Do you need reskilling?Experts Asked What People in Their 20s and 30s Should Start

“Reskilling” has been nominated for 30 candidates for the 2022 “Yu-can New Word/Buzzword Award” and has become more common.

Prime Minister Kishida has announced that he will spend 1 trillion yen to support reskilling over five years, and it is attracting attention, but I often hear people asking, “What is reskilling in the first place?”

So this time, I asked Mr. Muneaki Goto, who started reskilling after he turned 40 and later established Japan’s first reskilling enlightenment organization, “What is reskilling?” and “Is it really necessary?” I was.

──What is reskilling?

Goto:”Digital Transformation (DX)” and “Green Transformation (GX)” from disappearing jobs in company organization^*” is a means of moving employees to new jobs.

*What is Green Transformation?…… Aiming to transform the industrial structure by aiming to shift from fossil fuels to renewable clean energy.

──What is the difference from “recurrent education”?

Goto:Recurrent education is based on individual interests and allows students to freely relearn what they like through their hobbies. It doesn’t necessarily have to be directly related to your profession.

On the other hand, reskilling can be regarded as a “business” that the company organization is responsible for as a means of labor mobility.

──Does reskilling generally refer to digital skills such as DX?

Goto:I agree. Essentially, “reskilling” means re-learning a skill, which can be any skill.

However, today, digitalization is progressing, and new jobs are often in the digital field.

Even in Western media, reskilling generally refers to digital skills.

──Reskilling is taking the lead in America.

Goto:Reskilling began to attract attention in the United States around 2016-2017.

At that time, while AI and digital technology were important, it was argued that there were few human resources in the digital field. Therefore, we have come to the conclusion that reskilling is necessary to develop human resources.

This discussion has started in Japan in recent years, but it has been discussed in the United States before Japan.

Also, during the spread of the new coronavirus infection, foreign countries were supporting the cost of reskilling. This is probably one of the reasons why we got ahead.

Re-skilling to turn hospitality employees into digital talent

──Could you tell us about some advanced cases in the United States?

Goto:The first is America’s Levi’s. Due to the lockdown due to the spread of the new coronavirus, Levi’s, a store-type business, was also hit hard.

There is a case where the management team trained store employees to become digital marketing and data scientists.

──So you trained people who used to sell jeans in stores into digital human resources?

Goto:yes. Proceeding with reskilling, the product was sold online through DTC (Direct to Consumer), and it became an explosive hit, and Levi’s is succeeding in digitization.

──Are there advanced examples in Japan?

Goto:The Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Group established a subsidiary specializing in RPA (Robotic Process Automation) and succeeded in reskilling for the introduction of RPA.

──Do you think there will be more success stories like this in the future?

Goto:I think the number of companies that are working on reskilling is increasing.

However, few companies have yet achieved the original definition of reskilling, moving workers from disappearing jobs to new ones. I think it’s a phase that has just begun.

──In Japan, the idea of ​​lifetime employment is still deeply rooted. Does this hinder the promotion of reskilling?

Goto:There is also that way of looking at it. However, as long as reskilling is aimed at labor mobility, we believe that employment forms such as “lifetime” and “job type” are irrelevant.

I think the point is whether or not we recommended reskilling by rewarding those who learned new things with raises and promotions.

If reskilling is institutionalized, such as good things happening to employees, I think they will voluntarily make efforts to advance their careers and raise their salaries.

──In order to incorporate reskilling into the system, including salary increases, it seems that the company will be required to design what skills are necessary first.

Goto:I agree. Even within the company, the direction of reskilling is different for each department, and it is necessary to formulate it individually.

For example, I think that the skills that should be learned in each department, such as legal affairs, human resources, and public relations, are different.

Therefore, it is important to formulate the direction of reskilling for each department, explain it to employees, and proceed with reskilling.

Without reskilling like this, there is no concreteness. Even if you are told to learn about AI, employees will not be interested and will not learn it.

──The employees don’t agree.

Goto:yes. Even in some Japanese companies, there are cases where people who have actually learned about digital technology do not have a place to use it in their current jobs, and there is no change to new assignments.

It is important to acquire habits of skills from the 20s and 30s

──What do you think will be the necessary skills for reskilling in your 20s and 30s?

Goto:I think it’s important to acquire new skills and develop habits from your 20s and 30s.

I think people in their 20s and 30s are constantly acquiring skills in the jobs they are given.

However, even if a certain skill is acquired, when the times and the external environment change, the skill cannot be used, and there will be a stage where reskilling is required.

That’s why I think it’s good to be conscious of building habits and learn (methods of reskilling) from now on.

──What should you start with as the first step to take action in your 20s and 30s?

Goto:I think it’s a matter of assessing your current situation.

Clarify “What do you want to do or don’t want to do?” “What kind of social problems should be solved?” “How are you evaluated in the organization?” “What kind of situation are you in?” is.

Especially recommended is to take advantage of your strengths and acquire digital skills by multiplying them. I believe that such actions will pave the way for the future, and will be a career based on reskilling.

──When people unfamiliar with digital work on reskilling, where should they start?

Goto:It is recommended that you start with something close to you, such as the digitization of your life, and get used to it. It will be a chance to touch what kind of technology is used.

Digital technology is also used in home appliances such as voice speakers and vacuum cleaners. One way to do this is to turn your smartphone or computer search into a voice search.

──Finally, Mr. Goto, please introduce your book “Reskilling” which was released in September and give a message to the readers.

Goto:In this book, I write about the results of my overseas research on reskilling, as well as the methods and know-how that I have been using for the past 10 years.

If your organization does not have a reskilling environment, we would like you to make a proposal to introduce reskilling.

However, I think there are times when such proposals are difficult in a bottom-up style.

Alternatively, this book is written from the perspective of what you can do while belonging to an organization, so it is not based on the premise of changing jobs. Even if you are thinking about changing jobs, I think there is information that can be useful in promoting reskilling.

I hope that you will read it and use it so that you can make a free agent declaration so that you can make a choice between reskilling and staying at the company or changing jobs.

(Interviewer: Kotaro Yokoyama, Composition: Ikkaku Benino)

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