GetLinks discussed with the World Bank on the convergence of recruitment and training in 2021

GetLinks got the chance to discuss with the world’s most recognized leaders building the Future Of Work on the topic of the convergence of recruitment and training. The conversation was alongside our GetLinks CEO, Keenan Kwok, Alejandro Caballero, IFC’s Principal for Education, Josh Nester, Global Education lead at SEEK, Ramiro Luz, Head of Latin America for Linkedin, and Lucas Mendes, co-founder of Revelo. Here are some of the interesting insights that have been shared that you might not want to miss

Explosion in Ecommerce hiring

“In 2020, the pandemic accelerated existing trends in happening in e-commerce, growing 5 times faster than before the pandemic. Hence the surge of digital talent demand from E-commerce companies also grew 5 times.” Keenan Kwok, Co-founder and CEO of GetLinks (SEA)

In 2020, COVID-19 triggered the digital and e-commerce turning point: as lockdowns became the new normal, businesses and consumers increasingly “went digital”, providing and purchasing more goods and services online, raising e-commerce’s share of global retail trade from 14% in 2019 to about 17% in 2020.

In the USA alone, more than 2m new E-commerce businesses have been created since the beginning of the pandemic, creating millions of digital jobs while millions of traditional jobs have been crushed. These and other findings are showcased in a new report, COVID-19 and E-Commerce: A Global Review, by UNCTAD and eTrade for all partners, reflecting on the powerful global and regional industry transformations recorded throughout 2020.

This surge has been reflected in the growth of demand for tech talents in the 8 countries GetLinks covers as well. Hence in our 2020 salary report, we show that the E-commerce industry has tripled in SEA from 49m paying users in 2015 to 150m in 2020, resulting in a 40% year over year growth of the demand for E-commerce jobs like Digital Marketing and E-commerce Web Apps Development.

The urgent need for fit to market reskilling

“While the lockdowns have pushed a massive chunk of the workforce out of traditional offline jobs, with up to 25 percent more workers than previously estimated potentially needing to switch occupations.” Lucas Mendes, Co-founder & CEO of Revelo (LATAM)

In Mckinsey’s global survey of 800 senior executives published in July 2020, two-thirds said they were stepping up investment in automation and AI either somewhat or significantly. Production figures for robotics in China exceeded pre-pandemic levels by June 2020.

Many companies deployed automation and AI in warehouses, grocery stores, call centers, and manufacturing plants to reduce workplace density and cope with surges in demand. The common feature of these automation use cases is their correlation with high scores on physical proximity, and Mckingsey’ss research finds the work arenas with high levels of human interaction are likely to see the greatest acceleration in the adoption of automation and AI.

Two ways businesses historically have controlled cost and mitigated uncertainty during recessions are by adopting automation and redesigning work with low touch, digital processes, which reduce the share of jobs involving mainly routine tasks.

To support the transitions of hundreds of thousands of workers looking for jobs in their platform, as a response to the 2020 unemployment surge, Revelo initiated plugging in education partners to train candidates for high-demand jobs.

Results are visible in this graph, in these figures, having achieved one training recommended by Revelo’s algorithm increased the chances to get a job by 24% compared to a user without Revelo’s partner’s training.

This is where recruitment and training are converging in 2021: The displacement of millions of traditional workers in Warehousing, Office support, Offline sales & others could be counterbalanced in the massive surge of E-commerce talents demand, only if the talents can seize this opportunity to re skill themselves into these new emerging jobs.