What is upskilling and reskilling?

Reskilling and upskilling are two terms that are often used interchangeably. Whilst upskilling focuses on enhancing existing skills, reskilling involves learning a new skill altogether. One thing they do share, is that both types of training can be extremely beneficial for professionals looking to re-launch their careers and set themselves up for future success.  

Recent data shows that up to 1.4 million workers will need reskilling by 2026, with roughly 70% of them facing changes because their type of job will cease to exist.  

Let’s explore the key differences between upskilling and reskilling in more detail, as well as the benefits of each. 

What is upskilling?  

Upskilling involves building upon your existing skill set and enhancing your knowledge and capabilities through training or mentoring. This type of training is typically done to help you perform better in your current role or enhance your career prospects.  

What are the benefits of upskilling?  

Choosing to upskill has numerous benefits. Firstly, upskilling can help bring new value to your role and wider organisation. In turn, you can improve your performance, job satisfaction and get recognised and rewarded by your employers.  

There are multiple ways to go about upskilling to suit your learning preferences, such as short courses, or online qualifications to fit into a busy schedule. This is often provided internally by your employers.  

What is reskilling?  

On the other hand, reskilling involves learning new skills to explore a new role or follow a different career path entirely. Reskilling has become increasingly common among individuals whose roles have become redundant and are considering a move to a different area of business or industry.  

What are the benefits of reskilling?  

Reskilling gives you the chance to expand your skill set and knowledge base, in other industries or roles.  

As such, reskilling provides you the opportunity to change paths at any point in your career, giving you greater mobility within your current organisation, and lending you the tools you need to straddle across different teams.  

Why are upskilling and reskilling more important than ever?  

Digital transformation  

As AI and automation become increasingly popular across industries, employees will be expected to adapt to these new technologies. With this, there will be a number of new job roles emerging that previously did not exist. For instance, our latest whitepaper, Workforce 2.0: AI Adoption and the Future of Jobs, reveals six emerging roles set to shape the future workforce: 

• Prompt Engineer – Must craft effective instructions for AI systems, requiring strong communication skills, technical understanding of how AI models work, and creativity to optimise outputs across different use cases. 

• AI Project Manager – These professionals need project management expertise, a solid grasp of AI capabilities and limitations, and the ability to translate business requirements into AI-driven solutions. 

• AI and Machine Learning Engineer – These roles require deep expertise in algorithms, data structures, and model training, but increasingly also demand fluency in ethical deployment and real-world application 

• AI Governance and AI Ethicist – These roles require knowledge of regulatory frameworks, ethical principles, risk assessment capabilities, and the ability to balance innovation with compliance and societal impact. 

• Business and Data Analyst – These professionals turn data into actionable insights, requiring statistical knowledge, data visualisation skills, business acumen, and the ability to communicate findings to non-technical stakeholders. 

• AI Coaches and Trainers – These roles need strong teaching abilities, up-to-date AI knowledge, patience to guide learners at different levels, and the skill to translate complex concepts into practical applications. 

Disappearing jobs  

However, this digital transformation is also reducing the demand for some more traditional roles, such as front-of-house receptionists, travel agents, bank tellers and legal secretaries. Studies show that some of these jobs may be completely gone by 2030, as we all turn to digital alternatives or these jobs become automated. In this case, employees will be required to adopt new working styles, working hand-in-hand with new technologies or looking for a new role altogether.  

One example is a bank teller. Nowadays, many of us choose to use online banking to make transfers or use an ATM machine to make deposits, as opposed to queuing up in-store and speaking to someone face-to-face. That’s not to say bank tellers no longer exist. They just need to be clued up on this new banking tech as well as traditional duties, in order to be able to help customers when required.  

The skills shortage  

Research reveals that 85 million jobs are predicted to go unfilled by 2030 due to a skills shortage. Some of the worst affected industries include finance, technology, media, telecommunications and manufacturing.  

With the majority of baby boomers entering retirement by 2030 or already settled in an established career, the responsibility to fill the shortage will be left to the younger generations, or the older generation who are willing to retrain, upskill or reskill. The mentality of continuous learning will be pivotal in filling these roles and keeping the economy alive.  

How can FDM help you?  

At FDM, we believe anyone can have a successful career in technology, no matter their background. From young graduates starting their first jobs to experienced professionals returning to work after a career break, we welcome diverse groups of people to join our careers programs. Through technical upskilling and professional development, we prepare them to thrive in client-facing environments.  

Explore our five core Practices for a career path that’s right for you.