According to a recent study by recruitment consultancy Michael Page Philippines, there has been a significant shift in the last few years in Filipinos' mindset toward work and career, which it refers to as "The Invisible Revolution." According to the consultancy group, this is perhaps the most profound workplace culture transformation since the advent of the internet.
The study identified acquiring new skills as a way to become more marketable in a highly competitive job market, like in the field of information technology. “Acquiring new skills, certifications, or experiences can help individuals stand out among other candidates and increase their chances of securing desirable job opportunities in the future,” the study stated.
According to Khrystyna Gankevich, Head of Growth for GoIT, Europe’s leading edtech company, upskilling and reskilling will be important to get a headstart in growing your career, especially in the highly competitive industry of IT.
“The IT market is changing very quickly, and to keep up with the current demands you need to regularly train and upgrade your skills. This will make it possible to make horizontal transitions to other positions, get promotions at current positions, enter foreign markets, and even open your own business,” she said.
GoIT, which was launched in the Philippines earlier this year, offers a variety of IT courses designed to equip students, especially those without prior technical knowledge, with the skills they need to enter and excel in the IT industry.
Gankevich noted that career growth was one of the main reasons why their current students are taking their IT courses in the first place.
“15% of our students on core courses buy training for the sake of professional development. Every month, about 10,000 people are interested in our new Scrum & Agile course for the purpose of personal growth. This, along with our new Project Management course, offers all the necessary skills for the transition to a new profession and develops management skills in their current position,” she explained.
Even the government has been pushing for organizations to upskill or reskill their workforce. At the start of the year, Trade and Industry Secretary Alfredo Pascual called for businesses to upskill their workforce as they begin to embrace automation and AI (artificial intelligence).
“Current systems of learning and signaling job-fit are not enough to provide the agility that lifelong learners will require. We, therefore, need to shift to a skills-based approach that can provide [a] more efficient mechanism,” Pascual said during the inaugural meeting of the Finance Executives Institute of the Philippines back in January.
The Philippine Economic Zone Authority, for its part, vowed to strengthen partnership with the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines to address the industry’s “talent crisis” and contribute to the ongoing efforts to position the Filipino workforce for the next industrial revolution.
“We are involving all our locators in the USAID survey and once this is done, we can work together with other stakeholders to invest in workforce training and institutional capacity building to narrow the jobs gap and address the critical skills shortage. We want to have the same parallel track for the IT industry,” said PEZA Director General Tereso O. Panga.
“The Invisible Revolution” is here to stay, and is expected to have a gradual yet significant impact on companies. With that in mind, you can stay on top of a changing and increasingly competitive job market by equipping yourself with a brand new set of IT skills.