Concerted efforts from all stakeholders and a cultural shift towards embracing lifelong learning and career fluidity are essential for building a resilient and adaptable workforce capable of navigating the future of work. But what does this look like in practice? How are real people and organizations turning these concepts into career-changing opportunities?
The following innovative case studies exemplify how governments and employers can use the enablers outlined in the framework to facilitate successful job transitions.
Boot Camp Training programme, Randstad Japan
Japan is experiencing a growing imbalance between the available labour force and the demand for workers across various industries due to its declining and ageing population. Additionally, a notable shortage of skilled workers, particularly in technology fields, creates a scarcity of engineers and technology professionals.
Randstad Japan implemented a Boot Camp Training programme to facilitate career transitions into digital and IT roles, helping bridge this skills gap and providing a pathway for workers to enter the growing technology field. The programme offers intensive training courses lasting three to four weeks, combining online and face-to-face instruction.
Participants gain hands-on experience with actual equipment, focusing on entry-level digital and IT infrastructure skills. Upon completing the training, Randstad works proactively with existing clients and prospects, particularly system integrators, to secure entry-level job opportunities for programme graduates.
Since its inception in 2014, 3,000 participants have completed the training and transitioned from non-digital roles, such as shop clerks, waitstaff and beauty advisers, to digital and IT positions. This programme exemplifies the importance of re-skilling, multi-stakeholder collaboration and improving job matching efficiency in supporting job transitions.
Berufsinfomat Project, Austrian Ministry for Labour and Economy
Recent technological advancements and concerns about the future of work have made it challenging to find suitable jobs across all age groups in Austria. The AMS (Public Employment Service Austria) websites have extensive job-related content but it is hard for users to search it quickly and effectively. Additionally, Austria is seeing an influx of non-German speakers who lack information on finding suitable jobs.
Since January, the AMS has used the Berufsinfomat, a customized AI system based on ChatGPT, to provide real-time occupation information. This AI tool accesses AMS knowledge databases on professions, training and education, offering quick and comprehensive answers.
Users can ask questions in any common language and get relevant answers in the same language or translated to German. This tool can help understand what jobs are currently available, increase job matching efficiency and lead to job transitions.
The Berufsinfomat received 160,000 prompts in January 2024 and around 20,000 monthly inquiries. The tool’s feedback option has been extensively used to improve its content. Initial challenges with gender-related jobs, bias, and moral dilemmas were addressed, and the reviews are now positive.
