Review on a Webinar by McGrawHill "Getting Job Ready for Post Covid Era"

Speaker – Mr. Sandeep Kochhar

Profile – Storyteller &Founder

Blewminds & Consulting

(www.blewminds.com)

(LinkedIn Top Voice 2019 – India)

In a recent webinar by Mr. Sandeep Kochhar titled as “Getting Job Ready for post Covid era”, he talks about the Job Seekers, who would apply for jobs in the coming time. They need to add more skills to their profile. It’s a challenge for everyone to upskill themselves. Newer skills needed to be added.

The present scenario is very critical. It’s the world of being Digital. Communication is very important and Technology would play a very important role.

Mr. Kochhar focuses on the concept of “Atmanirbhar” given by our honorable Prime Minister, Sh. Narendra Modi Ji.

The Job Seekers can become Entrepreneurs who can further become Freelancers. The Economy is affected to a large extent. More in – hand primary skills are required. More Digital Skills are required. Creativity and Innovation are required. People need to work in Collaboration and Cooperation with each other.

How people will move forward?

Those people who are not related. They will have to learn the Technology. This will help them to be equipped with changes and face the times of crisis.

People need to take the initiative to do new things.

Today in the Job Market, around 127 Million people are unemployed.

A good amount of Entrepreneurs have closed their businesses during the Covid Scenario.

The Hiring Business has gone down by 90%.

The Job Seekers have gone up.

The market has changed.

The people with Special Skills will get benefited in this time.

The Market will have so much Job Seekers.

It will be “Employers Market”. The Employers will have a choice to select the people. Only the people with the distinguished skills will get selected.

Earlier it was so, that the people with the Best Qualification would get selected. But now the Market is moving away from this approach. In the short run, the Qualification may be important but in the long run, the Skills are important.

How to differentiate the use of Push and Pop Mechanism?

In the Push Mechanism, somebody reaches you.

In the Pop Mechanism, you seek for Job.

If you have a distinguished skill set, then people will approach you.

Mr. Kochhar explains us the importance of Branding.

Then, your Social Media Profile plays a very important role in Branding.

The Profile Picture, the Background Picture, the Jobs you have taken up, the Skill Set you have and the other details you put in.

Mr. Kochhar tells from his hiring experience that 80% of the CVs are not updated.

When a person is applying for Job, then his LinkedIn and Facebook Profiles are also checked, the type of Posts and Content being put there.

Mr. Kochhar says that, around 50 Million people are on LinkedIn.

How to differentiate yourself?

So, he explains, when as an Employer, they are looking for skills, then Unique Skills are searched for that distinguish a person. They look for, what skills people have and how a person portrays himself.

The Resume they get, many times, have Fake Skills mentioned.

Mr. Sandeep Kochhar, explains that there is just 10% Job Hiring in the market right now. Hence, it is the Employers’ Market. Only the “specialists” having a special set of skills, would be preferred. The people with the Generic Skills would not be given preference.

For this, he say the approach which needs to be followed is that,” we have to stop fearing for getting a Job but instead we need to Pick Up Skills.”

Giving his own example, he said, during his initial days, he had started volunteering from startups. They started to look up Value in him.

He says now is the time, when your Curriculum Vitae (CV), would not get you a job. You will need to have differentiating skills.

Giving an example of Information Technology (IT) Industry, he said, those people who were earlier working as Project Managers, they earlier only had to manage the people but now is the time, they will have to develop more skills. So, only the Specialists will retain their Jobs.

It’s looked upon in an Employee that how easily you can learn new things. Your Actions and Desires help you move forward.

There are many people who are just thinking about the past and the future and they are stuck at one thing. That is not the correct approach. You don’t need to get stuck.

In the last few months, many people have been trying to search for Jobs. The reason for them not getting the jobs is that, either they don’t have the Right Skill Set or they are knocking upon the wrong door.

He says an Employee can become a Consultant and further he can become a Freelancer.

The need is just to develop an Expertise. It is about how much time and effort you put on a Skill.

He suggests some ways of How to Develop Our Personal Brand on LinkedIn :

• Write regularly
• Stand up for something.
• Be visible and Build Expertise.
• Improve Public Speaking Skills.
• Keeping in Mind there is no age for learning.
• Upload your Portfolio.
• Have relevant Documentation.
• You can volunteer for NGOs.
• Can do Internships at Startups.
• Can Pick up free Courses and upgrade your skills.

In total, he says a person needs to Re – engineer his Digital Presence, get a Professional Headshot, and Have a Professional purpose. Listen, Practice and become more pertinent.

He focuses on Building your own Brand.

How you interact with the Rest of the world that is looked upon.

It is looked upon that, who are the people who are making an impact on the world.

There lies the importance of Personal Branding.

A proper research is done upon the Content that a person posts on his profile. How the person interacts with his contacts and how is he engaging his audience.

For a fresher or a new comer who has just made his profile on LinkedIn, it was suggested that firstly, he needs to read what others are posting and then develop your own strategy. He tells the importance of how branding helps in Job Seeking and distinguishing yourself. If you rank higher in the profiles, you get more chances of being seen. The Keywords in your posts play a very important role.

LinkedIn helps a person to become a Brand.

A Brand is a unique dimension added to your profile. We need to identify what is unique about us. What are we good at? Brick By Brick that differentiates you from the crowd. Then, you will not have to seek for the Job. Then, the Employers would seek you with respect to the differentiated skill set you have.

He also explains that how Networking plays a very important role when you are seeking for Job.

It helps you to connect with people.

Helping other people is good. If we are helping someone gain an opportunity then whenever he/she gets another one, he/she shall come back and help us.

In the words of Mr. Kochhar, the Digital Learning platforms will do very well in the current scenario. Any kind of Digital Platforms will be working very well. Even the Collaboration Platforms will go very well.

The “Cyber Security” field will develop. This field will come up because more and more number of people are interacting digitally. Hence, Breaching of Data, would be a serious issue.

All the newer technologies, like Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, Robotics and Automation (RPA) and all such sectors, will do very well in the upcoming times.

He says, the Covid is a very amazing time for the people who are earning money. It’s a fantastic opportunity to upgrade your skills.

The sad part in the Indian Ecosystem is that, we want Immediate Results.

If we are upgrading ourselves, we need to have patience.

People don’t have patience, and after some time, they give up.

Mr. Kochhar gave an example of an Entrepreneur, who said that “There are no failed entrepreneurs. There are just entrepreneurs who give up.”

If we learn a new skill, three months back.

Everyday, we need to learn new things, new skills. This shows our progress. Growth should be in a progressive manner. This does not mean that we are continuously switching to different things.

He says, as a person, something you need to contribute. Giving an example of a person, who loved to do poetry, he started to do that and gradually he succeeded in that.

It does not matter, what skill you have. It’s just that, you have to start somewhere.

You can pick up your hobby or strength. You can pick up a topic and stick to it.

He says you can become a Thought Leader, you can put others’ contents, post it provided you mention the Right Sources and engage your audience on social media platforms.

The scenario is that, there are thousands of people and there is only one Job. Hence, as the networks will increase, people will reach out to you. Upskilling is very important.

You need to be flexible. Even many people are working with Pay – Cuts. They are volunteering this.

Mr. Sandeep Kochhar gave his own example that how he became a Thought Leader. He started with Story Telling on LinkedIn.

He said on LinkedIn, if you develop a Brand with your First Degree of Contacts, then further you develop your Second Degree Contacts, then you develop your Third Degree Contacts and then the Fourth Degree Contacts. So, the Jobs lie in the Third and Fourth Degree Contacts. Marketing is very important for your Brand. A person has to portray himself as a Brand with a distinguished set of skills that lets him stand out unique amongst the crowd.

Mr. Kochhar explained that Post Covid, the Key Skills required by Job Seekers would be-

• Project Management
• Agility
• Communication
• Critical Thinking
• Analytical Reasoning
• Flexibility and Multi-Tasking
• Digital Expertise
• Leadership and Change Management
• Technology Savvy
• Emotional Intelligence
• Creativity and Innovation
• Risk Management

On being asked about the “negative mindset” of the people which is developing in the current times as many people are struggling with their Jobs, Mr. Kochhar replied that people need to keep a positive attitude and they need to move ahead.

Talking about the job of a LinkedIn Writer or any blogger, he said, you need to have a differentiation from the crowd.

On being asked to give “Networking Suggestions”, he stated the following,

• Virtual Networking Events could be attended
• Engage with people
• Comment with other people
• Build Relationships, such that they will reach out to you.

Another question which the speaker addressed was “What advice would he like to give Teachers regarding LinkedIn?”

In response to which the speaker said, he finds much of the Teachers not using LinkedIn to express themselves and writing something over there.

He suggested that, on LinkedIn, The Teachers can write about the students, they can write about the moral values and about the changing values. They can write about the Basics they teach. They can start sharing their stories. They can write how the Education system is changing or they can write about their perspective about how the students will get disconnected soon. They can write and share about all such kind of their experiences.

Next question asked by the audience was “Whether the Role of HR will change Post Covid?”

This was answered as, currently, the role of HR is that how they can keep the emotional wellness of people. There would be cases of Depression. Hence, the Human Element is very important here. The HR needs to be more skilled. When everybody is working from home, then, you don’t know how the Employee is feeling while he is at home and what he is going through. So, working virtually, HR needs to ensure, what’s the sentiment in the Organization. Are people really motivated to do work and give their productive output? Hence, the HR has a very important and crucial role to play.

On being asked a question on Podcasting, that Post Covid, is there a future in Podcasting?

He answers that, not just Podcasting but any platform that is there, you could definitely make a future out of that. The average skills would not work.

The next question addressed was “What do you see in Branding and Marketing, Post Covid?”

For this it was answered that, the ways of Marketing will definitely change. Taking the Students example, he explained that, earlier the students were recruited through Career Fairs. But now there would be Recruitments through Virtual Mediums. He says, “Digital is the Pillar of Branding and Marketing”.

On being asked about the “Scenario in Government Sector Jobs PostCovid”, Mr Kochhar shared his opinion stating that the Government Sector is facing a tough time. The Treasury is being impacted. The Government Jobs will have more Job Security but the number of Government Jobs will decrease.

Speaking specifically about the Railway Sector, he said that there would definitely be a dip in the number of people who are travelling, But Post Covid, as the scenario becomes better, the people would not stop travelling by trains. So, only if the number of people travelling by trains, decreases, then only this would get affected, which in his view, would not be the case.

He shared his experience, where a Company Personnel recently said to him that “Travel Budgets” would definitely be affected. They would change because more people are working from home now.

One being asked about the “Jobs in Automobile Sector PostCovid”, he said that the Factories are not open now during the Covid times. The factories are deeply impacted. Now, the people will stop focusing on the need. Demand may go down (as per the past quarter). Hence, this sector will go through a lot of Turmoil.

On being asked about the “Mid - Career Professionals”, who are already struggling, he said, they need to upgrade themselves and have distinguished skill sets.

In his concluding statement, he says that most of the companies are facing a time of Economic turmoil. It’s an opportunity for us to revisit our Skills to do new things and slowly move forward in life.

He says most of the people who were in job as employees have the opportunity to become Freelancers. We have to find newer ways of doing something and we have to find a purpose and meaning in doing things which we love to do. We have to pick something and stick to it and we have various platforms to find new ways.