5 Online Courses for a Great Career Post Covid-19 Era

The global outbreak of the novel virus, Covid-19 has in no small measure affected humanity in general as it has put an abrupt halt to several major and very critical activities that are essential to the sustenance of the world.

Apart from the death of thousands of people who died as a result of Covid-19 complications which left a huge gap in the labor market, reducing work productivity rate.

Moreover due to the complexities of the virus which could easily be spread from one person to another through contact there necessitated the need for people to adopt social distancing and other measures to curtail the outbreak of the virus.

Within only a few months of the outbreak of Covid-19, the coronavirus pandemic has upended the daily lives of people around the world.

For most nations of the world, the economic impact of the virus has led to new categorizations of “essential” workers, a large-scale move to remote work, and skyrocketing unemployment that is expected to continue increasing.

And amid stay-at-home orders across the various nations of the world, office workers have ditched their daily commutes to work from dining room tables, couches, and beds in their own homes. Many may find themselves in this situation for the long haul, as businesses struggle to find a path forward while restrictions slowly lift.

With the onslaught of the Pandemic, it is more likely that there has been a paradigm shift from the traditional way in which businesses, as well as offices, are run. It is now more likely that companies will seek to cut their losses accrued as a result of the economic strains caused by the virus and also seek to protect their workers against any form of possible infection. The outbreak of the virus has seen to it that workers divide their time between working from home and from a corporate office. With the world heading towards Post-Covid realities, work will gradually resume but the manner at which work is been done will definitely change.

People will still gather for work, but the amount of time people get to work in proximity with others, and what your work week looks like will be the biggest cultural shift in moving forward. With more people working remotely, companies may open regional hubs or provide access to co-working spaces wherever their workers are concentrated rather than have the majority of their workforce at one central office.

Job seekers may consider it a draw to working for a company with a physical location, which could boost brand awareness and overall influence within the industry.

While the realities painted above are global realities of the world even as it fully moves into the Post Covid realities, it is no different for jobs in Nigeria. There is no denying that the outlook of the way we do the jobs in Nigeria has been altered from the former, technological advancements and its tools have greatly helped workers to bridge the gap created by the ability of workers to continue the usual way of running offices. As the country went on a lockdown for several months, which brought an end to working modules of most jobs with the exception of essentials workers, many people resorted to working from home. It is quite surprising to note that the change was an all-encompassing one as the various individuals or people whose age-grade can be considered old or aging had to adopt the new standard of work which is using the internet as a viable form of networking which comes with various benefits. As the formerly looked down remote jobs or remote working became the new order of the Nigerian society as well as that of the global community, the employment of job seekers also took a new dimension.

While job seekers are plenty within the Nigerian Labor market coupled with the realities of insufficient job opportunities in Nigeria, job seekers have been made to understudy these new and latest trends. There are certain jobs that have been rendered obsolete with the outbreak of the virus, while some certain jobs have become highly sought after Jobs before we fully considered some of the most sought after online Courses for an Excellent Career Post-Quarantine jobs in Nigeria during its Post-Covid realities, let us consider some of the effects of Coronavirus on jobs across the world

1. Most meetings could be replaced by email and IM

Against the usual culture of having to use conference halls and venues for office meetings, this could probably reduce although not probably removed or eradicated with the new Post Covid realities in Nigeria. Firms and Companies will definitely have to adopt the use of the various internet platforms created for engagements like this. There are various online platforms that people can use especially within the formal or corporate sectors that offer a near office experience for its users.  The use of emails, slacks, IM, Zoom, and other online platforms can easily be used in order to prevent the need for people to physically contact one another or the cases of having too many people in a particular location. It will be recalled that the various meetings of the Nigerian Governor’s Forum in the country have been fashioned to be an online meeting where the state governors and other important figures needed for the meeting do not have to be physically present at the meeting.

2. It could be the end of business travel as we know it

As travel of all kinds is halted, telecommuting is adopted at scale and companies attempt to cut costs and balance their budgets, many experts believe business trips as we know them will be a thing of the past. This will be needful to prevent the spread of the virus or any other related virus. Changing consumer preferences and greater interest in social distancing will limit large group events such as conferences and conventions for the foreseeable future

3. Mandatory on-the-job medical screening could become the norm

Health and legal experts predict that on-the-job medical screening, such as temperature checks and antibody tests, will be a reality for those who return to work in the months ahead.  And in many cases it’s already happening: To combat the spread of coronavirus among essential workers, some of the biggest employers in the country, including Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot, and Starbucks have begun taking the temperatures of their employees before they are allowed to work. This approach, in which workers take an antibody test to confirm that they have immunity, is being embraced in other countries of the world

4. Coworkers could become even closer

If there’s one bright spot to how the pandemic will impact the future of work, it’s that it could strengthen the personal relationships we form with colleagues. For a long time, we’ve probably taken for granted the ability to see our coworkers every day and may

5. The workplace could become more equitable for women

With many workplaces now being forced to operate remotely, long-term flexibility could be here to stay, allowing more women to remain in the workforce while balancing home and work life. This change in workplace structure could have a huge impact on women, as they are more likely than men to adjust their careers for family. In fact, roughly 31% of women who took a career break after having kids said they didn’t want to but had to because of a lack of employer flexibility, according to a 2019 FlexJobs survey of more than 2,000 women with children under 18. A more flexible work culture could also create more equity at home as both men and women are able to spend quality time with their families

6. Middle management positions could be cut forever

In the months and years ahead, we could continue to see a hollowing out of middle management. One of the big things that happened during the 2008 global financial crisis is that organizations pulled out all sorts of layers of middle management, which actually makes it harder to get promoted. The realities of Covid-19 as already seen to it that companies and organizations are already cutting off their staffs and excesses properties in order to make up for the money or resources which they lost to the onslaught of the virus. Hence as it moves into the Post Covid-19, it will in some quarters relieve middlemen of their jobs as they can easily be done away with, especially in the wake of the new way of working which is remote working. Also, there is going to be a great emphasis on productivity in the workforce, thus unproductive workers might be shown the exit door.

With the aforementioned, as a job seeker in Nigeria, it is obvious that as a job seeker it is important for you to consider these factors and the new working/job culture that has been birth with the coming of a new era necessitated by the onslaught of Covid-19

Online Courses for an Excellent Career Post-Quarantine

1: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Human Resource Management is the process of recruiting, selecting, inducting employees, providing orientation, imparting training and development, appraising the performance of employees, deciding compensation and providing benefits, motivating employees, maintaining proper relations with employees and their trade unions, ensuring employees safety, welfare and health measures in compliance with labor laws of the land and finally following the Orders / Judgments of the concern High Court and Supreme Court if any.

Human Resource Management involves management functions like planning, organizing, directing and controlling

It involves procurement, development, maintenance of human resource

It helps to achieve individual, organizational and social objectives

Human Resource Management is a multidisciplinary subject. It includes the study of management, psychology, communication, economics and sociology.

It involves team spirit and teamwork.

It is a continuous process.

Human resource management as a department in an organization handles all aspects of employees and has various functions like  human resource planning, Conducting Job analysis, recruitment and conducting job interviews, selection of human resources, Orienting , training, compensating, Providing benefits and incentives, appraising, retaining, Career planning, Quality of Work Life, Employee Discipline,  black out Sexual Harassments, human resource auditing, maintenance of industrial relationship, looking after welfare of employees and safety issues , communicating with all employees at all levels and maintaining awareness of and compliance with local, state and federal labor laws.

The historical rule of thumb for Human Resource staffing requirements is one full-time professional Human Resource person should be hired for every 100 employees. The actual ratio for a business can vary depending upon factors such as the degree of HR centralization, the geographic distribution of the employees served, the sophistication level of the employees, and the relative complexity of the organization.

There are various online platforms on the internet that offers a course in human resource management with valid certificates to back it up. There are also various universities that also offers to their prospective student the chance to study this course online.

Check here for the latest HR Jobs in Nigeria.

2: PSYCHOLOGY

Psychology is the study of the mind, its thoughts, feeling and behavior. It is an academic discipline which involves the scientific study of mental faculties, functions and behavior’s. Psychology deals mainly with humans but also sometimes with nonhuman animals,

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a lot of anxiety. Understanding what’s happening in your brain can help you manage your emotions and cope better. This is also applicable in within the spaces of our work setting. Bosses want their workers to function well thus they place great importance on their mental and emotional wellness. There is a need for psychologist in the Post-Covid era, getting a certification can be done in any of the top universities online that are offering the course

3: PUBLIC HEALTH

The coronavirus pandemic has created an unprecedented increase in the demand for healthcare professionals. Taking a master’s degree in Public Health would prove to be timely and rewarding. There various countries across the globe that are in dire need of public health workers. Getting additional certification on this will do actually increase your chances of getting a job within and outside Nigeria

4: SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT AND LOGISTICS

The role and place of logistics and supply chain services in the wake of Covid 19 realities cannot be undermined, the realities of the lockdown and quarantine has made the job a prominent one which is constantly being demanded for by all and sundry. The expansion of the online business in Nigeria has also created the need for this line of work.

Employees seeking to up skill on their current qualifications or who want to start a career in supply management and logistics more engaging and helping as it will enable them understand the technicalities of the job

5: WEB DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT

IT skills are one the highly demanded skills in today’s business world especially during this pandemic where most companies are shifting operations into the digital space. This presents an opportunity to develop capacity in relevant IT skills such as web development. Having a sound knowledge of professional web design, development and content management, you can move on from this program to building a corporate web page for businesses.

Check here for the latest digital marketing jobs in Nigeria.

By Amudipe Marcus