UPSKILLING AND RETRAINING IN DATA ANALYTICS: A SKILL-ADJACENCY ANALYSIS FOR CAREER PATHS

Abstract

The ongoing and accelerating pace of digitization and automation, and the resulting demand for knowledge and skills in the associated technologies, have prompted organizations to retrain and upskill their workforce in addition to hiring fresh talent with the requisite skills. Lack of specific career paths for effectively training and upskilling is, however, an obstacle for many organizations, their employees, graduates, and potential candidates to retrain or upgrade their skills . This study examines technical skills required by the leading business and industry employers in the US for the various data analytics fields. Specifically, 50 recent vacancy announcements in five data analytics fields were analyzed for the similarity or adjacency of their skill requirements in order to discover retraining opportunities for employees and graduates to move from one such field to another. Results of data analysis and discussion of the results highlight potential career paths for such transitions.