As the world economy rebounds from the havoc created by Covid, businesses are geared up to fully compensate for their losses in profit and productivity. Coupled with this zeal are the radical changes we observe every day in the way products and services are being consumed as well as the disruptions in the technologies and ecosystems built around them.
This critical combination of motives, competencies, and lack of skilled human resources have actually opened up a wide array of career trends that any B-school graduate or MBA aspirant can look forward to.
Robotics and automation
This is clearly a winning choice for the graduates as companies have faced serious supply chain and manpower shortages after the pandemic. The global industrial robotics market was $14.7 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow to $32 billion by the end of 2028. Also, small- and mid-sized tech companies continue to leapfrog in capabilities and time, thus enabling routine business processes to become automated.
Companies would look for skilled individuals with technical and managerial skills who can bring in changes in domains such as network security, gaming, e-commerce, and dating apps, to name a few, by managing the entire process of robotics (implementation of multi-purpose robots, robotic interoperability, autonomous delivery robots) and automation.
Sustainability
Today’s world need managers who can just not think, but feel, too. We are clearly heading toward a green generation, a community of young managers whose key focus is to strike a chord with global parameters set by the sustainability developmental goals. Roles such as business analyst of ecological sustainability, transport analyst, manager of energy control, manager of regulatory frameworks, for example, are being ideated and the hunt to fill these roles is on.
The agenda of the day is to have dedicated positions in large corporates who would think and act purely from the perspective of societal implications and include the overall wellbeing of multiple stakeholders of businesses.
AI and ML
Tech and digital start-ups as well as large consulting firms are looking for talents who possess the right set of knowledge, skill, and attitude to manage their businesses that are built on AI or ML-based technologies. These technologies are increasingly being used in fields such as manufacturing, metaverse, cybersecurity, ecommerce, and many other spheres.
The market needs managers who can drive the bottom-line by developing and managing products and services that are AI enabled and use machine learning fundamentals and analytics at their core.
Healthcare management
Huge investments are being made to introduce new technologies around predictive and preventive healthcare. The size of the global healthcare app market is estimated to touch $105 billion by the end of 2023, which was a meagre $2.6 billion market in 2017.
Biotech and healthcare firms are recruiting MBA graduates who can quickly learn the market dynamics and thereafter apply business fundamentals to expand the size of hospitals and healthcare systems, manage costs, develop and nurture community-based healthcare centers, and cater to the growing needs of emergency healthcare — something the pandemic had taught us.
Fintech and edtech
The financial services industry is rapidly moving to a hi-tech market with the aid of new-age technologies such as cryptocurrencies and blockchains, non-fungible-tokens, cloud computing, no-code and low-code, and hyper-automation, in order to provide superior productivity convenience to the consumers.
We are living in the era of fintech 3.0 that has surpassed ATMs and online banking to mark its presence in services such as mobile wallets, robo financial advisors, and peer-to-peer lending, to name a few. New-age firms as well as large financial institutions are looking for managers who can effectively manage their fintech ventures and establish consumers’ share of mind and wallet in a crowded marketplace.
Similarly, edtech companies are also on a rise. With the help of technology, they are on the journey of transforming workforce by skilling, upskilling, and reskilling freshers and experienced business professionals. These firms are looking for fresh talent from B-schools who can multitask and manage robust business models that have exciting propositions for the users.
For example, many edtech firms are working on MOOCs to create meaningful conversations and seamless interactions between students and professors. Joining an edtech company in order to manage and grow its business should be on the choice list of MBA graduates.
If you are soon to graduate, look forward to these upcoming career trends with an open mind, an attitude to learn, and a passion to excel in the world of business.
(The writer is Professor and Associate Dean (Academics), TA Pai Management Institute (TAPMI) Manipal, a constituent unit of Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE).)