Informers’ Industry Requirements and Trends

This study explores the impact of the informers job cluster in the Australian market. Apparently, the evidence provided in this paper shows that the demand for this job market is growing rapidly and there is a need for individuals to develop the right enterprise skills such as problem-solving, collaboration, and teamwork in this cluster. This study shows that the Australian job market is changing and there is a need for individuals to develop basic skills such as technical and personal skills that will help them secure future employment amidst the high levels of automation and globalization. In this regard, this paper provides extensive insights on the informers’ industry requirements and trends to help graduates transition well into full-time jobs in this cluster. This paper provides individuals with a chance to assess their capabilities and develop a SWOT and gap analysis to identify their strengths and areas where they need improvement.

Contents

Executive Summary. 2

Introduction. 4

My Job Cluster. 5

My Industry Requirements and Trends. 6

My Capabilities. 9

My SWOT and Gap Analysis. 13

Conclusion. 14

References. 15

Appendix 1: [16 Personalities] 17

Your Test Results. 17

Appendix 2:  [Personal Performance Style] 18

Commerce

Introduction

Australia is one of the leading countries in innovation and production; hence, it has some of the most competitive companies in the globe, which form a diverse and competitive team of industry sectors (Healy, Nicholson, and Gahan, 2017, 11). Some of these industry sectors entail energy, aerospace, chemicals, biopharmaceuticals, and consumer goods among others. According to the Australia Department of Commerce, the main missions of commerce in the country are enhancing economic growth and opportunity by facilitating innovation, stewardship, competitiveness, and entrepreneurship (Payton, 2017, 23). In this regard, commerce plays a pivotal role in promoting economic development in the country. There are various job clusters in the Australian commerce sector, which entail; the informers, the generators, the carers, the artisans, the technologies, the designers, and the coordinators. This paper focuses on the informers job cluster in Australia.

The informer job cluster entails jobs that require professions providing information, business services, or education. The new work structure in Australia is highly influenced by various economic forces such as globalization, automation, and collaboration. In this regard, FYA (2015, 8) states that the demand for digital skills went up by 212% between 2012 to 2015. Stehlik (2018, 216) supports this notion citing that the Australian economy is growing steadily and the advent of e-commerce has revolutionized the economy. For this reason, there are new opportunities for individuals pursuing commerce opportunities in the digital market. The current global trends indicate that the digital market has increased substantially because of the ease access of variety of goods and services. 

My Job Cluster

I chose the informers cluster in commerce because this cluster is growing significantly followed by the growth of the digital market in Australia. Healy et al. (2017, 14) speculate that “a young person within ‘The Informers’ cluster which comprises jobs requiring skill in providing information, education or business services, will be able to more easily shift between roles in a job cluster with the right portable technical skills.” The authors indicate that there are few skill gaps that can be compensated for using additional training or experience. In this regard, I chose the informers job cluster because the advent of e-commerce has influenced most firms to focus on the digital market. Notably, there is an increase in the level of digital marketing in Australia because of the increased level of globalization, which has enabled consumers to benefit from a wide variety of goods and services.

In the informers cluster, there are various transferrable skills such as innovation, research, and target marketing that help individuals improve their business skills. Informers such as marketers and managers are required to be innovative to develop new ways of reaching the target market, using appealing strategies (FYA, 2015, 128). Besides, research is necessary in this cluster because marketers have to use evidence-based information to support their marketing strategies. Basic personal skills such as teamwork and determination are required in this cluster for individuals to become competent. Teamwork is necessary because individuals in this job cluster mostly work in group and determination enables them to become innovative.

Moreover, technical knowledge and skills such as customer service, social media campaign analysis, and database management are also necessary in this job cluster. Customer service enables informers to determine the customers’ tastes and preferences, whereas social media campaign analysis is vital to enable them to assess the current market trends. Database management is also important for people in this job cluster because it enables them to evaluate the performance of different corporations in the market to make reasonable comparisons that will help firms to develop competitive advantage.

My Industry Requirements and Trends

The increase in technological innovation in the modern era has led to economic advancements especially in the production sector as firms can cut down their labour costs. Moreover, technological innovation is a major aspect of the Australian economy, which aims at competing with other leading economies globally. Preston (2018, 24) claims that technological change is consistent with economic growth in the Australian market. The author reveals that ICT is a key influencer of innovation in the country, by promoting the automation of key businesses practices. For instance, ICT has enhanced the interworking of various mobile devices using internet-enabled electronics and sensors, which have transformed how businesses carry out their operations. For instance, some of the largest firms in the world such as Google and Amazon have started experimenting with internet-enabled devices such as autonomous vehicles and drones, which threaten to reduce the high demand for labour.

Consequently, the emergence of modern technology has also transformed the retail sector because it enables online stores to research on what customers purchase. Technology also enables online stores to identify what customers browse and how they are impacted by reviews. Similarly, technology has transformed the job market by eliminating the traditional full-time work (FYA, 2015, 19). The author opines that technology has challenged the traditional job market because it has prompted high levels of globalisation, automation, and flexible working arrangements; which have reshaped our economy and the labour market. Payton (2017, 29) illustrates that career paths are non-linear, and the idea for working for a single organization for more than two decades is less extinct. For instance, the author indicates that average Australian employees change their employer more than 17 times in five different careers. In this regard, the author insinuates that the modern workforce is diverse and flexible in the modern era compared to the traditional times.

Workers are now expected to have unique skills such as career management skills, experience, appropriate education, and enterprise skills. Career management skills are important for graduates because the lack of adequate job application skills limit them from attaining full-time employment. Lack of appropriate education and experience may also limit individuals from developing the core technical skills required in their clusters. Fundamentally, the main employment challenge facing graduates in Australia is the struggle to transition into full time jobs. Sullivan and Bandaranaike (2017, 65) explain that the current commerce scope requires individuals to transition between different clusters for them to secure long-term employment. This is because of increased automation and flexible working arrangements that are highly present in the modern economy. The author states that the informers cluster is one of the most future-proof careers in Australia as digital literacy will remain in all the major industries.

Individuals in the informers cluster should improve their enterprise skills such as planning, organizing, problem-solving, decision-making, communication, teamwork, innovation and creativity, and working with protocols. Reuter and Kaufhold (2018, 33) state that these skills are essential in every cluster and they should be considered as the centre of our training programs. The authors designate that proficiency in these areas add on to the talent on employees, making them competent to work in different clusters in the future.

Informers Cluster

Industry growth areas

• Innovation

•  ICT

•  e-Commerce

Graduate Criteria

Technical Skills

•  Database management

•  Logistics Analytics

• Social Media Campaign Analysis

•  Innovation

Soft skills

• Collaboration

•  Teamwork

•  Creativity

•  Enthusiasm

•  

Emerging Jobs/Roles

•  Social Media Influencers

•  Part-time employment

•  Technological Innovators

• Machine Supervision

Industry challenges

• Increased Automation

•  Reduced Full-Time Jobs

•  Increased Job Flexibility

Traditional Jobs/Roles

• Marketers

•  Labourers

•  Secretaries

•  Part-time employees

• Full-time employees

My Top 5 organisations

•  Google

•  Amazon

•  Uber

•  Apple

Employment Challenges

•  Transition to full-time jobs

•  Lack of adequate experience

•  Lack of adequate skills

•  Lack of adequate job application skills

My Capabilities

The capabilities test findings are accurate with my current capabilities. Notably, the 16 personalities test reveals that my personality type is ”The campaigner.” The results depicted that my individual traits are 78% extraverted, 63% intuitive, 53% feeling, 51% prospecting, and 51% assertive. I agree with the findings because they relate to my personal characteristics. However, I noticed that I have a weakness attitudes and making strategies. In my observation, I always focus on pursuing the most logical objective according to my judgement and analysis of the situation. This character trait influences my development of a very weak attitude towards other colleagues who do not support my objective. For this reason, I should work on improving this character trait to increase my competence in the informers job cluster, which requires individuals to have adequate levels of cooperation, teamwork, and positive attitude.

Sims et al. (2016, 714) explain that a negative attitude can hinder the development of the desired levels of collaboration and teamwork in an organization. Besides, I mostly rely on swift innovativeness because I am, not good at planning and implementing things. This behaviour has led to the development of weak strategies when I am making decisions. The authors opine that strategic thinking is essential for informers to make them innovative and creative during their work processes.

On the other hand, I noticed that I had excellent skills, good habits, preferences, and experience in this job cluster. FYA (2015, 21) explains that skills is crucial in the informers job cluster and it can be transferred to other clusters such as carers. Moreover, the author argues that our habits influence our preferences and the test results depict that I have good habits that suite individuals in the informers job cluster. Moreover, the author reveals that lack of adequate experience is one of the primal reasons why some individuals cannot secure employment in this job cluster. Generally, these elements make me more qualified in the future especially in the informers job cluster, which expected to grow steadily in the future. However, I plan on improving my capabilities to enable me to qualify for employment in different clusters, as the informers job cluster can be fused with other clusters to make individuals more productive.

The test results above depict that my capabilities align with my cluster and career aspirations as a marketer and manager. I believe that marketers and managers should be experienced and skilful in the informers cluster because they are highly useful to most corporations within the different job clusters. Sims et al. (2016, 734) explains that most institutions rely on marketers and managers to create a competitive advantage in the market. For this reason, employers typically look for people who are highly skilled and experienced to help them steer their firms towards the right direction. For instance, the author claims that the demand for semi and low skilled labour is reducing substantially because of the high level of automation presented by the advent of modern technology. Therefore, people in the infomers job cluster should be high skilled to keep up with the market dynamics. 

My SWOT and Gap Analysis

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

Skills

Experience

Habits

Collaboration

Teamwork

Weaknesses

Attitude

Strategies

Threats

Increased Automation

 Reduced Full-Time Jobs

 Increased Job Flexibility

Opportunities

Innovation

 ICT

 e-Commerce

Gap Analysis

Industry Requirements

Technical Skills

•  Database management

•  Logistics Analytics

• Social Media Campaign Analysis

•  Innovation

Soft skills

• Collaboration

•  Teamwork

•  Creativity

 Enthusiasm

Adaptability

Current Skills

Technical Skills

Database Management

Innovation

Soft Skills

Collaboration

Teamwork

Creativity

Enthusiasm

The gap analysis reveals that I have sufficient levels of soft skills in the informers job cluster. Nonetheless, the analysis reveals that I have redundant technical skills that are essential for individuals to be competent in this job cluster. For instance, I lack adequate skills in logistics analytics and social media campaign analysis, which are primal in this job cluster. I believe that further experience and adaptability in this job cluster will help me to develop these skills effectively.

Conclusion

In general, the evidence provided in this paper shows that the informers job cluster is growing tremendously in Australia over the past decade because of the increase in e-commerce activities in this region. For this reason, the evidence provided in this paper show that graduates should match their capabilities with the industry requirements to enable them secure long-term employment in the informers job cluster. Adaptability should enable individuals in this job cluster to take advantage of the current market opportunities in ICT, innovation- and e-commerce in the country. The informers job market is also expected to grow in the future because of the increased needs for marketers and managers in the digital market. In effect, informers should focus on developing the fundamental enterprise skills that are necessary for the development of competent employees in the informers job cluster.

References

Aylward, D. & Glynn, J. (2005). Assessing SME innovation within different cluster models: Lessons from the Australian wine industry. Proceedings of the 18th

Annual Conference of SEAANZ. Armidale: University of New England.

FYA (2015). The New Work Reality. FYA’s New Work Order report series. Retrieved from >https://www.fya.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/FYA_TheNewWorkReality_sml.pdf<

Healy, J., Nicholson, D., and Gahan, P. (2017). The Future of Work in Australia: Anticipating how new technologies will reshape labour markets, occupations and skill requirements. Future Frontiers Analytical Report. The University of Melbourne.

Payton, A. (2017). Skilling for Tomorrow. 26th National VET Research Conference” No Frills”. National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER).

Preston, A. (2018). The structure and determinants of wage relativities: evidence from Australia. Routledge.

Reuter, C., & Kaufhold, M. A. (2018). Fifteen years of social media in emergencies: a retrospective review and future directions for crisis informatics. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 26(1), 41-57.

Sims, R. L., Ruppel, C. P., & Zeidler, P. (2016). Work strain, job satisfaction, and intention to quit: The moderating effect of long-term orientation. International Journal of Stress Management, 23(1), 23.

Stehlik, T. (2018). Predicting Unknown Futures. In Educational Philosophy for 21st Century Teachers (pp. 259-270). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Sullivan, M., & Bandaranaike, S. (2017). Challenges of the New Work Order: A work skills development approach. In Refereed Proceedings of the 20 th WACE World Conference on Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education, 2017, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Appendix 1: [16 Personalities]

Your Test Results

Thank you for completing our personality test! Here is a copy of your results:

Personality type: ”The Campaigner” (ENFP-A)

Individual traits: Extraverted – 78%, Intuitive – 63%, Feeling – 53%, Prospecting – 51%, Assertive – 51%

Role: Diplomat

Strategy: People Mastery

Link to your profile: https://www.16personalities.com/profiles/5b392d06ea0b7

Appendix 2:  [Personal Performance Style]

Personal Performance Profile

Based upon Cottrell, S. (2015)

Personal Performance Profile Chart

Aspect

Score

Level and direction of preference

Structure

16

Personally I am structured person, I like to arrange events and action and I believe that everything has its place.

External direction

13

I have found that I get distracted quite easily from my surroundings but I also use distractions to my advantage. For example, if I am doing a mondaine task I will listen to music to block external distraction but when I need to concentrate and focus I won’t listen to music and I must be in the library.

Working with others

19

I like group works as I do believe that each person has their own views, opinions and ideas on the task that will help me to solve my problem but I also don’t like groups. I don’t like groups because I’ve analysed found that people let me down which does not have a positive effect on the outcome.

Physical stimulus

20

When I need to focus on a challenging task I will remove all physical stimulus as I will get distracted. Therefore I prefer to work in the library.

Global/ Serialist

13

I like to be serialist. I like to plan and make sure that I have all information that I would need to finish the task.

Pressure

10

I loke both aspects of pressure. I like to work under pressure and sometimes not. I like to divide up my work into smaller manageable bits but I also like to do my work in one day.

Honey and Mumford style

15

I like to be a rejector meaning that I prefer to take a step back and watch the groups and collect as much data and information from every person because I make my crucial decision. 

VARK

9

I am a reflective learning which means that again I like to take a step back to look at the situation and collect data by looking at people and how they react and learn on what others have to say, then I make my decision.