The search for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) professionals is on the rise. “Today only 33% of the global demand for tech-savvy employees is met and it is estimated that more than 450,000 STEM jobs will be vacant in Colombia by 2030.”
Marco Casarin, general manager of Microsoft Colombia, made this projection in an exclusive interview for elempleo.com. He added that organizations must believe in transformation as an ongoing process and have an unchangeable ethical role over their role in the world.
Among other things, he ruled out that age is a limitation to get a great job in IT and said that we must rethink the way we learn and teach.
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Can a non-digital person work in prominent positions in a multinational like Microsoft?
Microsoft wasn’t born digital. We existed 45 years ago and had to go through a digital transformation ourselves… That gives us a privileged position to understand and help others make their own transformation process, because we know the journey, the challenges and also what is the enormous potential that is unleashed with digital transformation.
We had to change our culture, our training, our processes, our focus and even our products. We have traveled a path, but we know that transformation is not a fixed point in the future, it is an ongoing process that in no way involves starting from scratch and getting rid of what you had and the people who brought the company here.
Microsoft believes in transformation. Many of us here were not born, but became digital. It is totally possible when there is a mindset of growth and desire to learn. Diversity in the workforce, across generations, gender, cultures, skills and capabilities, enriches a company’s creative process, innovation and culture. Today we are at least four generations working together, and that is an advantage, a great wealth that fuels innovation and helps us ask the right questions to design more universal technologies.
What skills do you require from your employees?
Microsoft’s recruitment process takes into account so-called “hard” skills (training, specific knowledge, experience and background) and soft skills (such as critical thinking, the ability to solve complex problems, empathy, collaboration). But there is also a fundamental criterion for choosing our collaborators: that we share an ethical vision about our role in the world, values of respect for others and for difference, great curiosity and a desire to learn.
Does age matter? Several organizations are already facing challenges to renew their workforce…
No! We do not believe in the expiration date of talent, we believe in the ‘perennials’, those who remain current, curious, challenge, learn, collaborate and develop the skills that their work requires regardless of their date of birth. We ourselves, with more than four decades in the market, are proof that it is possible to transform and we consider that diversity of age, gender or cultural values enriches and is the fuel of innovation.
These difficulties that he mentions to renew the staff are practically universal, but they correspond more to the fact that technology evolves so fast and has transformed companies so much, that there are not enough professionals to supply that demand. It is true that there are few graduates in technological careers and we must collaborate with governments and academia to train these people very quickly for the jobs of the future. But we cannot think only about tomorrow because the fourth industrial revolution is already happening, is happening and we have to adapt quickly.
That’s why we have the added responsibility to constantly retrain our own existing workforce, so that our current employees acquire the skills their new roles demand. At Microsoft, for example, anyone, regardless of their position or responsibility, has mandatory training in technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning or the internet of things, in addition to a whole curriculum for the performance of their own functions. We believe this is everyone’s responsibility and that’s why many of those trainings are open to the public on our Microsoft Learn and AI School platforms.
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In your opinion, are young Colombians being well educated to face the challenges of the digital world?
For a few years now, we have seen how digital transformation has changed the way we live, how we connect, how we work. Teaching and learning have not escaped this transformation: students and the way they learn create and share have changed. The places where they will work and the skills, they will possess will be different. For the Observatory for Employment in the Digital Age, 65% of current students will end up in jobs that have not even been invented yet.
Today we have to rethink not only the way we learn and teach, but also the new technological skills that new generations need to develop. For this reason, it is necessary to consolidate training models that allow for lifelong learning, which allows training and training at the same pace as economies evolve and industries are transformed; that it is timely, that is, that the transfer of knowledge is in accordance with the specific needs of each moment; and finally, that it is relevant in relation to the hard and soft skills that the workforce will need to evolve hand in hand with the transformations to come.
Do people’s skills matter more at Microsoft than studies?
It seems that the world would be moving there, but let me make a clarification: it is not that the studies carried out do not matter, the knowledge is extremely relevant. But the way to acquire them has been changing. Today there are more specialized and agile formats compared to those offered by traditional higher education in the classic university curriculum of four or five years of career. It becomes increasingly relevant to have specific skills and certifications, interesting combinations of qualifications, and a mix of hard and soft skills. It seems that the concept of leaving the university and thinking that there ends the training will cease to exist. You have to educate and update yourself permanently, not only during university.
Is the so-called revolution 4.0 opening knowledge gaps further, that is, is the majority lagging behind technological advance?
It is a fact that digital transformation is advancing at great speed. If we know how to take advantage of it, this represents an enormous opportunity to generate value, economic growth and development. But it will undoubtedly require adjustments and efforts to mitigate the negative impacts that this transformation may generate in the labor market and this requires a different look at work and education and joint efforts between the private and public sectors and academia.
To begin with, education systems: Latin America and the world are not producing enough graduates in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Today only 33% of the global demand for tech-savvy employees is met and it is estimated that more than 450,000 STEM jobs will be vacant in Colombia by 2030.
On the side of other careers that are not STEM, the evolution of work will also require a different teaching in humanities careers, which integrates technological tools that are already part of and will have an increasing weight in professional practice. A sociologist who does not know how to use and do data analytics, a school teacher who does not use technology, or an administrator who does not understand how to integrate machine learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) processes to improve their processes and enhance their businesses will be at a huge disadvantage.
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How important do you think ethics is in today’s worker, considering that there is a lot of talk about specific skills and knowledge?
The actual deployment of AI research is exciting, but we need to understand the benefits, risks, and effects of the technologies. AI has the potential to do a lot of good in the world. For this to be possible, AI must be built in a way that builds trust, AI systems must be designed with protections for fairness, trustworthiness and security, transparency and accountability, privacy, and must be inclusive.
Of interest: Artificial intelligence is already used in selection processes
For AI to do the greatest good in the world, it must be based on empathy. We need to deeply understand the data we are using to create the foundation of our system and how the resulting algorithms could affect the people and communities that interact with it. AI must be designed to help humanity; be transparent; maximize efficiency without destroying human dignity; provide intelligent privacy and accountability for the unexpected; and be protected against bias and bias.