The Covid-19 pandemic has caused major shifts in the workplace . At the forefront of the business leaders ’ mind sits the questions : “ Is today ’ s approach to work and workforce transformation sustainable ? Are we equipped to transform this organisation for success within the fast-rising digital age ? Are our existing processes and practices agile enough to withstand the unpredictable future ?” The digital workplace revolution is in full swing and organisations need to move with agility , speed and accuracy to remain relevant while effectively meeting the evolving demands of customers .
BrighterMonday is notably East Africa ’ s largest online career platform and recently celebrated 15 successful years in the industry . We speak to BrighterMonday Chief Executive Officer , Emmanuel Mutuma , about the ongoing changes in today ’ s relatively-uncertain business environment and how people and businesses can quickly adapt to ensure continued success .
The Future Is All About Technology
Let ’ s start by addressing the elephant in the room : What is the future of the workplace post
pandemic ?
I believe the future is already here and we must shift our mindset to accommodate our new reality and live successful balanced lives . The workplace is drastically changing and organisations are looking to work smart towards maintaining growth and profitability amidst the uncertainty . The pandemic has amplified the importance of digital transformation across Africa , accelerating digitisation within organisations and driving the fastrising demand for workflow automation to support virtual workplaces .
The current times are challenging the skills that were previously considered essential in the workplace . Can you tell us more about this ?
Historically , employers maintained similar demand for top five key skills when hiring : communication , teamwork ,
From onset , we leveraged the incoming digital age to future proof our business and drive effective , efficient , convenient recruitment processes for our customers . As a forward-thinking , customer-centric business , we have heavily invested in technology to offer diverse solutions with the ability to easily scale up .
leadership , problem solving , and ability to work under pressure . However , there has been a global shift and employers are keen on additional skills to support the evolving business environment . This can be broken down into soft skills and hard skills .
Some of the high-in-demand soft skills include adaptability & agility , emotional intelligence , growth mindset & willingness to learn , creativity & innovation and critical thinking . These are softer human elements that are character driven and we have found them critical in identifying the right talent for the right workplace culture . BrighterMonday has partnered with various likeminded industry players to equip young professionals seeking to join the job market with the soft skills they need to succeed in their future roles . This has greatly increased their chances of getting a job and set the tone for success in their career .
The trending hard skills , especially following the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic include digital & coding skills , data literacy & analytics , technology skills , security & governance skills and problem solving . We urge professionals to find a balance between their career development courses and attaining these skills to remain competitive within the fast-evolving workplace environment .
Then how can people and organisations position themselves for success amidst the uncertainty ?
As a matter of fact , adopting technology and digitalisation is the most obvious catalyst for both organisations and professionals seeking success in the current environment . When we speak to organisations looking for talent to support their growth , two key things stand out as major pain points :
First is the struggle of finding the right talent . At BrighterMonday , we prominently promote your role to the right , targeted job seekers including those actively searching and those currently employed through our Best Match solution coupled with other products . We leverage our large pool of 1.2 million professional candidates within our database and further distribute through other high-value channels such as Google & LinkedIn . This has proven to be extremely effective for job roles at all levels ( entry level to executive level ).
Second is the struggle of choosing the right talent . Employers find it difficult to objectively make the right hiring decision . At BrighterMonday we qualify , test and rank the best applicants using a combination of a world class skills assessment solutions and an artificial intelligence ( AI ) engine to pick out the best-of-the-best candidates .
All this is delivered with speed and transparency on our exceptional hiring application platform which tracks and stores all necessary data . We leverage on technology to engage and harness information from all key customer touch points , analysing the data to understand millions of candidate profiles and matching them to the right employers .
For our business , the pandemic has only accelerated the use of technology . We ’ ve fully adopted AI to match and shortlist candidates , digitally streamlined our communications , operations and recruitment processes from talent sourcing , interviews , onboarding , assessments and training . We ’ re literally fully operating virtually now !
Professionals must upskill and reskill to