A few decades ago, formal training alone in any field was a sure way of guaranteeing individual lifelong skills and abilities to perform tasks until one retired. 

Today, acquiring skills other than one’s core career proficiencies in early adulthood, say in one’s mid-20s, is the rule rather than the exception. And this has become the universal requirement for staying relevant in your organization.

Employee skills and job requirements are shifting so fast that a skill gained by a student in the final year at the university or college, maybe irrelevant before he or she even enters the job market. American futurist and author Alvin Toffler rightly observed that: “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, relearn, and unlearn.” 

Bob Kegan, a research professor in Adult Learning and Professional Development at the Harvard Graduate School of Education said at a conference in 2017: “The time it takes for people’s skills to become irrelevant will shrink. It used to be, “I got my skills in my 20s; I can hang on until 60. It’s not going to be like that anymore. We’re going to live in an era of people finding their skills irrelevant at age 45, 40, 35” 

Julie, a journalist who graduated 18 years ago, is a perfect example of Kegan’s prophecy. She reminisces the old days when her company had all the time and almost a monopoly of informing the public.

“There was no social media, and the media landscape was very small. An event would happen, say on a Tuesday, and people had the patience to wait for two days before they receive the news,” she says.

“But now, the news is more perishable than tomatoes in the market. You have to learn these technologies, reach the market fast, and be creative in your packaging if you are to stay relevant,” Julie adds.

What Julie says is something akin to Charles Darwin’s evolution theory of survival for the fittest which states: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change,”

Truth is, if you want to succeed today in your profession, you should treat your career as a living creature that keeps evolving; depending on available opportunities, economic realities, and personal interests which often change. 

If you look at a career with this open mindset, you will be able to acquire new skills that will set you apart, and enable you to grab available opportunities.

In this article, Human Capital International presents four ways to help you find out whether you are becoming irrelevant in your industry or not. Your job relevancy or irrelevancy may be shaped by new technology, customer demands, or change of vision of your organization.

• Knowledge Deficiencies

The current job market is very competitive and not expanding fast to absorb the job market supply. Between 2000 and 2014 for example, according to Africa’s Development Dynamics 2018 report, employment expanded by less than 1.8% a year, far below the nearly 3% annual growth of the labour force.

“By 2030″, the report warned, “it is expected that 30 million youth will be entering the African labour market each year. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, while 18 million jobs need to be created annually to absorb new entries in the labour market, only 3 million formal jobs are currently being created”.

Even with this gloomy reality, a few professionals take the time to examine if indeed their current skillsets fit the new normal. Which unique skills do you bring to the table that will entice a potential employer? How relevant are your skills to your current job, and your industry? The best way to answer some of these questions is by testing your current skillset relevancy to performance reviews, benchmarking your skills with your competitors, and asking for feedback from the experts.

If these reviews turn to be negative, know that you are becoming irrelevant, and you risk being replaced anytime.

Making this evaluation will help you identify the skills gaps and then adjust accordingly by acquiring the necessary ones. Never stop to reflect on what you bring to the employer’s table. It is the only way to survive and stand out in this competitive job market.

• No Promotion/ Recognition of Your Efforts For Years.

For any business to survive, it must continuously solve people’s problems, and in turn generate revenue. It is this financial inflow that is used to pay expenses such as the wage bill, utilities, taxes, and dividends for the owners among others. Employees help the employer generate revenue. Top problem solvers are rewarded excellently because, without such employees, the company cannot generate any income. As an employee, ask yourself: are you a problem solver, and helping your organization to generate revenue, cut costs, or providing the necessary connections to close a deal?

Author and entrepreneur Emmanuel Dei-Tumi in his book: “How to Increase Your Income as An Employee”, writes: “There is a positive correlation between the problems you solve and the income you earn. The bigger the problem you solve, the higher you earn and vice versa,”

Employers will do everything possible, including paying a premium salary and training to employees who they think are relevant to the organization’s needs. If you are an employee and you have been working in an organization for many years, but the leaders do not see a reason to give you bigger problems to solve, and therefore higher income, it may be a clear pointer that your relevance is minimal. It’s about to time you either found a new career or a way to increase your relevance to your employer and the industry at large.

• Unable To Adapt

The only survival mechanism for a 21st-century worker is his or her ability to act like a chameleon. A chameleon, whenever it is threatened, camouflages to suit that particular environmental setup. Your ability to adapt is dependent on flexibility and attitude. There are many people with competencies, but there are few who can adapt.

If the new organizational culture is digital-first for instance, it means you have to adapt to this strategy by learning new skills that will help you fit in. Failure to adapt means you will be unable to perform your duties and thereby giving your employer all the reasons to relieve you of your duties. Organizations that have a vision of staying competitive now and in the future will always identify those employees who are pliable to groom for bigger and more significant responsibilities. Those are the employees who will receive retraining and coaching. If you are unable to adapt, then you are irrelevant in a current job market which requires learning every day.

• Your Ideas Don’t Matter

“Two heads are better than one”, goes the adage. But if you are an employee and your ideas are the ones that are always rejected, both at strategic or execution level in the organization, this is a clear manifestation your relevance is fading fast. It is well known that for companies to survive, the employees must continuously come up with innovative ideas based on research. Therefore, if your ideas are not valued, most probably your industry has outgrown you. Employees who invest time in reading and benchmarking will always be on top of their performance, and innovation. If your contribution to the organization is pegged at point zero, your time is up.

In conclusion, no employee can take a vacation from developing the necessary skill -sets that will distinguish them in the current disruptive and uncertain world reality brought about by technological and market demands.