Upskilling versus ReSkilling

Recently, there have been a lot of expressions you may have heard mentioned. There is “lifelong learning”, there is “skilling” but then, there is also “reskilling” and “upskilling”. They are related concepts but each one is different, and assuming they are the same thing could really affect your employment prospects.

If you look at “lifelong learning”, that is just the effort to encourage everyone to keep learning new things no matter how old you, and no matter how long ago you left school or university. The benefits of learning new things throughout your life, is not just for you to be able to have more skills when you apply for work but also because our brains need exercise. If our brains are not stimulated aggressively, they start to lose their effectiveness and no one wants that!

“Skilling” is a very general term meaning ‘learning a skill’. It is actually quite a new term, and most often it is used for adults in the workforce. Children are in school, young adults might be in university but people at work get skilled. They used to use the word “training” but the word became dull and passive. People were trained, they said, so what? So the word “skilled” was born so that people were essentially still trained but now, they had real, professionally-valuable skills and having those skills benefits the employer and best of all, they benefit the staff member too.

As the effects of automation through the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) began to be felt, locally and internationally, and as Covid19 started to impact employment, decision-makers worldwide took a fascination to the concept of reskilling. Essentially, the idea is that certain jobs are likely to become obsolete as the workers involved in those trades are replaced by machines or robots. In order for those displaced workers to continue to be viable members of the workforce, they should (logically) learn those skills that are in critical demand and thus, be able to find re-employment that way.

The theory is sound. It is essentially about filling gaps, and the gaps worldwide are in technology, the human roles required being in coding and programming. Thus, as the theory goes, it doesn’t matter what job you used to do, if you lose that job then you should learn the required skills, you should reskill and implicitly, you will get (more) easily reemployed as a result.

“... the gaps worldwide are in technology, the human roles required being in coding and programming. Thus... you should reskill and implicitly, you will get (more) easily reemployed as a result.”

There are two problems with reskilling: one has to do with the issue of reemployment and the other has to do with the person looking to be reskilled. In many markets, ageism is quite prevalent when it comes to recruiting practices. Ageism, if you are unfamiliar with the term, can be considered to be similar with racism except that instead of people being prejudiced against people of another race, they are prejudiced specifically people who are older. They have no issue with older people, until those older people try to apply for a job which younger people are also applying for and then, the recruiter preference inevitably steers towards youth. That is ageism. As it relates to reskilling, two job applicants might approach the same company and both have the exactly same amount of work experience in coding and programming, which is zero. For both, this will be their first job in coding. One is in his or her early twenties and the other is 40 years old. The recruiter will veer towards the young candidate, discounting any other work experience, any other maturity advantages that the older candidate might bring.

Older workers who reskill therefore, are not at an advantage in the job market when they go out to meet potential employers. The playing field, as they call it, is not even level. The playing field is tilted in favour of younger applicants. And decision-makers don’t ever talk about this, possibly because they are unaware of it, but it’s the reality.

The other issue has to do with the worker who is contemplating reskilling to be able to now launch into a new, tech career. The challenge is that the majority of people who have a tech inclination or interest got into tech from the beginning. For those who are mid career, possibly 40 years old or older, being told to reskill and being told to learn coding so that reemployment is easier, assumes that these mid career workers suddenly now have a tech inclination and that they will be good in their new capability.

The issue is that people seeking re-employment, need to move in a direction that makes sense for them personally and individually. If they have never in their lives had a STEM (science technology engineering mathematics) inclination, or the long exposure and development in that area, a sudden swing to STEM and IT will probably not be successful. Some can do it, but we are looking at a small percentage.

Our recommendation for people to upskill then is more logical and workable for the vast majority of unemployed workers. Upskilling is taking what you have been doing for years, and then building on it so that you are even better worker in that field. You have up’ed your skills.

“Upskilling is taking what you have been doing for years, and then building on it so that you are even better worker in that field.”

Take for example a 40 year old secretary who has suddenly become unemployed. It is possible (he or) she can get re-employed in another company as a secretary but she is being told that if she reskills to become a computer programmer, it will be easier for her to get re-employed. That is the reskilling option. But if she considers upskilling by learning advanced worksheet capabilities like expertise in Excel, would that not make her a more attractive candidate for an employer looking for a secretary or personal assistant? She has upskilled herself and made her employment opportunities as a secretary so much more. When she gets re-employed, she can build on her years of experience and her request for a better salary is totally valid as opposed to the probably, entry-level starting salary as a novice programmer. That is why upskilling for many, is the much more sensible option than reskilling.