EAE News
Employability in times of pandemic: key sectors, tools and competences
19 de October de 2020
“The common denominator of the people who get hired nowadays is digital skills”.
What skills should you develop to find work nowadays? Which sectors should you look in and what is the best way of doing so? The situation triggered by the pandemic has been a hard blow to the economy and has transformed the labour market to such an extent that the skills, employability strategies and sectors that were vital yesterday are now considered obsolete. Therefore, faced with this situation, we have to ask ourselves what we should do.
Together with EAE Business School, the APD observatory has answered these and other questions in an interesting conference entitled “A call for talent: Skills for the future of business”. The Director of the Central Region of APD, Loreto Sanmartín, introduced the event, which included the participation of different experts from the worlds of business and employability:
- Pilar Llácer: Lecturer and researcher at EAE Business School
- José María Cervera: Former General Director for Spain and Portugal
- Alicia Sánchez Ruiz: Director of Human Resources at Altran
- Blanca Gómez: CPO of Opinno.
- Juan Manuel Delgado: Director of Talent, Development and Diversity at BP Europe and South Africa.
- Javier Luxor: Business expert
The first part of the event was led by José María Cervera and Pilar Llácer, who introduced the topic and covered all aspects of employability in this new economic stage.
Pilar Llácer:
How do you see the hospitality and tourism sector?
José María Cervera:
I was born to serve so, when I came across the world of hospitality and gastronomy, I felt that we shared a common spirit. Now, of the 300,000 tourism establishments that we have in Spain, we are set to lose around 50,000. That is a disaster for the industry and the people, but it is not the end. I would call on everyone to go to bars and restaurants to support these businesses.
Pilar Llácer:
What advice would you give to people in sectors like tourism and banking, who know that they are at risk?
José María Cervera:
Take action right now. If you carry on doing things in the same way, you will get the same results. Do things differently. Those of you here today are doing exactly what we need to do: come to events that teach us, get in contact with people, take action, etc.
Pilar Llácer:
It is time to be bold. The traditional ways of doing things no longer work. We have to make a shift on to digital channels, which required different knowledge.
What do leaders need right now to move people and drive sectors forward?
José María Cervera:
The first thing that a leader has to do is get up and start walking alongside their people. The second thing is to look for talent. Look closely for the targets, they are few and far between. As people, we have to identify our talents. They make us flow and get passionate.
Pilar Llácer:
What advice would you give people looking for work so that they can highlight their talents effectively?
José María Cervera:
If I keep my eyes closed, I will never find anything. In contrast, if I research and get information about what a company is looking for, what they do and how I can offer them value, I am far more likely to succeed than others applying for the same job.
Pilar Llácer:
The situation forces us to be realistic and there are positions they are not looking to fill, so we have to work on what sets us apart, what makes us unique, to show them that we can bring something to the table that other people cannot.
What is the common denominator of everyone who gets hired nowadays?
DIGITAL SKILLS! Whatever the sector, the most important thing is that they are proficient in the digital realm.
Constant reinvention is also crucial. Who would ever have thought that one of the sectors that generates most value, such as tourism, would become one of the sectors with the lowest employability? However, this is no reason to be pessimistic, but rather it should spur us to work on our value proposition.
José María Cervera:
The best way to create value in a company through people is by generating commitment. Making the team commit to the company’s goals, to digitalization.
Pilar Llácer:
The main thing I will take away from our conversation is the current need to move ourselves and take action, as well as the importance of digital skills.
After talking to the former Director José María Cervera and discussing important issues, such as digital skills, effective leadership and the need to know the sector when looking for employment, Pilar Llácer continued overseeing the event alongside the CPO of Opinno, Blanca Gómez, and the Director of Talent, Development and Diversity at BP Europe and South Africa, Juan Manuel Delgado.
Pilar Llácer:
In your opinion, which competences are essential in your teams in these times of uncertainty?
Juan Manuel Delgado:
We tend to analyse scenarios from a short-term perspective and we are obviously dealing with a huge situation. This VUCA environment is not new and, as such, the current situation cannot be analysed in a single day. The most important thing now is to identify what you are good at and where you can add value. Nowadays, technical aspects are as important as soft skills.
This year, for instance, in the USA, they have sold more vinyl records than CDs. This shows us that there are things that we see as obsolete and, nowadays, we have to think strategically. Aspects such as cultural diversity and communication are also important.
Blanca Gómez: In terms of key competences, I will refer to two recent studies: the annual LinkedIn report based on a database of over 600 million people, and the report of the World Economic Forum.
According to the LinkedIn report, the competences in the highest demand right now are:
- Creativity
- Persuasion
- Colaboration
- Adaptability
- Emocional intelligence
Meanwhile, the report of World Economic Forum highlights the following competences:
- Comunication
- Problems solvings
- Analytical Skills
- Customer service
- Leadership
Pilar Llácer:
In your opinion, which sectors have the best prospects in terms of employability?
Juan Manuel Delgado:
There are the old favourites: IT, logistics, etc. But I think that we have to be anti-cyclical. We shouldn’t focus so much on the sectors, but rather identify what we are good at and what we like, and then strive to carve out a space in that sector.
Blanca Gómez:
According to the World Economic Forum, there are 7 categories:
- The care sector
- Engineering and cloud computing
- Sales marketing and content
- Data and AI - Green industries
- People & Culture: HR
- Highly specialized project managers
Pilar Llácer:
If you have a differential factor that sets you apart, any sector is an opportunity.
Do you have any regrets from your professional career or do you have any messages for our readers?
Blanca Gómez:
Make the most of the company or project you are working on 100%!
Juan Manuel Delgado:
You sometimes have to be able to say no!
The event “A call for talent Skills for the future of business” ran for almost 2 hours, with both students and other interested parties having the opportunity to gain insight from leading experts on all aspects of the competences, skills and employability trends within the context of the current situation.