7 jobs in DEMAND

There will be a huge market for healthcare professionals, data and security experts and digital marketers, says Navneet Singh, founder, Avsar HR Services.

There's no doubt that 2020 accelerated the need for organisations to undergo an overnight shift and adopt new ways of working.

Industries across the globe saw increasing reliance on digital technologies to craft better experiences for customers and employees.

While IT was always recognised as a pivotal factor for businesses, the previous year has brought about a massive digital transformation across the horizontal market.

The development has given rise to new job roles along with a demand for certain skill-sets that could have a profound impact in 2021.

1. Healthcare Professionals

The spending in the medical industry is bound to increase after the COVID-19 pandemic.

This increased spending will generate substantial job openings for roles that include registered nurses, lab technicians, research associates, biotechnologists, and so forth.

Today, the health infrastructure needs to sustain itself in the battle against coronavirus. Hence, the government will also consider measures such as public-private partnership and FDI within the segment. In turn, it will increase job opportunities.

India's doctor-population ratio stands at 1:1445 against the WHO recommendation of 1:1000. This means the country needs at least 2.07 million doctors by 2030.

Skills Required

The current skill requirement in the medical industry involves expertise in pharmaceutical management, biotechnology, nutrition and dietetics, physiotherapy, advanced medical research, etc.

2. Data Science Experts

Today, data is king!

Data provides actionable insights to businesses such as customer behaviour, patterns, and trends of product usages alongside others.

This makes it easy for businesses to frame their marketing strategies accordingly.

The increased amount of data means the demand for data scientists could increase by around 28%.

While only major players like Amazon, Cisco, Google, and Facebook used to hire them earlier, the tide has turned by creating a demand for Data Science Experts across various industries.

Skills Required

SQL, Python, R, Excel, statistical knowledge, graph analytics, data visualisation, ability to deal with complex mathematical formulas, and so forth.

3. AI and ML Professionals

During the pandemic, artificial intelligence techniques such as machine learning and NLP (natural language processing) are aiding in disease diagnosis, predictions about the spread of diseases, countermeasures, and so forth.

Companies like Zoom, Microsoft, and Slack alongside others are striving to enhance their AI capabilities as it improves the user experience and, ultimately, the overall business productivity.

According to NASSCOM, Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) could add $450 to 500 billion to India's GDP by 2025.

Skills Required

A person must be well-versed in probability, statistics, algebra, calculus, logic and algorithms, graphic modeling, distributed computing, expertise in UNIX Tools, and basic programming languages such as C++ and Python alongside others.

4. Cybersecurity professionals

With the increased use of the internet and online services, the risk of cybercrimes has spiked manifold. Hence, the need for cybersecurity specialists is at an all-time high.

The Indian cybersecurity services industry is experiencing a growth rate of approximately 21% and could reach $7.6 billion in 2022.

Skills Required

You will require basic knowledge of Operating Systems, networking and visualization software, programming languages such as Java, C/C++, assembly languages, scripting languages like PHP, Python, Perl, and so forth.

You must also have the ability to analyse security information, event management (SIEM), and operate IDS.

5. Telecom Engineers

With the advent of networking technologies like 5G, Edge Computing, IoT, and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) in 2021, the demand for telecom engineers, telecom researchers, network designers, Radio Frequency Managers is bound to increase.

5G will transform the network experience of consumers by delivering ultrafast speed and ultralow latency. That being said, it has the potential to create around 22.3 million jobs globally.

6. Digital Marketing Professionals

E-commerce was already booming before COVID-19 came into the picture, but it has increased 5X times now.

More brick and mortar stores are joining the digital bandwagon by transitioning to online operations.

People refrain from even the basic lifestyle needs such as dining out and shopping in-person while opting for their online alternatives.

All these have increased the opportunities for digital marketing professionals who help them with managing social commerce, advertisements, PPC, SEO, Influencer Marketing, Web Analytics, etc.

As per the statistics, India’s digital industry is likely to produce more than 20 lakh jobs and could grow at an average rate of 14% annually.

Skills Required

The skills required are expertise in content generation, social media marketing, pay-per-click, Search Engine Optimization, Google Analytics, and so on.

7. Full-stack developer

Full-stack Developer was one of the hottest job profiles in 2020 and will continue to hold its place in 2021.

Industries are migrating their businesses to the virtual world, which means they require people who can develop both client and server-side software.

Full-stack engineer roles have seen a 35% growth rate every year since 2015 and were number 4 on LinkedIn's 2020 Emerging Jobs Report.

Skills Required

Skills required are expertise in front-end technologies like JQuery, CSS3, HTML, and Javascript.

Programming languages like Python, PHP, and Java also come in handy.

You must also be familiar with database management software like Oracle, SQL, and MySQL.

The job market, as we know it, has changed over the past year but in some cases, change is a good thing.

With so many new opportunities, the sky is the limit for those venturing out to find a career in this new digital age.

*Kindly note the lead image has been posted only for representational purposes.