NEW AGE SKILLS – THE ANSWER

TO THRIVE IN VUCA WORLD

This whitepaper discusses on the importance of New Age Skills in the VUCA world and
how it could be developed through a holistic online approach.
Prepared for Talentpepz by Dr. Fazalur Rahman and Professor M. Syed Ahmed.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction ........................................................................... 2
Hard and Soft Skills.............................................................. 2
The Challenge........................................................................ 3
Employers Need.................................................................... 3
New Age Skills ....................................................................... 3
Learning and Development ............................................. 4
Conclusion .............................................................................. 4
Business Model ..................................................................... 5
Specialised Competency Framework............................ 5
Assessment Tools.................................................................. 5
e – Learning............................................................................ 5
LMS............................................................................................ 5
 Gone are those days when a Bachelor or Master’s What may appear true today could be proven to be false
degree would act as a passport to a dream job. tomorrow. The jobs that students aim for after they
Nowadays, employers expect leadership and other graduate may not even exist.
soft skill qualities in employees along with their Teaching them ideas and facts, without teaching them how to
academic credentials. apply it in real-life settings, is no longer enough. For this reason,
In this New Age, information and knowledge are students need to be taught how to process, analyze, and use
INTRODUCTION increasing at an astronomical rate. Students and information. They need non-technical skills such as
graduates cannot learn in-depth about every subject. communication, emotional intelligence and risk management

Today the emphasis is more on hard skills than on
developing a spirit of enquiry, which is the most
predominant factor to achieve success. An all-rounded
development of complementary human intelligences and
abilities like creativity and inter-personal skills is
underdeveloped.
HARD Academic and technical skills (hard skills) are tangible, can
AND SOFT SKILLS be more easily defined, observed and measured. However,
the measurement of personal and interpersonal skills are
intangible and difficult to define, observe and measure
without the help of professional support. Vast research and expert
opinions have been sought in the effort to determine the specific
soft skills needed for the younger generation (p21.org).
“Competencies play a critical
role in providing purpose, clarity
and focus to enhance the
productivity of the workforce.”
- Zenger & Folkman

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 The transition from academia to corporate is not so easy and smooth. Today’s young professionals are facing and will
face quite a complex and challenging corporate world. They should understand that their development has become

THE CHALLENGE a lifelong learning process.

The globalization of the industries and the across as competent individuals in any given situation.
consequent spurt in the job scene has suddenly found Qualifications is often embarked as a key factor for
us the need of soft skills. The employers when selecting suitable candidates. However,
recent NASSCOM report employers want to select, retain and promote individuals
endorses this fact by stating
25% 75%
Employable Unemployable
Graduates Graduates who are dependable, resourceful, and ethical and possess good
that 75 % of the graduates are
leadership skills.
not employable since the focus
is always on academics and
EMPLOYERS NEED Ideally, it is the combination of soft and hard skills that helps
theory.
individuals to develop and maintain sustainable careers. The
Hard and soft skills empower the aspirants to
21st century alone has borne witness to a change in how soft
understand who they are and how best they can come EMPLOYERS NEED

What are New Age skills? At Talentpepz we name soft world that is shrinking rapidly to meld more multiculturism
skills as New Age skills. They are your personality that at the work place.
are coming to the forefront as professional assets like
problem solving, teamwork and adaptability to * An US Army acronym coined
change. The truth is, we have transitioned to a society to specify Volatility,
Uncertainty, Complexity
where it is important to have knowledge but also
and Ambiguity.
NEW AGE SKILLS critical to have the skills to deal with people, find
solutions to problems and be adaptable in the VUCA*

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 Skills are a gradual change that slowly gets imbibed into
your character. Just like academic skills and technical skills
which have to be honed, practice helps master soft skills
too. The first step in developing good soft skills is to identify
and unlearn the negative traits developed and relearn.
Unless the learners have seen success in applying a new

LEARNING skill or method, they are not convinced that a change is

required.
AND DEVELOPMENT
Training programs are largely informative, but it is
important to understand the abilities and emotional
intelligence of learners before imparting some sort of
training. The learner must understand that the training is
never final and soft skills takes time to be developed. One
should usually continue to put a skill learnt in practice so
that it becomes a habit and seeps into one's behaviour.

The sheer number of unemployed graduates endorses the importance of soft skills. Education and technical skills provide
opportunity which can be capitalised only with the command over soft skills. It sets up a step higher and makes them stand out
of the competition. Having the required New Age skills provides the right foundation for professional and personal growth.
CONCLUSION

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 PROGRAM Prospective Pre & Post Short, Mid & Long Development Future Perfect
Aspirants Assessment Term Mentoring through continuous Transformation
MODEL e - Learning

SPECIALISED Level based Competencies Clear roadmap to Metrics to measure

and Behavioural Specific
COMPETENCY Indicators
achievethe required level theoutcome

FRAMEWORK

Talentpepz in association with "Centraltest", an

Internationally renowned psychometric assessment test
ASSESSMENT developer, have developed a customized competency
specific assessment, that has high validity and reliability. SMART Logic Professional Profile Emotional Stability
TOOLS

Our e-learning is crafted with competency Faclitates One to One Mentoring-Simple to

specific contents. It is highly interactive, navigate Track your developments Analytics
experiential and enjoyable. Dashboard View recorded sessions
E – LEARNING LMS

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 SALIENT Access anywhere Learn at your Experiential Connect with
in convenient devices own pace
FEATURES learning journey your mentor

NEW AGE COMPETENCIES

FOCUS

S.K. CHANDRAKUMAR

OUR
AFFILIATES

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TALENTPEPZ CAREER www.talentpepz.com

SOLUTIONS (INDIA) info@talentpepz.com

PVT. LTD. Toll Free No.: 1800 212 5355

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