Technology is altering the way we study, work, even socialise. The same can be said for employment – technology has changed the face of employment prospects in the country. The sophisticated algorithms which have disrupted the employment horizon, have also brought innovative technology which are creating new jobs.

Ananth Narayanan, CEO, Myntra, dwelt at length on how technology has become a ‘key enabler’ in job creation, while speaking at a round-table discussion at the India Economic Summit last month. “When you think that e-commerce didn’t exist 5-7 years ago, it’s amazing that a company like Myntra has been able to generate at least 2000 technology-driven jobs and 8000 service-driven jobs,” said Ananth.

He was quick to point out that all the jobs were technology-driven – not only the tech-facing jobs, but the service-facing jobs as well. He cited the example of how, at Myntra, technology is used to decide how a T-shirt should look or how a pair of jeans should be styled.

Giving an insight into the way the economy has unfolded, Ananth said, “Flipkart created a whole eco-system of sellers who didn’t exist before. It gave access to small business to stay.” Similarly, in the next 5-7 years, thanks to machine learning and AI (artificial intelligence), a large number of jobs would be created related not only to technology but manufacturing as well, in response to the increase in commerce and retail, he added.

The ‘Learnability’ Factor

Thus, ‘learnability’ – literally, the ability to learn – emerges as the crucial fulcrum on which job creation and career success are based today.

It is also ‘learnability’ which dictates the way Myntra invests in its employees, says Ananth. “The ‘learnability’ quotient of the millenials is on an as-needed basis. The average age of employees at Myntra is around 24-25 years, who think of life in terms of a year or two from the present. So, we need to think differently about training them. We have training programmes every day for using our App, as everyone – from the top guys to the person at the service delivery point – needs to use the App.”

The Myntra CEO further said that in fact, his company viewed ‘learnability’ as a skill in itself. “We have a way of assessing people on their learnability skills, which is based on how much experience they have, what kind of ideas they bring to the table. It’s both a framework to assess them as well as develop their skills,” he said.

However, one could not overlook the fact that “beyond machine skills are qualities like emotional intelligence, people skills, and the ability to derive logically from data,” concluded Ananth.