Number crunching, data visualisation and protecting cyberspace are just some of the new occupations that are demand du jour, according to a recent survey
At 23, Avantika S is a worried young woman. She’s also unemployed. Increasingly frustrated at not landing a job after graduating from a well-known liberal arts university in Pune, Avantika is now thinking of changing track. “After a long chat with my parents, I’ve decided to explore my love for data and technology through online courses and see if that gets me anywhere,” she tells The Established. Ideally, she says, she would like to work in a tech start-up and study while simultaneously trying to push her career in photography through social media. Meanwhile, 17-year-old Pratik Hora has already decided that he would like to be a data scientist. He has been researching courses and universities that will give him a headstart in the world of tech and, hopefully, a well-paying job. “I am good at mathematics and statistics and it just seems like an ideal fit [for me].”
Both Avantika and Hora seem to be right on track where the hot new jobs of the future lie. According to the Jobs and Salaries Primer Report 2021-22 by Team Lease released in May 2022, the best-paid jobs in the present and in the immediate future are related to e-commerce and tech start-ups, healthcare and allied industries, information technology and knowledge services.
Jobs gaining currency
According to the primer, the ‘hot jobs’ added this year include field scientists (agriculture and agrochemicals), EV technical experts (automobile and allied industries), digital marketing managers (e-commerce and technology start-ups), KYC analysts (banking, financial services and insurance), food technologists (FMCG), curriculum developers (educational services) and SaaS ops engineers (IT and knowledge services).
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“Working with data in any way is clearly an advantage,” says Protima Chandra, an HR consultant. Image: Getty
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Bengaluru continues to be the city for IT and knowledge-service jobs. Image: Getty
Nine out of the 17 sectors covered in the survey created new hot jobs and six sectors created new upcoming jobs this year. Comparatively, in the previous year's edition, hot jobs were created by seven of the 17 sectors; upcoming jobs by five of the 17 sectors. “Working with data in any way is clearly an advantage,” says Protima Chandra, an HR consultant who head-hunts freshers for IT companies in Bengaluru. The survey also highlighted that Bengaluru continued to be the city for IT and knowledge-service jobs whereas New Delhi was the hub for healthcare and pharmaceuticals.
The future is geeky
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has led to an acceleration of several digital transformations across industries in the country. Skills have now to be upgraded in accordance with this particular trend. “Companies now have to understand their customers much faster in order to provide goods and services in a fiercely competitive environment,” emphasises Chandra. Some jobs that are gaining quick traction include:
AI specialists: LinkedIn’s 2020 Emerging Jobs Report named artificial intelligence (AI) specialist as the job that saw the most growth in the past five years. AI refers to machines learning to use judgement and logic to complete tasks that require planning, reasoning, problem-solving and predicting. AI specialists are much in demand in the tech and education industries. In the wake of the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, several online learning platforms have also hired AI experts to teach their students.
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The ‘hot jobs’ added this year include field scientists EV technical experts, digital marketing managers and SaaS ops engineers. Image: Getty
Data Science: It combines statistical techniques and mathematical finance with empirical research and programming methods to analyse large data sets, obtain insights on patterns and make predictions for future trends and opportunities. Data science also includes visualisation and communication.
Cyber Security specialists: They are the watchdogs of the digital age. They create and implement security audits across computer hardware and software systems. They make sure that an organisation’s systems are safe from attacks from malware and viruses. They also design firewalls and other security measures to make sure that information and proprietary networks are kept secure.
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The best-paid jobs in the present and in the immediate future are related to e-commerce and tech start-ups, healthcare and allied industries, information technology and knowledge services. Image: Getty
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AI specialists are much in demand in the tech and education industries. Image: Getty
Digital Marketing Manager: They are responsible for maintaining an organisation/brand’s online presence and sales by working on various marketing campaigns. The job description will typically include planning digital marketing campaigns, including web, SEO/SEM, email, social media and display advertising, social media presence as well the measuring of the performance of all digital marketing campaigns.
Full Stack Engineer: They work on designing the architecture of the software system and need to be master coders. Of course, they need to be highly skilled with computer programming languages as they write various high-level and low-level code, troubleshoot errors, fix bugs, identify bottlenecks and improve the efficiency of the software. They also collaborate with the design team in order to create microservices and write technical documents. Their job, though, begins with software development and laying out the scale of any project.
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