Train for jobs in the new economy

Robert Leslie Fielding identifies the skills needed for today's workplace

The speed of change in the economy is too fast for some organisations, and too fast for most of our educational programmes.

According to the www.dest.gov.au:
‘The new economy - strong growth in the service sector, increased levels of productivity growth and globalised markets - means that the nature of work is different from the past.

"The diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICT) has changed the ways firms do business and create value; it has increased the flexibility of capital goods, making capital investment more productive and encouraging firms to substitute capital for labour.

"This trend contributes to the globalisation of markets and has changed the nature of work and has implications for workers' education and training.'
Who benefits from changes in education and training?

Education and training help improve employee job performance and the quality of goods and services firms offer.

Individuals who take advantage of training get higher wages and increase their chances of promotion. It makes sense to upgrade your skills and change.

Action-planning

To face changes in the workplace, you need to be pro-active, you need to initiate change right now.

Ask yourself three questions:

• Where am I now? Deciding where you are now requires honesty and courage. Realising that you are not anywhere near your personal frontiers can be a shock. Be prepared to be shocked. If you are prepared, it won't come as too much of a shock, but you may need something to jolt you out of your complacency.
  
• Where do I want to be? Again, honesty, self-awareness versus romantic notions and idealistic ambitions. Those last two are not completely useless. Dreams can and do lead to fulfillment in life.
  
• How do I get there? Take advice from those who are there to assist you; from those who have done it, and from those who have your very best interests at heart. Listen, listen, listen.

You need a roadmap

• Organise your time effectively. Time is always at a premium. Keep notes, diaries, anything that works for you to manage your time more effectively. Be brutal with your time, but leave yourself some quality time for those personal things that matter, friendship and family, that will sustain you when you most need it.
  
• Identify steps needed to reach your goal. Be informed. Be careful cutting corners. Be constantly aware of consequences.
  
• Prepare ‘just in case' plans. In case things don't work out. Keep to your main plan, but recognise failure too. The tragedy of failing is failing to know you've failed or are about to fail.
  
• Monitor and evaluate your progress. Watching your progress carefully will help you avoid failing to recognise that you are not succeeding along the lines you planned.

The most important thing is: Don't stand still, everyone else is moving.

In 1997, the Dearing Enquiry in the UK recommended that students receive structured opportunities to become:

• More aware of themselves. Know your strengths and your weaknesses. Listen to others, and listen to your own instincts; they are often the most reliable facets in knowing yourself.
  
• More aware of how to learn. Self-reflection in all things, particularly in learning. Knowing what doesn't work for you is equally important as knowing what does.
  
• More aware of how to improve personal performance. Set yourself standards. Be proud of your attainments and your successes. They are worth as much as gold in the world you want to be a part of.
  
• Better able to cope with the transition to their chosen careers. All change, even change for the better, even voluntary change is stressful and can sometimes threaten your sense of worth, of who you are and of what you want to become.

If companies don't get the workers they seek, they will:

• Go somewhere else to get them. If companies go abroad for workers, or relocate entirely, those jobs will be lost to the economy forever
  
• Do without them. So, some companies will do without the right kind of worker with the right kind of skills. Some will go out of business because they do not have workers with those skills.
  
• Have to train people themselves. Training their own workforce is a possibility, but could be too expensive for some.
  
• Get other organisations to train people for them. This can also prove too costly for many firms.

Training needs to take into account that the workplace and what goes on in it have changed.

"In industries where a large proportion of the production process has been computerised, workers need a broader underpinning knowledge to effectively manage the production process, and the capacity to solve problems of a diverse nature."

Source: www.dest.gov.au

Change is the only thing that you can depend upon. Work changes, and then everything else has to.

• "Basic clerical skills and basic computer skills appear to be a minimum requirement for most jobs."
  
• "Workers need the capacity to learn about new products and processes as they are introduced."
  
• Communication skills are increasingly valued in all occupations due to the increased complexity of interactions between workers and suppliers, colleagues and clients."

Research has found that small businesses want:

• Entrepreneurial attitude. This is a major change in thinking. Traditionally, people leaving school or university expect companies to employ them in ways that the company determines. This is still true, but employees now have to think as if it was their own business, take risks and create wealth.
  
• Capacity to identify and exploit employment and wealth possibilities. Again, instead of looking at the business world as a given, workers are expected to think laterally, creatively and in ways that often overturn norms and values.
  
• An ongoing capacity for learning. The idea that you stop learning when you leave school or graduate has long gone. Everyone in an organisation is faced with continual change and has to adapt or will become redundant.

Large businesses want:

• Skills in oral and written communication. Channels include email, fax, phone, video-interviewing, presentations, face-to-face dialogue, and reports.
  
• Skills in interpersonal relations. Informal/formal communications require different skills; cooperation and congeniality, firmness and warmth are the new watchwords.
  
• Numeracy. Every business has the need for skills in mathematics, accounting and all forms of numerical data.
  
• Economic literacy. Being aware of economic best practices, the financial constraints linked with capital ventures is paramount in the ‘new economy'.
  
• Understanding of cultural values. The world is a village, cross-cultural exchanges are much more common and tact and understanding are top priorities for companies operating in global markets.
  
• Worldliness. Being ‘street-wise' has found respectability in trade and industry. A knowledge of how the world turns is vital.
  
• The ability to apply knowledge. Merely knowing is not enough: Being able to adapt and apply knowledge to changing and changed circumstances is at a premium.
  
• Ability to recognise, accept and constantly seek opportunities for change. Opportunities don't necessarily prese