Future Skills Organisation releases Top 10 Insights 2024 for Australia’s finance, technology and business sectors
Media Release - 9 December 2024
The pace of technological change continues to accelerate; jobs are evolving to keep up with these changes.
Employers report transferable skills are increasingly valued over formal qualifications when hiring.
To address skills gaps, industry and training providers must work together to provide accessible, entry-level employment and training opportunities.
Future Skills Organisation (FSO) has released its Top 10 Insights for 2024, highlighting key challenges and opportunities for the future of Australia’s finance, technology and business (FTB) sectors.
Throughout the year FSO engaged with more than 1,000 stakeholders, with a broad spectrum of interests, representing employers, industry, unions, training providers and governments.
CEO Patrick Kidd OBE OAM highlighted several of the key themes to emerge from engagement activities, revealing both challenges and opportunities for the future of skills, training, and workforce development across the FTB sectors.
"Our stakeholders are clear that fast-changing and emerging skills are having a range of impacts on the skills required for work,” Mr Kidd said.
“We must listen to what industry is telling us as we turn these insights into action and progress our work to unlock Australia’s skill and talent potential."
The importance of relevant training, entry-level pathways and lifelong learning
As technology rapidly evolves and reshapes the skills required in the modern workforce, it’s increasingly important for industry and training providers to forge strong partnerships.
“These collaborations are essential for creating effective entry-level employment pathways, delivering relevant training, and fostering opportunities for lifelong learning,” Mr Kidd said.
“Industry leaders are concerned that current training programs often do not adequately prepare learners with the necessary skills for employment, particularly in financial services and information and communications technology (ICT).
“This highlights the importance of strong partnerships between industry and training providers to ensure training stays relevant and equips learners with the skills the workforce needs.”
A skills first approach to hiring talent
Another key insight revealed employers are increasingly prioritising skills over formal qualifications when hiring talent.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s Chief Information Officer for Technology and FSO’s Independent Director Brendan Hopper said the bank uses a skills first approach to hiring.
“We haven't hired based on what certifications people have for many years - we hire based on a combination of current skills and potential,” Mr Hopper said.
“We look for people who ask a lot of questions and immediately get curious and lean into the problem to understand it. We always bet on those people if we can.”
The impact of generative artificial intelligence and the digital divide
AI adoption across industries faces significant challenges, including fragmented regulations, inconsistent policies and persistent ethical concerns.
“Our stakeholders are telling us generative AI is impacting skills, training and jobs, and the finance sector is seeing the most substantial shifts.” Mr Kidd said.
“It’s also driving a need for digital skills right across the population and making it even more essential for Australia to close the digital divide, with our collaborators telling us digital inclusion, accessibility and digital ability is more important than ever.”
Transforming insights into actions
FSO is turning these insights into actions, working on several initiatives in partnership with industry and training providers.
Examples include projects to accelerate the development of digital, generative AI and cyber security skills across the economy.
FSO will conduct further research into the impact of generative AI, as well as reviewing Information and Communications Technology (ICT) qualifications, delivered by training organisations across Australia, as detailed in the ICT Training Package.
Future Skills Organisation Top 10 Insights for 2024
Industry Engagement: The fast-changing skills needed in the workforce highlight the importance of strong partnerships between industry and training providers.
Skills First: As industry increasingly values skills over qualifications in the evolving job market, we need to encourage broader adoption of a skills-first approach.
AI: AI is impacting skills and jobs. While the increasing use of AI offers potential across all jobs, changes must be carefully managed.
Cyber Security: There continues to be a cyber skills gap at all levels. All workers need to be cyber aware, and entry level cyber roles made more accessible to ensure a pipeline of talent.
Pathways: Jobs in the finance, tech and business sectors are evolving quickly; employment and learning pathways need to be simple and made more accessible.
Policy Change: Regulatory and policy changes are transforming the finance, technology and business sectors, bringing both challenges and opportunities.
Diversity and Inclusion: Skills gaps will not be addressed unless learning and employment opportunities are accessible to everyone.
Digital Inclusion and Digital Divide: To close the digital divide actions are required which address affordability, accessibility and ability.
Generalist and Specialist Skills: There is a growing demand for people with generalist skills which enable them to perform well across various tasks and disciplines. At the same time some job roles are becoming more specialist in their scope.
Lifelong Learning: The skills required in the workplace are changing continuously. Training frameworks need to be more flexible to reflect the needs of lifelong learners.
Find more details about the insights, including quotes from industry leaders and case studies, on the Future Skills Organisation website.
ENDS
Contact:
Madeline Forsyth madeline@futureskillsorganisation.com.au
About the Future Skills Organisation
The Future Skills Organisation (FSO) is a Jobs and Skills Council funded by the Australian Government Department of Employment and Workplace Relations. Our role is to make vocational training a preferred choice for learning finance, technology and business skills by partnering with industry and the vocational training sector to fast-track innovative training solutions which meet the demand for the most important skills.