The Era of discomfort as a weapon of change, not always painless, but that transports us to something greater and equips us with the tools for the future. We live in the Era of predominance of the mutable, which forces us to leave the comfort of stability and seek the restlessness of the new.

António Gedeão, a Portuguese poet, wrote that the “world jumps and advances, like a colorful ball” and in the contemporary panorama where change and evolution are constant, we have felt it in an absolute and sometimes unsettling way.

If work has changed, if tools have changed, and if methodologies have changed, how can we remain relevant?

How can we adapt to the requirements of a market undergoing accelerated transformation, driven by technological advances and the challenges of the coexistence, for the first time in history, of 4 generations with very disparate preferences, in a single workspace? By also remaining in constant evolution and shaping our growth to a model of uninterrupted learning.

Upskilling and reskilling emerge in the current scenario as crucial for the professionals of the future, who seek to align market needs with their own.

Upskilling allows us, through constant improvement of our skills, not only to continue to grow in the current role, but also to prepare for its future evolution.
This arises in the increasingly complete disappearance of repetitive processes triggered by the human hand, by the progress of automation, and by the growing focus on the importance of developing Soft skills in everyday work.

Across the board, professionals remain actively growing in their areas of expertise, adapting to new technologies, adjusting to emerging demands, while also filling gaps in their performance. Functioning as an act of valorization, upskilling has a triple positive impact, reflecting both on the individual and on the team they belong to, and on the organization they represent.

Reskilling implies a deeper change, leading us to learn skills hitherto unknown and sometimes very different from our area of expertise. Becoming mandatory for all those who intend to respond to market needs, also in constant mutation, reskilling functions as professional requalification, leading to the profound transformation of individuals’ qualifications.

This can be driven both by organizations, aiming at internal mobility and process improvement, and by individuals themselves who, due to non-identification with current roles or their obsolescence, seek to become attractive to the current market.

Upskilling is concomitantly combined with reskilling, in the evolution of a labor market in permanent innovation, which sees several professions disappearing annually and enhances non-human intelligence for the performance of functions previously carried out by individuals.
Far from the reality experienced by our grandparents, where there were jobs for life and disruption was a mirage, today’s professionals reinvent themselves daily, and only in this way will it be possible to stay afloat in this ocean of transformations.

Opinion article by Ana Andrade, Head of People, Talent and Culture at WYgroup, originally published on Human Resources.