The Covid-19 pandemic has brought about a change in workplaces and business strategies, raising concerns about what job roles will exactly look like in the future.
In the new world, there is a paradigm shift in job profiles, which has new advanced skill sets across industries.
This stands true particularly for the e-commerce industry, which went through multiple changes during the three-month lockdown and continues to see more alterations even in the unlock phase. The change is more evident for players that operate in the essentials services space where the demand for skilled talent has increased multifold.
As per the recent trends, here are some profiles and skills that continue to see hiring momentum in the e-commerce industry:
Programming language experts
As more businesses look to scale up, the demand for language experts, especially for languages like Python and Swift, has drastically increased. Python has become more popular as it enables companies to experiment with 2D imaging as well as 3D animation packages like Blender, Inkscape, and Autodesk.
These languages are far more compatible and also help organisations scale up smoothly.
Additionally, these languages assist companies to easily create videos and graphics that have a higher consumer appeal.
In-house nutritionists and health counsellors
Changes to our lives, especially on the aspects of health and hygiene—which we used to be lackadaisical about—has become crucial.
As workforce returns to offices, companies in the e-commerce segment are looking at hiring in-house nutrition experts and health counsellors who can provide customised advice to each employee, keep regular checks, and help workers boost their immunity.
Artificial intelligence, big data and internet of things
Technology will continue to be at the heart of e-commerce. More consumers are now shifting to online platforms for essentials to non-essential. Hence, for companies, it is imperative to strengthen both their back-end and front-end technology.
Few roles where demand has doubled are user interface/user experience (UI/UX) developers, web designers, virtual reality experts, AI designers and experts, infrastructure architects, cybersecurity experts, and special analysts. There is an increasing demand for data analysts and data scientists as well. Companies are using this talent to effectively understand consumer behaviour and requirements.
Digital marketing experts
To acquire, service and retain customers in this new age, there will be an increased demand for digital marketing experts focused on sales. This demand is being seen the most in the retail e-commerce space, where even the existing professionals will need to re-skill to avoid becoming redundant.
Before the lockdown, the retail sector already had a huge skill deficit and the gap will grow wider as the demand for new skills continues to increase.
Mental health counsellors
Several companies in the e-commerce sector have taken the conscious decision to let part of their workforce to work from home for the coming months. Working in seclusion for long periods is likely to take a toll on employees and companies have also taken note of this issue.
Many e-commerce firms are hiring counsellors to assist employees with their issues, address conflicts, manage mental health and boost morale. In the future, it will be the emotional quotient that will act as a key to connect people with the organisation.
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