HERALD: How do you find the competence of the average young Goan job seeker?
DURGUESH PAI ANGLE: An average Goan jobseeker has the basic competencies required to take up job opportunities.
HERALD: What are the challenges for a job seeker in the market today?
DA: A job seeker should have:
n Clarity of thought in choosing their career.
n Relevant job market information.
n Knowledge of the latest tech (as most of the syllabus in colleges is outdated).
n Awareness of basic behav
ioral competencies.
HERALD: How important is personal branding in such a scenario?
DA: The economic development and prosperity of India has provided both benefits and challenges to the employees in the current employment climate. The benefits include multiplicity of career options and growth opportunities. The flip-side being the intensity and scale of competition from fellow employees in the existing organisations and from external candidates.
It goes unsaid that technical and soft-skills are mandatory perquisites for hiring of candidates. These skills can help a candidate get short-listed for screening process for a job opportunity, but may not help in ensuring success. The differentiating/success factor is the personal brand. Developing, maintaining and leveraging of personal brand have assumed as great an importance as ones’ technical knowledge today, if not more.
Also, what is of utmost importance is the perception of your brand by others. Cultivating a personal brand is not a luxury but a necessity in today’s environment for an individual to be successful both personally and professionally. Creating a strong personal brand for yourself establishes you as a natural leader and opens doors.
HERALD: Competence is important but working in a team is a skill not many are really proficient at, how do you inculcate it in individuals?
DA: It has become imperative for organisations to focus on their people practices and people management. People management is no longer the exclusive domain or the responsibility of HR professionals, but that of all the employees (supervisors/team leaders/managers) who are leading people in their organisations. The components of PMS include clear communication, inspiring and motivating team members, coaching and developing and rewarding for efforts. No people manager can claim to be perfect on these 4 dimensions and it is continuous journey of self-discovery and development through the life for all people managers. It calls for sustained effort and learning to enhance the people management skills.
HERALD: What are the skill sets required in the candidate of tomorrow given the rapidly evolving technology and the possibility of several jobs disappearing?
DA: Transactional, administrative and repetitive jobs will no longer exist as it will be taken over by technology or robotics. There will be a rise of smart machines and systems and we will have a globally connected world with Superstructed organisations. The importance of smartphones in our lives is a classic example of this shift. Some of the skills and mindsets young people absolutely need in order to meet the future jobs are:
n Agility and adaptability in a VUCA world
n Novel and adaptive thinking: Proficiency at thinking and coming up with solutions and responses beyond that which is rote or rule-based
n Cognitive load management: Ability to discriminate and filter information for importance, and to understand how to maximize cognitive functions
n Virtual collaboration: Ability to work productively, drive engagement, and demonstrate presence as a member of a virtual team
n Social Intelligence: Ability to connect to others in a deep and direct way, to sense and stimulate reactions and desired interactions.
n Cross cultural competency: Ability to operate in different cultural settings with Literacy in and ability to understand concepts across multiple disciplines.
