As the wheels of the Fourth Industrial Revolution turn and the world begins to become increasingly digital, the demand for workers who are ever-ready to upskill themselves would increase as well. This fact has become glaringly obvious because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The global catastrophe that started as a health emergency has now evolved into a full-blown global economic meltdown.

To sustain themselves and survive, the organizations were resorting to layoffs and pay-cuts. In India alone, close to 12.2 crore workers lost their jobs during the lockdown period. In such a chaotic and dynamic environment, the aspiring professionals, or the ones who are already in a job, need something more than a simple one-time degree. They need to show their prospective employers that they’re keen to learn and grow in the industry and can keep up with the ever-evolving technological landscape.

This can be accomplished by pursuing several training and certification courses that are being offered online (since physical training isn’t feasible amid COVID-19). 

Is COVID-19 catalyzing digital adoption?

Total digitization of the world is inevitable, but it has picked up a serious pace since the pandemic struck. People have been, sort of, forced into it. Consider online learning, for example. While it was becoming popular gradually among the students and education authorities, no one ever thought it would become the only mode of teaching and learning overnight, as it has.  

The COVID-19 pandemic has turned the world upside down, and our tried-and-tested ways of doing things have been rendered obsolete. Under normal circumstances, candidates would climb a series of steps, including internship, apprenticeship, and training, to get a job. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this is largely not possible. Consequently, millions of young professionals and graduates are finding it extremely difficult to land a job or to hold on to one.

To compensate, they are resorting to online training so that they can acquire practical industry knowledge and necessary skills to meet the growing expectations of employers and become job-ready. 

Corporate is becoming more reliant on online training

Many businesses aren’t earning as much as they need to because of COVID-19 and are barely managing to survive. They’re having to either layoff employees or to induce salary cuts. The organizations are, however, wary of the fact that this is leading to the degradation of employee morale, and they’re also recognizing the need for creating virtual support systems for the employees.

While the fear of job loss dangles over their heads and the future looks like a mist of uncertainty, the employees are beginning to find some semblance of hope in the fact that they would be able to maintain their job or get a new one with their polished skill set.

Advantages of online training

• The best thing about pursuing online training and certification courses is that they offer flexibility. For working professionals, it is very difficult to find the time to travel to a training center. Online training, on the other hand, allows you to learn from anywhere, and at any time.
• Compared to offline training programs, online training programs are cost-effective. The reason for this is that the logistical expenditure is quite low. You don’t have to spend money on books, notes, desks, and other infrastructure.
• It is easier to form communities on online platforms. People who share the same career and learning goals can easily get together online and share ideas, doubts, opinions, etc.
• Online assessments are great at evaluating a candidate’s understanding of the topic without pressurizing them unnecessarily. Most training and certification courses can be considered again if the candidates are not satisfied with their performance. This sort of assessment system allows the candidates to equip themselves with the knowledge and skills they would need to perform in the corporate world.
• Online training is easily accessible as compared to offline training. Lectures can be downloaded at the drop of a hat and can be replayed as many times as required. Interactive quizzes and tests can be taken at any stage of training, and results can be obtained almost immediately.
• Online training incentivizes the need to make the content more visually appealing. Since most people are visual learners, they benefit tremendously from well-made presentations, videos, animations, etc.
• While you would rarely find free offline training programs, you can find thousands of free online training programs within minutes on your search engine. This is another major benefit of online training: it allows those candidates to improve their skillset who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to because of financial constraints.

The online learning and skill development programs have always been there, but they’ve remained obscure and out of focus thus far. That, however, is beginning to change. With offline learning out of the picture, more and more people are giving online learning a shot, and they are beginning to realize that it can be just as interactive as offline learning.