Claire Farrugia
Assistant Editor, gradireland
With a rising demand for digital skills, businesses need tech-savvy graduates to fill in roles that may have not even existed when they were in school.
Technological advances and the rate at which the world of work changes are ever-increasing. Outlined here are five digital skills that make graduates more employable:
Social media as a valuable digital skill
Being able to use social media effectively is a useful skill for almost all sectors. Modern-day businesses build dynamic relationships with their target audience through social media. From building a brand to driving traffic to your website and providing customer service, social media can add value to businesses.
Data analytics for better decision-making
Investing time, money and effort into an online presence is a necessity; to do this effectively, businesses must understand the impact of their efforts. Data can help businesses focus efforts where they matter and make informed decisions. A graduate with data analytics skills will have a distinct advantage when applying for jobs such as data analysis, data processing and many others.
AI can simplify certain tasks and reduce
labour-intensive or repetitive ones.
Mobile marketing for quality content
With most people using a mobile phone and smartphone traffic exceeding desktop traffic, mobile-friendly content has an advantage in the battle for consumer attention. Strong knowledge of mobile-friendly marketing is bound to stand out. Knowing how an audience consumes content will help create better content.
Video content to engage audiences
Video is the most popular form of digital content. It’s the best way to attract and retain the attention of your target audience. Video is easy to consume as it requires little to no effort from the user and is therefore highly engaging. Having the skills to produce quality video content will help graduates stand out to companies that understand its value.
Artificial intelligence to streamline processes
Recent advancements such as ChatGPT have put artificial intelligence (AI) in the spotlight. AI can simplify certain tasks and reduce labour-intensive or repetitive ones. Knowing how to make use of AI tools and keeping up-to-date with technology will make graduates better equipped for the modern workplace.
A partnership of public and private organisations is developing a national skills platform to narrow Ireland’s digital skills gap. According to Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science — Simon Harris TD: “As a knowledge-based economy, the development of digital and data skills is of huge strategic importance for the country as all sectors nationally and locally prepare for digital transformation and a new age of skills requirements.”