We have been hearing concerns from service designers asking for a barometer about when businesses will recover, and most importantly where and how service design skills will fit into the recovery. In response, the International Service Design Institute has developed a skills assessment (free) for service designers to assess their skills. The assessment is accessible at: https://bit.ly/31aB9kr
I, for one, am very optimistic about the future. In past economic downturns, recovery took years due to a collapse in financial infrastructures that impeded the circulation of money, causing greater risk. But with the current situation, the money supply is available when populations begin spending. I think of it has our economic engine is asleep and primed to ignite as restrictions are further eased.
As I write this, we are starting to see some businesses re-opening, including a number of retailers. Some companies have used this time to restructure their operations to get going soon, and to be more efficient in the long haul. To some, unfortunately, that means many who have been furloughed won’t be returning to the same jobs. But new jobs will appear.
American entrepreneur and investor Mark Cuban said during a closed-door March 28, 2020 meeting that there will be many opportunities that arise, even if we don’t know what they are yet. To be prepared means making sure skills and knowledge are up to date, and even improved.
See how you compare to your peers. https://bit.ly/31aB9kr
About the Assessment: The questions in the assessment derive from our graduated online courses, The Apprentice, the Journeyman, and The Master. Each course was built by a team of experienced service designers, who have decades experience building and improving new lines of services, across economic sectors, including public sector and non-profit sector, and top Fortune-ranked companies in telecom, oil & gas, Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), IT, human capital, financial services, and other service-based industries.