The Skills That Matter
- Zoe Lim
- Jun 9, 2021
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 15, 2021
The pandemic has revealed how mindless we had been, doing the same thing, day in day out & not without grudges. We've spent too little time to dream or imagine what could have been different. We had gotten way too comfortable in routines and traditions and shifted our gear to "Park" in the "lot" of life. We didn't question our entrenched beliefs and simply accepted them as the norm.
Then Covid came along and got rid of most of our old-school thinking. Even the most stubborn among us had no choice but to shift their gears back to 1 and start moving again. Taboos at work were discarded and a shift in work culture towards focusing on what's needful with minimal micromanagement was definitely welcomed.
With the exponential growth in technology and the maturity of the Internet, the virtual world is flooded with content, albeit inaccurate and contentious at times. Gone are the days when we had to attend school or borrow money to afford university fees in order to gain knowledge. More employers, like the author of the article, are also valuing specific experience and skills way more than paper qualifications or traditional experience or skills. There is a growing demand on employees who know when (wisdom) and how (understanding) to apply knowledge in various contexts. I also know by experience, that magic tends to happen when there's room for fresh perspectives.
The World Economic Forum identified the top 10 skills necessary for 2025 and it's not surprising that the skills can be broadly categorized under analytical and critical thinking, innovative and resilience.
If I am in my teens now, I would choose to sign up for different jobs and gain valuable real life experience over college anytime.
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