Skills are the key to unlocking the potential of women at work: Aarathi Vidyasagar, LinkedIn

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Aarathi Vidyasagar, VP Engineering, LinkedIn, tells us more about the potential of women at work today. Excerpts from an interview:

DQ. Why is it crucial for employers and organizations to provide greater space for women in the workforce, particularly in tech roles?

Aarathi Vidyasagar: Female representation in the workforce continues to pose a significant challenge for many organizations, especially in sectors like technology where they've been historically underrepresented. Our data from 2022 to 2023 highlights a concerning trend: a setback of three years in women's progress toward leadership roles in many countries, including India. Addressing this gap not only closes income disparities, but also ensures the diverse perspectives in key business decisions, leading to more inclusive products and services.

It's also crucial to recognise that this setback isn't solely due to a lack of interest from women. Rather, it reflects a tendency for companies to adopt familiar hiring practices during uncertain times that  subconsciously perpetuate inequality. To create a more equitable workplace, LinkedIn believes the solution lies in embracing a skill-first approach that prioritises capabilities, offering an opportunity to create a more equitable workplace where everyone feels valued and included.

DQ: How can adopting a skills-first mindset help women rise within organizations?

Aarathi Vidyasagar: LinkedIn's data highlights a dramatic shift in the skills required for jobs globally, with a 36% change in India alone. As we enter the era of Gen AI, this change is expected to accelerate, with skills changing 68% by 2030 globally — emphasizing the need to prioritise skills in hiring and workforce development strategies.

When companies look at skills instead of other parameters like gender, they causally promote greater female representation, particularly in industries that are traditionally dominated by men. Our data shows that when companies in India hire for skills vs traditional experience, the talent pool of women increases by 29% in jobs like tech where women are underrepresented.

Ultimately, valuing skills over other parameters helps women access more opportunities for career advancement, increasing their likelihood of reaching leadership positions.

LinkedIn’s initiatives for women at work in India
* Coach[In] is a mentoring program for women student engineers, an initiative to nurture and groom women engineering talent across India to land their dream job. The program is currently running in the 3rd season with 60 mentees (50% increased class size from last season).

* Return[In] is a pilot initiative launched for all women in technology who have taken a career break to equip and upskill themselves to return to the engineering workforce.

DQ: What emerging technologies should employers and organizations embrace to facilitate product innovation and gain valuable insights?

Aarathi Vidyasagar: The next era of work will be powered by AI. It is already changing how we work, and both employers and professionals are welcoming the technology into their every-day plans. Indians are optimistic that AI will positively transform their careers with professionals saying they are excited to use AI at work (98%).

In fact, they are proactively upskilling to stay ahead of the curve – we saw a nearly 80% quarter-over-quarter increase in members watching AI-related learning courses.

At LinkedIn too, we are harnessing the power of our platform’s data and our AI expertise of over 16 years to deliver cutting-edge value for members and customers. For instance, we are creating tools and features to enhance the knowledge-sharing capabilities on our platform. 

AI-powered collaborative articles, introduced recently, help members unlock 10 billion year’s worth of knowledge on LinkedIn. These are knowledge topics published by LinkedIn with insights and perspectives added by the LinkedIn community. 

To help talent professionals, we have launched features and tools in Recruiter – including AI-assisted messages in LinkedIn Recruiter which help them save time and engage with the right candidates, faster; and AI-powered job descriptions (which we’re still testing) to help them find qualified candidates more quickly. 

Recently, we've introduced tools like Skills Match for organisations so they can see a candidate's skills within Recruiter and whether they match the job they're recruiting for, as well as Resume Search which automatically pulls relevant skills from a candidate’s resume and displays it in the Skills match section on the candidate's profile in Recruiter. 

DQ: What are some of the most in-demand overall skills for engineers in today's job market?

Aarathi Vidyasagar: In today's job market, engineers need a blend of technical and soft skills to thrive, especially with AI handling routine tasks. Overall most in-demand skills that are gaining share for engineers include SQL, Java, SaveScript, Python and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). It’s interesting to note that many of these skills are needed when using AI technology. 

While on the soft side, we saw top skills including communication, analytical skills, and leadership abilities. In fact, tech professionals who have developed soft skills – like communication, teamwork, problem-solving, or leadership – in addition to hard skills get promoted more than 13% faster than employees who only have hard skills."

DQ: What are some useful tips for women in tech that helped in paving your path as an engineering leader?

Aarathi Vidyasagar: For me, it was about always being curious and learning. I have always looked at my journey as a series of steps to identify and acquire new skills whether it was leadership or technology. Asking for the opportunities to learn those skills has helped make the journey a much more enriching experience. 

Most women find it hard to ask for promotions or larger opportunities, anchoring on what I wanted to learn, the experiences that would enable my learning were useful mechanisms that helped me in the journey.

Throughout my career, I always tried to be consistent – in pushing my own boundaries and never becoming too comfortable. What helped me keep up was constant unlearning and learning, so that, I made sure to pick up new skills along the way. The culture at your organization plays an important role here. For me, LinkedIn’s leadership in technology helps my team and I stay one step ahead, so we are always learning on the job. When you are looking for a new role, remember that you are also choosing your employer.

My biggest advice to women, is to be an advocate for yourself – speak for yourself, make sure your ideas are heard, and grab every opportunity to put your ideas to work. Ask for opportunities, in fact. Be your own ally so other women can follow your example. And support each other. Every engineer knows what she can do and bring to her team, what we need is to be allies and create opportunities for each other to thrive.