Upskilling women to bridge the digital talent gap

Over the past few years, since the outbreak of the pandemic, millions of Indians have become adept at a digital-first life, leveraging their connectivity for information, choice, and convenience in their purchase journeys, be it ordering their weekly groceries in a jiffy or spending time online researching their next car. Businesses too have rapidly responded to their consumers’ embrace of a blended lifestyle, finding meaningful ways, and altogether new models, to reach and engage with them. At the forefront of these connections is digital marketing which enables businesses to offer seamless online customer experiences.

As this transformation gains pace, India’s demand-supply gap for digital talent is expected to rise over 3.5x by 2026. Equally, there is the need for a greater participation of women in the overall workforce with focused efforts to empower them to develop in-demand skills that are vital for careers in the modern digital world. As partners in India’s digital journey, we’re committed to help bridge this talent gap.

It is with these goals that we launched the DigiPivot platform in 2020 in association with Avtar Group and the Indian School of Business to equip women professionals with a free, 22-week long, virtual marketing curriculum and mentorship that enables them to pivot their careers to digital. The platform is designed to include all intersectionalities of women, including and not restricted to those with disabilities and those part of the LGBTQ+ community.

With the successful completion of the first two cohorts of 40 women each in 2020 and 2021, today, we are announcing our support to expand the 3rd edition of DigiPivot to 120 women professionals. In addition, this new edition also incorporates curriculum enhancements to align with job market expectations, and brings on-board DigiPivot’s first industry partner, Hindustan Unilever Limited, to provide participants industry-specific insights and applications and mentorship. Recognizing that upskilling needs in early career, mid career, and after a career break vary, DigiPivot 2022 will also tailor its content to respond to these sub-cohorts.

“An equal world is an enabled world. We have a responsibility to help build representative talent pools that reflect the communities in which we operate. We have a unique opportunity to increase representation of underrepresented groups within the digital marketing workforce in India, aiming for enabling mid-career shifts through reskilling. Through DigiPivot we aspire to build a community of women who support each other and also pay forward to the communities around them. I consider Digipivot as a critical pivot and game changer for life and career. DigiPivot will continue to stay true to its core objective of creating social impact for women in India by creating a community-building platform that enables them to pivot their careers into Digital Marketing”

- Madhuri Duggirala, Vice President, gTech Customer Experience, Google, and Co-Sponsor, DigiPivot

DigiPivot, is an initiative that puts fungible digital marketing skills in the hands of women professionals, along with the power of intentional career pathing. Over the last two years, it has been an incredible program, ensuring that the participants learnt digital skills, while anchoring their career in a very intelligent, sustainable manner. This time, in its 3rd avatar and scaled to 3 times its original size, DigiPivot seeks to create role models who will demonstrate int their workplaces, how career intentionality in sync with the latest in digital marketing knowledge can prepare them for sustained success.

– Dr. Saundarya Rajesh, Founder and President of Avtar

“As part of our social commitments, HUL is on a journey to upskill and equip young people with essential skills for job opportunities. DigiPivot is the perfect avenue for us to contribute to the upskilling of women in the space of Digital Marketing and we hope this will inspire a trend in the industry. As HUL, it will be our privilege to mentor these young professionals by providing them the opportunity to be a part of digital marketing journeys of some of the country's most loved brands.”

- Anuradha Razdan, Executive Director HR - HUL & CHRO, Unilever South Asia

In addition, all participants of the cohort will get access to the recently launched Google Career Certificate in Digital Marketing & Ecommerce for hands-on experience with popular digital marketing and e-commerce tools and platforms such as Canva, Constant Contact, Hootsuite, HubSpot, MailChimp, Shopify and Twitter, as well as Google Ads and Google Analytics.

Applications for DigiPivot 2022 are now open, and the last date for registration is 10th July 2022. Interested applicants can register here: dp.myavtar.com