The Simplilearn published the findings of its mid-year survey report — State of Upskilling in 2021. The survey was conducted to understand learners’ experience in the past 12 months and their expectations for the coming year.

The survey was conducted with over 2,500 learners comprising both individual and corporate learners who participated in the same.

20% respondents were freshers, 47% were mid-level employees, and 33% were senior-level professionals. The survey covered employees working in BFSI, consulting, IT, manufacturing, pharma/healthcare, and other industries.

Learner experience in the past 12 months:

• 30% of respondents said lacking key skills is an obstacle that held them back in their career
• In terms of the pandemic impact on career plans, 31% of respondents said they feel stuck due to the effect of the pandemic
• 65% of respondents said they enrolled in upskilling in the past year to strengthen their career
• Most respondents learned or planned to learn the following new skills - Data & AI (48%), Project Management and Scrum (34%), Cloud Computing/DevOps (32%), and Digital Marketing (21%)

About the future:

• 85% of respondents look forward to post-pandemic recovery and growth
• 57% of respondents said upskilling themselves is the next step in their career development plan
• Learners cited lacking key skills as an obstacle as they are less likely to get new jobs or be assigned vital projects without those skills

Optimism is the main sentiment across all respondent demographics:

• Overall, 85% of respondents are optimistic about the future
• People of all genders and all job experience levels are optimistic about recovery from the pandemic
• Of all the industry sectors, people in BFSI are very optimistic that there will be a post-pandemic boom
• People across all company sizes are optimistic about recovery from the pandemic, although those in mid-sized companies (501-2,000 employees) are a little more cautious and somewhat less certain about the recovery

Improving career prospects and seeking skills in digital economy:

• People looking for a new job opportunity (49% of respondents) were most interested in upskilling in Data & AI (56%), Project Management and Scrum(36%), and Cloud Computing & DevOps (33%)
• Those planning to do better in their current roles (27% of respondents) were most interested in Data & AI (46%), Cloud Computing & DevOps (43%), and Project Management and Scrum (41%)

Opportunities based on the industry sectors:

• Of the various industry sectors, people in manufacturing (45%), BFSI (39%), and Information Technology (38%) were more likely to upskill for their current work
• 33% of people in BFSI chose to opt for more opportunities
• 39% of people in BFSI and 30% in manufacturing took on more responsibilities in their current roles
• At 47%, people working in Pharma and Healthcare were most likely to report feeling stuck
• At 29%, people in Pharma were most likely to wait and watch