Everyone’s talking about it. We’re working on it. OK, we’re also talking about it!
The robots are coming
The fourth industrial revolution is upon us and new tech is generating change faster that in previous ages. You may turn around next year and find that a large part of your job has been automated. The robots aren’t coming for you, just the boring parts of your job.
From tech skills to human skills
A key part of this challenge is to understand the role that the next generation of workers will play. On a wider level, my belief is that manual work will increasingly be replaced by automation, leaving us to shift into roles requiring more interactivity. In the US, 5 millions manufacturing jobs have been lost in the last 20 years, but 4 million healthcare jobs will be created in the next 10 years. On a quick side note, it’s interesting to wonder what our society will look like after our education system has shifted to train young people to learn empathy rather than typewriting.
The skills gap
The main message I’m hearing from businesses right now is that young people are leaving university without the hard or soft skills that companies can immediately use. There’s a skills and experience gap. Theoretical degrees require vocational experience that companies need to invest in. But with such short average job lengths, many companies don’t see a clear ROI. The UK is looking at a digital skills gap of £141bn in 2019.
Wasted talent
It’s shocking that while UK companies are so desperate for talent, there remains a huge youth unemployment and under-employment challenge, especially when unemployed youth have such a wealth of digital skills. Surely there’s a way to match these two communities more effectively?
Our method
We suggest that students supplement (or replace!) their traditional education with one that focuses on building the technical and soft skills that companies are actually asking for. This can best be done by working with companies at an early stage, on real projects to develop industry experience. So we built a platform to match students with projects listed by local companies. Our pilot now has 1600+ student freelancers from 10 universities across London.
Students develop industry experience, build a portfolio of projects, use their skills to earn money (they set their own rates, from £10/hr upwards) and improve their employability. Companies get access to a huge pool of hidden, local talent, available on demand and at great rates.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to how our platform works for companies. And here’s another one for freelancers.
Build the future with us
Here’s how we can collaborate:
=> Hire our freelancers (designers, developers, marketers and media creators)
=> Share our job opportunities with educators
=> Ask us about our white-label freelance marketplace to run your own version of Crowdskills
We look forward to working with you!
