The skills of the future for technical engineering in a post pandemic world

“Reimagining Youth Skills Post-Pandemic” is this year’s theme for World Youth Skills Day as it pays tribute to the resilience and creativity of young people throughout Covid-19.

UNESCO-UNEVOC listens to peoples stories

Here’s what they’re asking young people (ages 15-24) to consider and have a conversation about:

• What skills/work do you wish to acquire for the future?
• What skills do you think will be most important in the post-pandemic era and why?
• What is your message to decision makers in your country to support youth employment, skills development and entrepreneurship?

In order to ensure the importance of young people being well equipped with skills for employment, the United Nations General Assembly stated from 2014 that the 15^th of July will be World Youth Skills Day. Its purpose was to create a conversation for young people and encourage engagement and dialogue of important topics. The youth are the future, so providing education, training, and support is vital to the growth and development of industries, particularly those needing higher skill levels like technical engineering.

Specialist training is essential for many high-level positions and roles, making it crucial to provide it to new candidates. This can be reinforced with mentoring schemes as the aging workforce transfers its knowledge and skills alongside supportive education.

This can be a major benefit in maintaining expertise not just in an industry but also contained within a company, as the youth pick up knowledge from more experienced workers.

It’s not just the younger generations that can benefit from this. As people look to change careers later in life, specific training can help to establish new talents whilst support can be provided to develop their transferable skills. Many older candidates who are new to construction industries can bring a collection of highly valuable skills.

The pandemic has affected us all in some way, however, young people aged 15-24 have been particularly exposed to the socio-economic consequences. School and workplace closures have led to a loss in learning and training, alongside many in this age group being hit hardest with unemployment rates. As with all new generations of workers, new demands are being made and expectations changed, which is particularly prevalent in a post pandemic world.

More just, equitable, and progressive opportunities and solutions are being demanded of society by youth as they face a range of challenges such as education, health, employment, and gender equality. Highfields own Co-founder is on the board of the local school, helping to inspire and raise awareness of opportunities and skills for young people.

Flexibility and acceptance from companies is desperately required in order to support the skills of the youth, which is part of the conversation that World Youth Skills Day aims to open up this year.

Challenges for the youth

• Education
• Employment
• Experience
• Gender Equality
• Health

Solutions

• Equal opportunities
• Flexibility
• Support
• Training