We are living in an era where businesses and lives are getting influenced by digital transformation. It influences our purchase decisions. Digital technologies influence customers at every stage of the buying cycle, they establish certain organizations at the front of the audience’s mind, and they also have the potential to be irrevocably brand-damaging. So, in today’s competitive job market, it’s critical to explore how you can build a successful career in the digital age. In this post, guest writer Ashwin Honawar talks about the top benefits of building a digital skillset for your career.
By Ashwin Honawar
Most of us have heard this old quote: “We live in the digital era,” or “We live in a digital world.” Yes, we do. But have you heard this axiom: “Digital fluency is a basic skill,” by Julie Sweet, CEO of Accenture, one of the largest digital technology corporations of the world.
What’s digital fluency? In simplest words, digital fluency means our ability to understand information, find its meaning, create content that can be easily understood and communicate knowledge effectively over the Internet.
In today’s world, you’ll most likely get nowhere with a career unless you possess excellent digital fluency or have a digital skillset.
Digital skillset means your ability to use knowledge about the Internet, its various processes and issues that affect billions of people around the world. There are several kinds of digital skillsets.
The simplest is your ability to use the Internet for basic purposes such as browsing for information and sending emails. Complex skillsets include creating Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) solutions.
Somewhere between these simplest and complicated skillsets lies a fantastic opportunity known as digital marketing. Because it’s easy to acquire digital marketing skills rather quickly. And digital marketing skills open doors to as many as eight different entrepreneurial and career options.
Therefore, let’s explore what’re the benefits of building a digital skillset for your career.
The very fact that you’re reading this article proves you’ve some level of digital skillset. At least, you know how to use the Internet and look for information. Maybe you have more skills too and know how to shop or perform financial transactions online.
Now consider this scenario where you’ve some digital skills that can help you evolve an excellent career. Think about how many vistas it would open for you in the highly competitive job market.
Therefore, here’re some excellent benefits of digital skillset for your career.
Internet proliferation in India is advancing at a frenzied pace of 18% per year. Easy availability of affordable smartphones and low-cost high-speed Internet is driving this growth. By the end of 2019, India will have an estimated 650 million Internet users of which about 35% will be from rural parts of the country.
Indians will spend over US$120 billion on buying products and services online by 2020. Digital payments in this country are projected to rise to a whopping US$135.2 billion by 2023. The trend has begun and continues to flourish even as you read this article. Obviously, there’s no going back.
Therefore, digital is here to stay and flourish in India. If you have the digital skillset, they will be in high demand now and in coming years, in view of the above facts.
Digital technology evolves by the day. What’s relevant right now can become redundant tomorrow. And changes in digital technology are very rapid. This means you’ll have to constantly upgrade your digital skillset to remain employable in the job market or even at your current workplace. You can refer to some top online platforms to upgrade your skills.
Acquiring a digital skillset can be easy. However, upgrading and maintaining a digital skillset can prove difficult. Therefore, acquire a digital skillset that you can upgrade very easily.
As I mentioned earlier, digital marketing is an excellent digital skillset to possess nowadays. Because there’s a dearth of digital marketers in India. The country will require about two million digital marketers every year only for the e-commerce industry up to 2022.
Furthermore, it’s very easy to upgrade digital marketing skills. There’re various international certifications that you can get from a digital marketing course. However, to maintain these international certifications from Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and other companies, you’ve to pass a test of your digital skillset annually.
As I mention earlier, there’re some digital skillsets that offer international certifications. And these certifications are valid worldwide. Hence, they’re useful for any individual that plans on finding jobs abroad. Furthermore, some digital skillsets are in very high demand in specific foreign countries. Hence, employers are willing to pay very lucrative salaries for Indian nationals who possess the necessary digital skills.
Working on jobs that require digital skills in foreign countries has another distinct advantage. You can learn processes that mightn’t have yet arrived in India. second-largest means you’ll build an excellent digital skillset that can actually help you migrate abroad permanently if you’re so inclined.
Building a digital skillset is possible for almost everyone that has basic knowledge about using computers and the Internet. Whether it’s a school dropout or a housewife, working professional or fresh retiree, the digital skillset is easy to build. Therefore, having excellent digital skillset means, you can have an excellent source of income without the comfort of leaving home. Furthermore, they also help you create a career as a freelancer.
In fact, India is home to the world’s second-largest white-collar freelancer community. There’re an estimated 18 million freelancers in India, according to various reports. And about 23 percent of these freelancers earn between Rs.250,000 and Rs.500,000 per month. This is much higher than what most nine-to-five office jobs fetch.
Anyone can start a freelance career. That’s because people hire freelancers for their skillsets and not educational qualifications, age, gender or other considerations. Highest earning freelancers in India possess digital skillset. Hence, you too should focus on building a digital skillset for your career.
There’re several other benefits of building a digital skillset for your career. These include avenues to earn more from home and launching own startup. If you want to build a digital skillset for your career, look at the latest career trends.
You’ll find that most professions, including engineers and doctors, now require digital skillsets. Take some time to find jobs that require digital skillsets. You’ll be amazed at the extremely high number of vacancies for people that possess digital skillsets.
Now that you know the top benefits of building digital skillset for your career, I would recommend you look at job trends and fastest-growing industries in India that require them. They’ll help you launch or relaunch a wonderful career.
Ashwin Honawar is a journalist, blogger & author with over 28 years of experience in India & various foreign countries. He writes about personal finances, education, women’s rights, anti-addiction, travel & lots of other topics.
Featured Image Source: Google Digital Garage
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