Top 8 Careers to Reskill Into

Arm yourself with the training to prepare for jobs of the future

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused joblessness to hit an all-time high, prompting the UK government to invest in and encourage reskilling. 

Regardless of whether you’ve been directly affected by the current crisis in the job market, it’s a timely opportunity to learn how you can prepare yourself for the future of work.

Which areas of industry have been hardest hit by COVID-19?

In a bleak year for the job market the unemployment rate climbed to 4.9% by October 2020 (compared to 3.8% at end 2019) and the UK saw a record number of redundancies - 370,000 - between August and October.

Almost all sectors have seen a large number of job cuts. The hardest hit is the retail sector. The aviation and hospitality industries have also suffered heavily from the collapse in demand.

What’s the UK government doing to combat unemployment?

In an attempt to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on the job market, the government has launched a number of initiatives including the Job Support Scheme, Job Entry Targeted Support (JETS) scheme and the Lifetime Skills Guarantee.

In the Job Support Scheme, the government offers wage support to try to protect jobs in viable businesses. The JETS scheme focuses on getting those unemployed back into employment by offering services such as CV and interview coaching.

Of notable interest to our users who are seeking training is the Lifetime Skills Guarantee. This initiative, backed by the £2.5 billion National Skills Fund, trains and reskills job seekers to prepare them for jobs of the future. 

Available from April 2021, adults without an A-Level or equivalent qualification will be offered a fully-funded college course. It is estimated that tens of thousands of adults will benefit from the almost 400 free funded courses, ranging from construction to healthcare to engineering.

Read on to find out:

I. What reskilling is and why is it important?

II. Who should reskill?

III. What jobs you should reskill into

I. What is reskilling and why is it important?

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and McKinsey estimated in an October 2020 report that 90% of workers will need to reskill over the next decade. By 2030, as job roles evolve, 26 million workers will need to upskill. Meanwhile, 5 million workers will require retraining as they go through more fundamental career changes.

Upskilling = Development of skills through continuous training in order to keep up with new business and technological developments.

Reskilling = Learning of new skills or a new vocation so as to take on new responsibilities, do a new role or go into a new career.

Reskilling and upskilling the British workforce are important for several reasons:

• Improve international competitiveness

• Create job opportunities across the country

• Prevent deepening inequalities - the poorest people and regions will be hardest hit by growing skills gaps 

As a member of the workforce, it’s vital that you reskill or continue to upskill as needed. This is so that you have the relevant skills to be a competitive candidate in the changing work landscape.

The CBI and McKinsey identify adult education as key to improving British industry competitiveness and increasing living standards across the country.

The report stresses that individuals, businesses and the government need to increase spending in adult education by 25% (an additional £130 billion) over the next 10 years.

This bold long-term investment in skills is needed in order to ensure that the UK economy emerges stronger from this crisis and gains significant competitive advantage as the global economy recovers.

Reskilling Case Study

I am in the process of re-skilling from a 25 year construction career into a web design and SEO career.  

As I approach my 50's my body is finding it harder and harder to keep up with my previous construction work and even though I own my own small construction company, I have decided it is time for me to make a career change.

A few years ago I had some issues with web development companies designing and building a website for my construction company.  After numerous issues, I decided to learn how and do it myself.  Since then, I have built a few dozen websites and have really enjoyed the process.  

The combination of my construction background and my willingness to learn new tech has made a great combination for building sites for other small construction companies as I "speak the same language" as them and we can communicate well.

I now own a small web design company and am transitioning that to be my full-time career. 

Don't fear large scale career changes, I am proof that you can teach an old dog new tricks!

- Mike Syms, Full Scale Web Design

II. Who should reskill?

Almost every job will change over the next decade. The only question is how far-reaching the changes will be. Therefore, virtually every worker will need some form of reskilling or upskilling.

If your job is expected to change incrementally, you may only need to upskill - through continuous training programmes - to ensure your skills remain relevant. If the change is expected to be more drastic, you may need to reskill to take advantage of job opportunities in a different field.

Workers in the UK who would particularly need reskilling are likely to come from groups that have higher than average joblessness rates. For instance, Sky News reports that young people (aged 16 to 24) have been the worst affected by joblessness in recent years. Additionally, the following regions show unemployment rates that are higher than the national average (July - September 2020): North East, London, West Midlands, East Midlands. 

The groups who are most at risk to lose their jobs should prioritise reskilling. The CBI and McKinsey report notes that these are the workers in occupations that have the lowest rates of training, the highest unemployment rates, and the lowest wages.

III. What jobs should you reskill into?

Automation and technology are seen to be key drivers of change in the UK job market over the next 10 years, according to the CBI and McKinsey report. 

Research by the McKinsey Global Institute suggests that employment in these 8 jobs are not expected to be displaced by automation and could even grow:

• Technology / IT professionals 

• Healthcare providers

• Executives and managers

• Professionals e.g. scientists, analysts, engineers, and accountants

• Teachers

• Creatives e.g. artists and entertainers

• Builders and related professions

• Service and manual jobs in unpredictable environments e.g. gardeners and home health aides

Meanwhile, employment in these jobs is likely to decline due to automation:

• Office support or back-office occupations e.g. finance and accounting, office assistants, and record clerks

• Some customer interaction roles e.g. food service workers, cashiers, and hotel and travel workers

• Wide range of jobs in predictable environments e.g. food preparation workers, drivers, assembly line workers, dishwashers, and agricultural and other equipment operators

You should note however that in occupations where some tasks are automated, employment may not fall if workers can move on to perform new tasks. Additionally, if the demand for that occupation increases enough to overwhelm automation rates, employment in that occupation may also rise.