Top 10 Career Opportunities Post COVID-19 – The Indian Mindset

The ongoing pandemic has changed a lot of things around us and about us. Some of these changes have been negative, but quite unexpectedly, there have been some positive changes as well. For example, the lockdown situation around the world has brought about a significant difference in the environment. The pollution levels have gone down drastically; animals could stay safe in their habitat, energy consumption has gone down too.

But mostly there have been some negative impacts which have impacted human life, about the daily lives, small and medium businesses, daily wage earners, social lives. It has also brought forward many shortcomings we have been living with, such as not enough medical facilities, shortage of doctors, ventilators, nurses, improper social distancing, unhygienic living conditions, etc.

The economic downturn appears to be unavoidable too. However, the good news is that this enormous socio-economic change has brought about a focus on some important career options for future professionals, which will be extremely relevant tomorrow. Let's look at ten career opportunities that will continue to be even after the COVID crisis.

1)    Robotics- One of the main reasons why the work zones were shut down completely during a pandemic was because of the conditions in most of the factories in India and even across the world. For assembly line tasks, for which we have a lot of migrant workers in the cities, there is no scope to employ social distancing. Factories had to be shut down, and these workers had to be sent home.

Not only had this affected the output, production, and supply of products manufactured but also the lives of the workers in the manufacturing industry. With the advent of robotics, such issues can be taken care of. Technologies such as these can help employ robotic automation to deliver manual tasks without risking the lives of any human being.

Therefore the world is gradually moving towards developing such techniques that are relatively independent of human intervention. A career in robotics is lucrative, especially in the post COVID era. At BML Munjal, the B.Tech students who opt for mechanical engineering, can specialize in Robotics and study one of these cutting-edge technology to avail themselves of a career in this very demanding field.

2)    Artificial intelligence and machine learning- Countries across the world and businesses are trying to re-establish themselves as resilient in the event of such future epidemics. The COVID 19 situation has been an eye-opener for most about how necessary it is to bring about a change. Tech-savviness is a critical part of that desired change. More and more companies are trying to incorporate technologies to fortify themselves from such a breakdown to deliver business as usual.

Artificial intelligence, internet of things, machine learning, is a key part of such technological advancement. As a result, there is going to be a huge demand for B.Tech students with these specializations or backgrounds. BML Munjal's Computer Science & Engineering and Electronics & Communications Engineering offers opportunities to study these subjects in-depth, along with experiential learning. This helps the students to be better able to transition from academics into businesses.

3)    Human resource champions - The way work is being delivered during and after COVID, is a major change from what it used to be earlier. Large multinational companies that had shirked away from providing work-from-home options are now changing their ideologies towards making remote working the new law. There are immense benefits for both employees as well as employers in the case of remote working.

However, to move into this new regimen, the entire pattern of workforce management, productivity measurement, leaves, mental health checks, benefit mechanisms have to be reworked. With the "operations floor" gone, companies have to look at connecting with employees through other mediums. The new-age HR champions will help in creating these new ideas to rebuild virtual workspaces. Traditional HR metrics will no longer be relevant.

Therefore, new demand for a fresh wave of HR management trainees will be created. Management schools such as BM Munjal's MBA courses are designed to meet the new requirement in industry practices through industry visits, customized curriculum, more focus on practical learning, etc.

4)    Legal experts- Businesses have become more vulnerable than ever before as employee transfer, deputations, onsite assignments, quarantine regulations, leaves, etc. have to be customized according to the laws of the land. This entire body of policies has to be relooked at from a legal perspective. New corporate lawyers will be required to fill such positions in the legal team of business houses to draft newer policies about the laws.

BM Munjal's BA LLB and BBA LLB program are designed to keep up with the practical requirements through experiential learning. As such, the course is designed in a way to groom future legal practitioners to meet the changing requirements.

5)    Digital transformer - Whether it is the corporate or education industry, hotels, or small enterprises, restaurants, etc., the dependence on digital technologies has grown by leaps and bounds. Many software service providers are now lending digital transformation support in this journey of their clients. From building apps to establishing blockchain, cloud technologies, a digital transformation plays a very big role and is even more relevant after the pandemic era.

The B.Tech program in BMU offers several specializations such as Computer Science & Engineering and Electronics & Communications Engineering, which prepare students to graduate with industry-ready knowledge and skills to take up such roles.

6)    Business leaders- The Business leaders of the 4th industrial revolution, especially after the pandemic which has swept over so many changes in many facets of business, are required to be critical thinkers who can lead the company ably through such troubled times. These leaders display exceptional mindfulness, thought leadership, foresightedness, whether it is in the field of data, manpower, or changing objectives.

As students of business studies in BMU, the leaders of tomorrow develop not just their knowledge but also other critical competencies that are required to succeed through this transition. Textbooks do not prepare one for real-world challenges, which is why the courses in BM Munjal stand apart from most other educational institutions.

7)    Financial consultants- It is needless to say that with the world coming to a standstill, there is a widespread fear of another recession set in. Financial experts and consultants across the world are working on analyzing and studying the effect to do anything that could avert a disastrous downturn of the economies. From BA Economics to B.Com or MBA in Finance, BML Munjal offers many courses that can meet the demand for grooming future professionals who can join the world of finances as consultants or planners, or strategists.

8)    Entrepreneurship- Many small businesses have close down due to their lack of preparedness for this unexpected change in the world. But that leaves a lot of opportunities for future entrepreneurs who see themselves as starting new ventures. Having seen the rampant effects of an epidemic, they are now better prepared to create a more resilient business that can withstand future disruptions.

BMU's business courses such as BBA and MBA, are so designed that students develop a 360-degree approach to solving a problem. They are not focused on learning worded concepts alone. Groupthink, leadership abilities, problem-solving, networking, and learning about industry challenges are some of the areas where the students excel at and become thought leaders of the future.

9)    Marketing managers- Changing market trends is a fallout in the post-pandemic era. Consumer requirements would change, given the new challenges. To give an example, the sudden boom in demand for home-delivered vegetables and groceries was an outcome of the pandemic. Earlier, this industry had suffered because Indians preferred to buy directly from the vendors instead of being delivered at home.

The COVID served as a push factor to break the mental barrier to move into accepting the new trend. These new challenges and demands would lead to expert marketing professionals who can devise, design, and create new marketing techniques for businesses.

BM Munjal's B.Com and MBA in marketing courses provide just the right opportunity for students to gear up for this career. A tie-up with one of the most prominent colleges of business - The Imperial College in London, provides BMU's b-school a worldwide teaching methodology, student exchange programs, curriculum design, and joint research activities.

10) Business analysts - In the post coronavirus world, companies are expected to better understand business trends and predict disruptions of business in the future. To serve their clients better, businesses need good business analysts who are equipped with the right skills and knowledge to analyze and forecast business trends and changing focus, market demand, consumer behavior shifts, etc.

Students from BM Munjal's BA Economics are groomed to understand complex societal and global economic situations to decide solutions in the real world. A specific course about this would be BMU's MBA in business analytics, where the focus again is on experiential learning rather than textbook-based studies. Researchers expect or predict wars, asteroids, global warming, earthquakes, and what could be done or not done in such eventualities.

But no one had been expecting a widespread pandemic, one that has made things unstable even though pandemics have been recurring every century. COVID 19 has opened up minds to think about such possibilities in the future too. Having said that, let's understand that human beings are extremely dynamic, and they always try to find a way out of any situation - even if it is a lockdown.

Mindsets have changed, and so have the working styles, the leave patterns, face to face meetings. Business is still going on. Newer technologies are coming up to bridge the gap created through social distancing. Remote working has become the new norm. While older processes and methodologies are getting redundant, new career streams are coming up and becoming extremely popular.