Millennials upskill to climb career ladder

MUMBAI: Move over gold, stocks, mutual funds and bonds.Career upskilling appears to have emerged as the new investment option for the new generation. Working professionals, largely in the age group of 23-35, are rapidly scaling up their skills to quickly climb the career ladder and attain better pay scales. A study of 10,000 working professionals conducted across key metros reveals that six in 10 certified professionals receive a pay raise within six months of completing an upskilling programme. Experts said what job security was for the previous generations is career security for the millennials.

With the millennials at the cusp of technological transformations which are changing workplace functions, their main concerns are factors like automation and artificial intelligence impacting their careers. These individuals are said to be judiciously investing a defined amount every six-eight months towards upskilling themselves.

According to Simplilearn founder & CEO Krishna Kumar, while on average individuals spend Rs 15,000-20,000 on upskilling, this can go up to Rs 40,000-50,000 annually as they are actively looking at investment options that provide them with quicker and more personally satisfying returns on investment (RoI) in 12 months. "With gro wing demand for professionals skilled in big data, digital marketing, cloud and more, one is bound to get paid 25-30 per cent more after picking up a new technology skill," said Kumar.

A Simplilearn-ManpowerGroup report indicates similar trends. ManpowerGroup India MD A G Rao said, "Rather than one long job for life, millennials understand the need for continuo us skill development to remain employable."

With millennials estimated to contribute half of the workforce by 2020, organisations support this trend of self-upskilling by in dividuals. Genpact SVP (HR) and chief learning officer Amit Agarwal said, "Industries are get ting disrupted with the digital wave. Our client industries too are getting disrupted and, therefore, it is imperative for us to get trans formed. For the older generation, the assumption was whatever you study in college will hold you through your entire working ca reer . While there's a hunger for le arning within organisations which is why companies are offe ring much more than what they used to earlier in L&D (learning & development) -people themselves have realised that they need to invest in themselves to stay relevant."

Organisations are also partnering with various institutes and management schools in India and abroad to arm employees with skills essential to grow and climb up the ladder.