Self-education is not just a fashionable fad, but a challenge of the times. Success comes to those who are in constant search for knowledge. How to master the art of life-long learning and how can online courses help? Recruiting expert Alena Vladimirskaya and Nikhil Sinha, ex-director of business development of a large online learning platform, tell the story.
The number of courses, lecture halls and educational programs is growing every year. On the other hand, uncertainty is also growing: it is not clear what knowledge and skills will be in demand tomorrow. It is terrible to lose the job on which the whole life rests. But at the same time, I want to realize myself in something important, to make a dream come true.
Alena Vladimirskaya helps thousands of people find their calling, and Nikhil Sinha was previously responsible for the development of a large online education platform. We invited them to a round table to understand how modern “adult education” works.
You argue that the ability to learn and relearn is important for everyone. Why?
Nikil Sinha: First of all, people are changing jobs now more than ever. We, the people of the older generation, are used to staying where everything suits us. But the generation now in their 20s and 30s will change jobs an average of 13 times in their lifetime!
Why so often?
NS: There are three reasons. The first is rapid economic change. The transition from recession to recovery is happening faster than ever. The second is, of course, globalization. People can find work all over the world, they are not tied to a specific place. And the third is technology. They too are evolving rapidly, and this requires us to acquire new skills. At the same time, technologies themselves allow us to do what was previously beyond our capabilities.
But this means that we must also be able to readjust.
Alena Vladimirskaya: In our country, people, especially the older generation, think like this: first we study, and then we work. And even if we study while working, it is the employer’s responsibility to send us to some courses, because he is interested in us. The situation is changing, and more and more often people are told: “You don’t fit, we will take a younger one.”
Do young people have a more flexible mind, are they better oriented in modern realities?
A.V.: It’s not about youth, it’s about skills that these people don’t have. People are very offended, they say: “Well, how? You didn’t teach me that.” And the company says: “But we don’t have to teach you, we have to take the best professionals so that the business grows faster.”
In the banking sector, about 17% have already lost their jobs, and will reach 30%. This is a huge number. People see that they are also not in demand in another market, because they have very narrow professional skills.
NS: You correctly said that before we first studied and then worked. Now we are constantly learning. We have entered an era we call “lifelong education”. People now, even after they have graduated from university, continue to study.
Do you need to be prepared for the fact that at some point you will have to retrain?
N.S.: Yes, the ability to learn is now becoming key.
To what extent do people actually understand why this is necessary? Why should they carve out time, take courses, get certificates? What will it give?
A.V.: I’ll tell you about the case. I once gave a lecture to the managers of the largest bank in Russia – I talked about the skills of the future, about what needs to be done so as not to lose a job.
When I finished, a woman about 50 years old got up, 20 of them work in this bank. She said it was the most harmful lecture of her life because I didn’t say anything specific.
People love it when they are told clearly: “Go get such an education, master such and such a specialty”
People say: “We are 50 years old, we do not understand this.” They require a guarantee. To be written: if I receive these three certificates, my salary will increase by 50%, and the probability of dismissal will decrease to zero. When I explain that this is impossible in today’s society, people get very offended and say that I apparently do not tell the most interesting things. And they need specifically: “Tell me what I should do now.”
Russia is going through a difficult time right now. We have a very serious crisis, which, of course, has affected layoffs. People are losing and will continue to lose their jobs. Therefore, I cannot help but ask: what courses do you need to study now? What skills will be in demand in 3, 5, 7 years so that people do not lose their jobs and earn more?
NS: Wait, I’ll take out my crystal ball and tell you everything for sure … Seriously, these are skills that I would call new literacy. Twenty, thirty years ago, it all came down to three basic skills: to be literate, you had to be able to read, write and count. Now everything is different.
What has changed?
NS: Components of literacy. Now these three components are: knowledge of computer code and programming, data analysis and the ability to communicate.
What you are talking about concerns specific areas. What if I don’t need programming or data analysis?
A.V.: Very often a hobby becomes a job. For example, a woman was an accountant for a long time, and not a very happy accountant, but she baked pies perfectly. My colleagues helped her refocus and she became very popular because she made a video course on how to bake pies well. And now she earns a lot of money on this, much more than she earned before. In general, I say that a person can now go through 2-3 careers in his life, and they will be different.
This does not mean that he is not successful. First he is, let’s say, an accountant, then he has his own pie business, and then something else. This is good. Thus, we overcome this curse of the first diploma that you received when you were small and did not know anything …
NS: Yes, we know thousands and thousands of success stories of those people who completely changed their lives due to the fact that they took online courses. There are a lot of such listeners from Russia. For example, Stanislav Filippov wrote to us that he always wanted to work in healthcare, to benefit people, but he never had such an opportunity. And she appeared after he completed the course and was able to start working in healthcare.
A.V.: When I tell people: “Sign up for online courses,” quite often I hear in response: “This is some kind of Western education, it is incomprehensible, we need Russian – ours, which takes into account our specifics.”
NS: Yes indeed, that is exactly what we did. And they didn’t just adapt some courses to Russian specifics – many courses were just presented by Russian universities.
Education is important not only for gaining knowledge, it is important for networking, the connections it gives.
A.V.: Unfortunately, among employers in Russia, online certificates are not seen as an advantage. If we have two absolutely identical candidates and both fit one hundred percent, then, probably, this will be taken into account. So far, Russian employers have a lot of distrust of online education.
NS: Yes, this is indeed a very important point. And I would like to link it to what you were talking about earlier, which is on-the-job training by companies. And companies themselves approve the courses that employees take. That is, employees receive exactly the skills that they need in their work.
A.V.: Here there is a global contradiction. The company teaches the employee what is beneficial to her now. At the same time, she is looking for those who have those competencies that are not currently in the company. That is, she will teach you, but she will always look for someone better.
The company will not, more often than not, teach the skills of the future because it relies on profit
Therefore, it seems to me that in addition to this very useful work that you are doing, it is very important to do some kind of educational work for people who are losing their jobs and for HRs. So that there is an understanding that just these certificates show a person’s desire to acquire the skill of the future.
NS: I think companies are already starting to think differently. This whole cycle – from hiring to firing – is very expensive. Many have already come to understand that it is easier and cheaper to create a team of the future from the team of the present. They reason like this: “Let’s give them the right skills, let’s train them, and not repeat this endless chain of hiring and firing.”
In which areas are Russian employers most friendly to online education?
A.V.: In those areas where there are no problems with employment. And this is the worst. In theory, people should get additional chances for employment through such things. And where such diplomas are in demand: primarily in IT, everything related to programming and the value of a person as a “thinker”. In education, well, in Western companies, in branches of Western companies in Russia.
NS: And yet we see that the situation is changing. Even traditional companies in Russia are beginning to recognize the value of online education.