The innovative upheaval is making new callings, and labourers need advanced abilities not to be abandone. The European Center for the Progress of Vocational Training (Cedefop) gauges that 90% of European openings will soon require computerized information.

The most recent report from the European Commission, International Digital Economy and Society Index (I-DESI 2018), shows that 80.5% of Australians, 80.2% of Icelanders and 79.3% of New Zealanders have advanced abilities. This makes them the three most evolved nations on the planet, trailed by South Korea with 75.6%. At the base are China, with 40.5%, and Brazil, with 39.2%. Here. The United States comes to 56%, and the European Union has 58% of residents with advanced abilities.

WHAT ARE DIGITAL COMPETENCIES, AND WHAT ARE THEY FOR?

However. Digital skills are not just about erudition and developing technology skills. They also imply acquiring knowledge, values, attitudes, regulations and ethics about ICTs to get the most out of them. In addition, they contemplate the reflection and responsible use of the data obtained through their service.

In the workplace, there is a close connection between the lack of digital skills and the difficulty in finding a job: digitization enhances our personal and professional skills, giving us more options to get a job.

Digital skills allow us to:

• Optimize times and costs. This would mean delivering projects within the deadlines and quality parameters established in advance, respecting the budget and the original requirements.
• Understand the interactive potential of electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets or laptops, incorporating new digital routines into our professional work.
• Print speed to reflection, creativity and innovation. Digital skills use technological tools that accelerate innovation and make us more productive, flexible, and capable of reacting and anticipating unforeseen events.
• Manage corporate digital identity with meaning. Digitization provides us with knowledge, business intelligence and competitor analysis, giving us criteria to move information and help brand positioning.
• Improve work effectiveness and efficiency. Digital skills help our effort as a team without relying on a physical space. Electronic devices and media foster coordination and collaborative environments.

THE MOST DEMANDED DIGITAL SKILLS

·         cybersecurity

Although computer security is a multifaceted field, we should have at least basic notions.

·         Customer Support

Companies value the mastery of third-party support tools, such as CRMs or social networks.

·         Marketing

Knowing how to sell and accomplish the contents of a blog is another of the most valued digital skills.

·         Social networks

It is not adequate to upload photos and post. We should learn how to build a strategy on Twitter, Facebook, etc.

·         Digital image and video editing

Editing and offering valuable content through infographics or tutorials will always be highly valued.

·         Cloud technology and electronic commerce

Getting around with tools in the cloud or knowing something about e-commerce is already essential in many companies.

·         Specific software

Controlling data analysis or business management programs will give us many points to find work.

·         web positioning

Recognize how a search engine works so that our content is among the first results.

DIGITIZATION, A NEW IMPULSE FOR EQUALITY

However. UNESCO focused its 2018 Mobile Learning Week in Paris on the importance of digital skills as drivers of social inclusion. The inequalities in this matter are evident in this international organization, which denounces discrimination in access to technological knowledge worldwide for socioeconomic, racial, educational and gender reasons.

Some NGOs, such as Plan International, which watches over children’s rights and gender equality, claimed in 2017 that girls were five times less likely than boys to study a technological career. According to this organization. Africa was then an unequal continent in the world in digital gender issues, with a gap of 23% compared to 2% in America.

On account of Europe, the Eurostat organization distributed information from 2017 where the computerized partition by orientation can likewise see. While 60% of Europeans in the range of 16 and 74 dominated essential advanced abilities, European ladies of a similar age stayed at 55%.

Innovation ought not to be a justification for prohibition yet rather a device to enable us, assisting us with conquering misfortune and finding new open doors. Training in mechanical abilities is, for sure, the ideal way to beat this test. Digitization isn’t in conflict with social and financial advances. And it ought to bring a thriving social balance and, eventually, a more severe economy.