Hybrid Skills: A shift in the Recruitment Landscape

By Clive Mutame Siachiyako

In what others summed as “death of the degreed world,” Enerst & Young recently announced that it will no longer consider degrees when assessing employees in preference to hybrid skills over academic credentials. Precisely, the industry is looking for someone who can view opportunities, challenges, and problems through multiple perspectives. In short, it is looking for the hybrid employee to fill the growing demand for hybrid jobs.

Hybrid jobs are accordingly among the fastest growing and best careers in today’s job market; leading to more than 250,000 position openings in the last year alone. Probably if you have looked for a new job lately, you could have noticed what is happening in the job market: being good at just one thing is no longer enough.

Whereas in the past a specialised skillset could land you your dream job, today’s employers are looking for more. They are looking for multi-faceted and multi-skilled employees that can combine technical skills such as programming or presentation savvy with “offline skills” such as analysis, design, communication, or marketing.

Enerst & Young hopes that the new recruitment setting would “open up opportunities for talented individuals regardless of their background and provide greater access to the profession.” The company said it had made the decision to change the application rules for its graduate, undergraduate and school-leaver programmes after an independent study rated its in-house assessment programme and numeracy tests as “a robust and reliable indicator of a candidate’s potential to succeed”.

The shift adds fever to training providers and job seekers. Questions on what has gone wrong, what should be done and how can graduates be remade relevant to the industry are on a buildup. Job seekers are scratching their heads on why they cannot grab their dream jobs, the education system worrying about means to narrow the mismatch gap while the industry wants things to happen to sustain economies viably. Some universities have welcomed the shift as they see it a ‘reminder’ that training of yesterday and today needs apt position tomorrows’ industry requirements.

So if you are looking for your dream job; one that can challenge and inspire you, then it is time to get your hybrid skills on. Pick and harness new skills from an array be it in technical, vocational education and training, social entrepreneurship, or information technology windows for your upturn in the industry.

But first, what is a hybrid job?

A hybrid job is one that requires many skills and roles, such as technology and people skills, to effectively get the job done. According to a 2016 Bentley report, for many industries, specialty skills that were once separate from each other, and jobs that two or even three people in different departments used to do, are now being combined into one role. For example, one of the most in-demand professions today, Product Management, is the ultimate hybrid job, requiring product, technology and business skills. The same is true for Growth Hacking, Community Management, and other in-demand positions. Green jobs equally have a plethora of skills requisites that can place you well in the industry.

In addition, the report shows that some previously popular jobs are in decline as their once-innovative skills have become mainstream and integrated into other roles. For example, postings for social media strategists have fallen 64 percent in the last five years, even as the skill of social media strategy has risen sharply in human resource jobs (up 376 percent), sales jobs (up 150 percent), and marketing and public relations jobs (up 117 percent).

Whereas there is a need to get the young population skilled and ready for employment as soon as possible; a concern emerges: are those skills necessarily academic? With all industries experiencing some form of disruption, hybrid skills are becoming a premium driver. Digitisation for instance continues to collapse the traditional value chain of each industry. As a result, the operating systems and business models of companies are changing rapidly out of necessity.  As these companies pivot and adapt their business models, it has become clear that completely different skills sets are now required to run these new, agile businesses. Job seekers too have to gear-up and get counted by up-skilling for value.

And what are hybrid skills good for?

In today’s world, job security does not come from relying only on your boss to tell you what you need to do. Job security comes from knowing yourself, your strengths and weaknesses, and especially the skills that will give you the added value to get and stay ahead of the game.

Therefore, building a hybrid skillset is so important because these skills can potentially offer more job security. Acquiring diverse skills enables you to be versatile enough to embrace change and new challenges. This kind of professional flexibility results in a worker getting more opportunities in a constantly changing job environment. Moreover, building up your hybrid skills enables you make more deliberate and mindful decisions about your professional life.

We all know by now that millennials are looking for jobs that bring them meaning – more than 50% of millennials say they would take a pay cut to find work that matches their values, while 90% want to use their skills for good. By developing the right skills you can position yourself at an advantageous place to get those meaningful jobs.

Realistically, even though you have a job right now, it does not mean it is going to look the same 10 years from now. Even more importantly, developing more well-rounded skillset brings you value. You can look at problems more creatively and communicate and collaborate more effectively with diverse teams. And filling multiple roles can help you ward off boredom – more skills usually mean more interesting and varied tasks to accomplish. Indeed, one of the key denominators across people who innovate and stand out is that they take the time to cultivate multiple skills.

Recruiters have long complained that degree scores fail to give employers a true picture of a candidate’s potential. What Enerst & Young is pre-empting thus is the widening skills gap that digitised or disrupted businesses now need to fill. Disrupted businesses have complex problems to solve and that requires hybrid skills with an emphasis on soft skills: communication, leadership, ownership and teamwork. The most needed, but also the most lacking, are critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Academic qualifications do not necessarily produce these skills.

So, why are degrees being valued less?

Firstly, in terms of scarcity, degrees have become more common, therefore less valuable in economic terms. Secondly, degrees cost more today, but are worth less. Debt repayments [for education loans] versus future income simply do not add up. Thirdly, modern businesses do not consider degrees essential any more, hence the concern that the students are fighting in the wrong trenches.

Obviously there are many professions that still require traditional academic studies, but overall, the skills needed for future jobs and new templates of business point towards multiple and varied short courses (for example, coding or user experience design), internships and on-the-job learning.

What has happened now is that as more people with degrees fail to find employment, they eventually accept lower-skilled jobs. The less educated or unskilled are then pushed further down the labour market. In some cases, they are pushed out altogether.

So now what? How do you build the skills to future-proof your career?

The main takeaway is that it is no longer about career obtainable using degrees.  Careers are dynamic, they ebb and flow over time as technology advances; thus we have to fit into the industry. To get the job you want you need to think about skills. You need to think broadly about the types of skills you have and the types of skills you need to develop to help you stand out.

Labour market research shows that having two specialties at the intersection of two fields is a plus for job-seekers. If you are in a technical profession, focus on acquiring marketing and business skills. If you are on the creative side, consider analytics. The company you are applying to is going to look for both sets of skills. To build up your skills consider taking online courses or signing up for in-person short and long-term courses in marketing, programming, product and more. 

Be mindful that people and talent issues are now widely recognised as critical to business or organisational success. Monumental demographic shifts, entry into new and emerging markets, virtual and globally mobile workforces, and ever-changing risks are forcing companies to take bold, definitive action to improve how their human resource supports the business.

References

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/ [Accessed: 10/10/16]

http://www.bentley.edu/ [Accessed: 10/10/16]

http://www.news24.com/ [Accessed: 10/10/16]

African Pastors: Building Empires in the Midst of Extreme Poverty

By  Hope Obamwonyi 

The issue of wealth and people’s response to it has created a clear divide in the body of Christ. While some preachers believe that God’s ultimate plan for His children is to prosper in this world and live eternally with Him in heaven quoting ‘I wish above all things that thou prosper …’ Others disagree and claim true followers of God should not focus on amassing the material possessions of this world especially when others around them suffer.

MONEY MONEY MONEY

Although Africa is home to some of the poorest and most religious countries in the world, it may seem a bit contradictory to note that she is home to the richest pastors in the world. According to naija.com, a Nigerian blog, five African pastors were listed among the wealthiest men of God in the world alongside Bishop TD Jakes, William Graham, Creflo Dollar and a host of them. From Nigeria, Bishop Oyedepo sits at the second position with a net worth of $150 million and other private properties. Pastor E.A Adeboye  was also listed in an African magazine, NEWSWEEK, as the most powerful man in Africa and one of the top 50 global power elites in 2008/2009, among others such as President Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy.

Forbes evaluation was recently released to indicate that the richest pastors in Africa are from Nigeria with Bishop Oyedepo at First position having a net worth of  $150 million while Chris Oyakilome is worth $50 million , T.B Joshua sits in third position with $15 million while Chris Okotie and Matthew Asimilowo stands at $10 each.

It has been revealed that some of these pastors have private investments in form of privately owned universities, houses, schools and businesses which helps to finance their first class lifestyle. However, a majority are believed to live on church funds gotten from the pocket of members.

FEEDING OR FLEECING THE FLOCK

It is commonplace in Africa for pastors to own mega churches, fleet of cars, private jets and properties all over the world while a majority of their members can barely feed on a daily basis. Criticism levelled from different quarters all leverage on the vulnerability and gullibility of church goers who use their hard-earned money to enrich their pastors, even at their detriment. In an article, poor blacks’ rich pastors, Seth Dunn elaborated on the plight of the average black church goer. He stated sadly that the wealthiest pastors in the world are blacks pastoring black poor people.

‘It is not uncommon for pastors in majority black churches to have perks such as automobile and clothing allowances. In fact, it is sometimes necessary for black pastors to have such allowance. Many black congregations expect their preachers to appear exceedingly prosperous. After all, who is going to take seriously a sermon about God’s material blessings given by a man with no gold watch, no fine suit, and no Cadillac? Absolutely no one.’

It is argued that Africans are too gullible and would turn to anything that appeals to them. While this argument is unsubstantial, most African church goers engage in different financial church commitments in form of ‘seed sowing’ which in turn often times goes to the pocket of their pastors.

Africa has mega churches with magnificent structures sited in the midst of abject poverty. These structures are often projects sponsored by the church members. Often times, a 1km walk from the church premises may leave one in utter dismay as to how much poverty is lurking around. These churches exude so much wealth while the reality of the professed ‘kingdom riches’ is hardly experiential in the life of the average church goer.

According to Alllafrica, Malawian, South Africa-based Pastor Hastings Salanje said pastors need to be rich because the congregation have to pay them for pouring unto them blessings they seek from God. “You see, we men of God are rich just because people pay us for giving them blessings” Salanje told Capital Radio in the Straight Talk.

The pastor’s son who goes by the name Iam Salanje posted a picture of his father’s luxurious cars on a convoy. He wrote “My dad’s convoy, I swear you would think he is a president” ‪#‎livinglife‪#‎richpastorsofSA ‪#‎salanjeanointing ‪#‎presidential “

Critics seem to be in dismay stating firmly that the tenets of Christ whom they serve preach modesty and self-denial. They call it a case of fleecing the flock instead of feeding them on the part of the ‘prosperity preachers’.

A Forbes contributor Mfonobong Nsehe summarized it when he stated that:

“Pastors are no longer solely interested in getting people to Heaven; they’ve devised intelligent ways to make good money while reaching out to souls.”

SHOULD ACCOUNTABILITY BE DEMANDED?

While most non-governmental and religious bodies are accountable to their members or boards of directors, most churches in Africa are privately owned. This automatically narrows down the chances of accountability & efficiency of accountability on the part of pastors. Most of them do not publish financial reports and earnings of their churches at the end of each year neither are they required to do so by their members.

Some say Africans have become so subservient because they are often reprimanded saying ‘judge not…’ but again it is instructive to note that apostle Paul in one of his many letters  called on believers to be the first to judge themselves. Some even believe that asking too many questions condemns them to hell, hence, they refuse to demand accountability even if they have substantial evidence that their church leaders are living flamboyant lifestyles off them. They are made to believe that pastors are accountable to no one else but God.

IT WASNT … FROM THE BEGINNING

A cross reference through the bible reveals the simplicity and modesty with which the early followers of Christ lived. In one of the books of the bible, a rich man was admonished by Christ to sell his property and distribute it to the poor; this left the rich man sorrowing seeing he had great wealth.

The early church preached communal living where everyone had a common purse and everything was distributed according to need such that no one lacked for nothing. This however does not eliminate the fact that there were rich and poor people in the early church, the general principle was for everyone to share what he has in such a way that no one is lacking.

THE ISSUE AT STAKE

The issue of uneven wealth distribution is not like biological differences which one can do little or nothing about. According to Seth Dunn the Christian faith is a call to service. It is commonly argued among critics that if African pastors unite to use their wealth to enrich Africa, this could serve as a major means of transformation. There is so much financial  resource in the hands of a few. This has made people call the faith an adulterated form of capitalism.

It is noteworthy to state that although most of these pastors carry out philanthropic “gestures”.
Courtesy: http://blog.swaliafrica.com/